Since I'm riding the Rubicon Trail this weekend with some friends, I had a renewed interest in my footbrake.
I pulled the original out of a box and was examining it. I couldn't see how to get it apart, but there's gotta be a way. I decided to try swapping back onto the quad just to see what would happen.
So I did... and started pumping the pedal, checking the fluid, to see if it went down. It did a little, then stopped. Then it dripped a little from around the plunger, so I think the seal on that one is bad.
So I picked up the one I just removed and pushed the plunger and just missed being hit in the face by fluid. Hmmmm..
I put the old one back on again. This time I hooked up a plastic line to the rear brake and cracked the bleeder. I added more fluid and pumped. And pumped. And pumped. And added fluid. And pumped some more. Finally when I saw no more bubbles in the plastic, I closed the bleeder. I added a little more fluid to the proper level and closed the cap.
Then I tried the pedal. FIRM!!! Holy cow. Did I just fix my rear brake???
So we'll see. I didn't put the rest of the quad back together; I'll wait a day or so and see if it bleeds down.
Rob