I've bled brakes many times in the past by myself using a hand held vacuum pump attached to a bleeder valve. The last time I tried this method it didn't work because air was leaking around the bleeder valve threads even though I used grease that was supposed to seal the threads. I finally gave up and used the gravity method to bleed the brakes. You just put a transparent plastic line on the bleeder valve, run it to a clear cup, loosen the valve and let the fluid drain. When the fluid is clean and free of bubbles tighten the bleeder valve. Just remember to keep the master cylinder full of brake fluid.
