A hand vacuum pump is one of those tools that sits quiet in the drawer until the day you actually need to know whether a part is holding vacuum, and then nothing else will answer the question. On transmission work it is how you bench-test a vacuum modulator before you condemn it, confirm a check valve or checkball is seating instead of leaking by, and pressure-test a rebuilt drum or a fresh set of lip seals to prove they hold before the unit ever goes back in the car. Pull a vacuum, watch the gauge, and if it bleeds off you have found your leak without guessing.
The MV8500 Silverline Elite is the top of the Mityvac hand-pump line, built around the MV8510 pump with a zinc-aluminum die-cast body instead of the plastic on the cheaper kits, so it survives shop life and reads accurately over the long haul. The ergonomic one-hand trigger pulls up to about 25 in-Hg of vacuum or switches over to deliver pressure, and a one-finger release valve lets you dump vacuum without setting the tool down. The gauge reads both vacuum and pressure so it doubles as a diagnostic instrument well beyond the bench.
Because it also does brake and clutch bleeding, the kit earns its keep every week even when you are not building transmissions. The 4.5 oz reservoir catches fluid on a solo vacuum bleed of a caliper or a clutch slave, and the kit ships with the adapters and tubing to hook onto the common bleeder fittings on motorcycles, cars, trucks, and SUVs. It also primes diesel fuel systems. Buy it once and it covers vacuum testing, pressure testing, and bleeding from a single case. Ships from the USA.
