How To Machine Brake Drums

[EricTheCarGuy]

I know machining things is becoming a ‘lost art’, but it’s still nice to know how things are done. In this video I show how to machine brake drums.

The take away, make sure you confirm where the noise is coming from BEFORE you dive in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KER3yGt3mE

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[Drew Henderson]

Another great video, Eric.

In a former life I managed a business that had a small machine shop; so I get a little misty-eyed watching metal turn and chips fly. We were turning hydraulic cylinders and specialty shafts, so a lot of time there was cooling fluid involved – which added another little complication to the process.

A brake lathe is probably out-of-reach for all but the most enthusiastic – and well-heeled – DIY’ers. But I’m sure that there are still times when the economics, and engineering specs, combine to make turning a rotor or drum practical, especially in the independent shop, which often works with customers on a budget, and has an hourly labor rate somewhat below the stratospheric regions many Dealerships now boast.

As a car enthusiast, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the way so few manufacturers permit rotor machining in their specs. To keep weight – and especially unsprung weight – to a minimum, they are designing these components with the minimum practical amount of metal from the factory. Which usually means by the time the pads are worn, the rotor can no longer take a turn on the lathe. How much those extra few ounces of cast iron bouncing up and down on your wheel hub would effect handling; gas mileage; or 0-60 times – I don’t know. But it sure keeps the guys at the parts counter in business.

Once you get into performance-car territory – with drilled rotors or – heaven forbid – carbon/ceramic rotors as found on Ferraris and high-end Porsches – I suspect the machining option is totally off the table. And an incredibly expensive trip to the parts counter is in order. But I guess if you can afford a Lamborghini Aventador, thats maybe not so much of an issue.

Thanks again , Eric. Informative and entertaining, as usual.

[Michael K]

Another cool machine and loved the video as always. First time seeing a drum machined–often wondered how but never actually seen it done until now.

BTY, I do understand the rear drum brakes are perfectly good enough for most cars and keep the cost down, and they are the two main reasons we still see disk+drum brake setup on new cars today. However, I am curious how much do we the consumer save? Is the difference significant amount of money between all disc vs. disk+drum in terms of both the new car window price and the maintenance/repair cost?

[Drew Henderson]

[quote=”plokiu” post=151275]However, I am curious how much do we the consumer save? Is the difference significant amount of money between all disc vs. disk+drum in terms of both the new car window price and the maintenance/repair cost?[/quote]

The main area of cost saving with drums is that you don’t need a separate mechanism for the parking brake.

Cost-engineering is a huge factor in the ways cars get made. And a savings of $10 or $20 in components would be enough for the bean-counters to make that call on vehicles with no pretensions at “sportiness” or high performance. By the time that part makes it to the showroom – that probably adds another $100 or more to the price of the car.

From the consumer standpoint, its also worth noting that rear drum brakes seem to last a long time. My parents had a couple of cars that went over 100,000 miles without needing the rear (drum) brakes resurfaced.

[Rereonehundred]

First.

Don’t use rags and your hands in rotating equipment. That lathe will tear your arm off quicker than you can blink.

Second.

If it were the rear drums squealing, I might just rap the drum with a layer of antivibration rubber.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Yes, I pulled the original video. The reason is because of the ‘cleaning’ method that I showed. It’s something I’ve done for years, but some viewers had a point when they mentioned that it was an unsafe practice. Rather than respond to a million comments about how bad a practice it was, I decided to cut that part out of the video and repost it. As some of you may know, I’ve had to deal with a lot of flack over the past couple of weeks due to my Dealership Experience video. I honestly didn’t have the energy to deal with any more of that negativity.

This forum will be the only place where I offer any explanation as to what happened to the original video.

So, for those of you that actually read this, you know what the score is. I appreciate you actually using my website and forum for what it was created for in the first place. For the rest, heck with em. After all, it is my channel. 🙂

Please enjoy the updated version of “How To Machine Brake Drums”.

[Rereonehundred]

I hope my tone wasn’t negative about the cleaning method, but rather, I hope it was informative. I do a lot of lathe work.

But here is something about negativity.

When I became a significant corporate middle manager, one good boss gave me some advice. As follows. With your senior position you’ve already won, and there will be lots of staff who want to best you, compete with you, belittle you, and generally try to strut their stuff to make themselves look better than you. That good advice allowed me to be at ease with this negative behavior, and when at ease, I didn’t fight back. No need to fight back. Big bosses are by definition big targets.

ETCG has been so successful, and you’ve gotten to be the big boss of Honda and other repairs. So you will be attacked, but you’ve already won. No need to fight back. Your success is the overwhelming message that everyone is aware of. Some people can’t seem to learn to enjoy other people’s success.

Here’s a nice Fall photo to meditate with and quite the mind. If you a motorcyclist like me.

Be well……………….

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[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Rereonehundred” post=151484]I hope my tone wasn’t negative about the cleaning method, but rather, I hope it was informative. I do a lot of lathe work.

But here is something about negativity.

When I became a significant corporate middle manager, one good boss gave me some advice. As follows. With your senior position you’ve already won, and there will be lots of staff who want to best you, compete with you, belittle you, and generally try to strut their stuff to make themselves look better than you. That good advice allowed me to be at ease with this negative behavior, and when at ease, I didn’t fight back. No need to fight back. Big bosses are by definition big targets.

ETCG has been so successful, and you’ve gotten to be the big boss of Honda and other repairs. So you will be attacked, but you’ve already won. No need to fight back. Your success is the overwhelming message that everyone is aware of. Some people can’t seem to learn to enjoy other people’s success.

Here’s a nice Fall photo to meditate with and quite the mind. If you a motorcyclist like me.

Be well……………….[/quote]

As I said in my last post, I’ve dealt with a LOT of negativity over the past couple of weeks, not just for the brake lathe video. I’m ready to move on.

The viewers that pointed out that was an unsafe practice had a good point, and I addressed it. I just don’t feel like hashing out the details on this one. I made the appropriate changes, now lets move on.

What I find interesting is that people are still hating on the video even though the ‘dangerous practice’ has been removed.

Welcome to the world I work in. 🙂

[Drew Henderson]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=151529]What I find interesting is that people are still hating on the video even though the ‘dangerous practice’ has been removed.

Welcome to the world I work in. :)[/quote]

I don’t get the negativity. If you’d injured a child – that would be worth hating. If you’d injured a cute kitten – that would get people into a frenzy. If you’d injured yourself – well, that would probably make somebody’s “Funny Internet Clip of the Week” show.

People are strange.

[subhobroto]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=151451]Yes, I pulled the original video. The reason is because of the ‘cleaning’ method that I showed. It’s something I’ve done for years, but some viewers had a point when they mentioned that it was an unsafe practice. Rather than respond to a million comments about how bad a practice it was, I decided to cut that part out of the video and repost it. As some of you may know, I’ve had to deal with a lot of flack over the past couple of weeks due to my Dealership Experience video. I honestly didn’t have the energy to deal with any more of that negativity.

This forum will be the only place where I offer any explanation as to what happened to the original video. [/quote]

Eric, I personally think the followup video was a waste of your time. You are entitled to your opinion and I did not see an issue with your original video about the Dealership Experience. People post worse stuff on Yelp to the point of making things up, and your video was your direct experience.

Perhaps in the future, for videos that can generate some controversy, instead of uploading publicly for any person to see, upload them here on this forum so only forum members can view and comment on them.

That way you can focus your energy on videos that you really enjoy making.

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”subhobroto” post=155585][quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=151451]Yes, I pulled the original video. The reason is because of the ‘cleaning’ method that I showed. It’s something I’ve done for years, but some viewers had a point when they mentioned that it was an unsafe practice. Rather than respond to a million comments about how bad a practice it was, I decided to cut that part out of the video and repost it. As some of you may know, I’ve had to deal with a lot of flack over the past couple of weeks due to my Dealership Experience video. I honestly didn’t have the energy to deal with any more of that negativity.

This forum will be the only place where I offer any explanation as to what happened to the original video. [/quote]

Eric, I personally think the followup video was a waste of your time. You are entitled to your opinion and I did not see an issue with your original video about the Dealership Experience. People post worse stuff on Yelp to the point of making things up, and your video was your direct experience.

Perhaps in the future, for videos that can generate some controversy, instead of uploading publicly for any person to see, upload them here on this forum so only forum members can view and comment on them.

That way you can focus your energy on videos that you really enjoy making.[/quote]

Thanks for your input. After almost 7 years of doing this I can tell you that you won’t always know what videos will be controversial. Also, all videos are released a day early to Premium Members of the site. So in a way, I’m already doing what you suggest. Either way I’m going to continue to make and post videos, controversial or not.

You also need to realize that controversial videos are not always a bad thing. They tend to get a lot of views which helps my bottom line. My point is there is more than one way to look at a controversial video.

I pulled the original video because in this case, the detractors had a point. It was an unsafe practice and I’d rather not put something like that out. For me, it was worth the change.

Thanks for your input and suggestion.

[Author]

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