Get Equipped With OnSite Machining for Smooth Drive
Onsite machining is one of the few car maintenance jobs that are not within the area of the owner’s self doing – not many of us have a lathe, any knowledge and proper machining tools to handle it well. For sure, one can remove the discs at home but by the time one drop them off and pick them up from the machinist, it becomes a real test of patience. One needs to have an idea about the step by step solution involved in it to make it a job properly done. For handling the onsite machining job needs to follow and keep in mind the following steps:
Steps:
- The first step is definitely to jack up the most appropriate end of the car and place it safely on chassis stands. In this case, ensure that the front discs are machined. Take care that one must not jack up the vehicle in any case on the gravel, no matter what the situation is like, it must be avoided at all times.
- Next to ensure is that the wheels’ centre caps/hub caps are removed and both wheels are taken off the vehicle.
- One should now ensure that the brake discs on the calipers must be separated from the hub assembly. This requires the removal of two bolts.
- Before any kind of onsite machining can take place, the thickness of the disc must be carefully checked and kept in mind as it is a very crucial aspect. Each vehicle has a minimum allowable disc thickness so be very cautious about it.
- The discs are now removed from the vehicle. Depending up on what vehicle is undergoing this onsite machining and brake and clutch services, the discs of the vehicle may simply slide off – only the wheel and caliper assembly hold each disc in place.
- Each disc can now be individually fitted to a mobile brake lathe. This lathe incorporates an electric motor that spins or rotates the disc at a comparatively low speed which actually avoids the building-up of heat. The two manually adjusted cutting tips, sweep across both faces of the disc.
- The thickest areas of the discs are machined off manually before the lathe is set to an auto-run mode. In the auto-run, the cutting tips of the lathe move from the inner edge of the disc face to the outer edge. Here, a constant rate of movement is maintained and the lathe shuts down automatically, when it reaches the discs outside.
- After the discs are finished being machined, they are cleaned up properly with abrasive paper as it removes the fine grooves left by the cutting tips. A smooth disc surface is essential to avoid any kind of brake noise. And you need brake and clutch services for that.
- The discs are then ready to be refitted to the vehicle. Note that the disc mating surfaces are first cleaned to ensure a proper fit.
In the end, the calipers are reinstalled, the wheels are fitted and the vehicle is lowered down on the ground.