The answer, yes you can. In this video I show how I use my BendPak brake lathe to machine the flywheel for my Fairmont.
There were some parts I cut out of this video that might be helpful. If the flywheel starts to chatter, I recommend taking an old brake pad and holding it on the flywheel while it’s being machined. This will help reduce the chatter for a better finish. I cut that part out because past experience has taught me that many viewers are concerned about making contact with moving parts on a machine like this. A valid concern for sure. If you’re careful, you should be fine.
Want to know more about my brake lathe?
http://www.bendpak.com/wheel-service/brake-lathes/rl-8500.aspx
Dowel Pin Remover: https://www.jbtoolsales.com/cal-van-tools-95400-in-line-dowel-pin-puller-set-with-sae-and-metric-collets-use-with-power-or-hand-tools-in-case#oid=1002_1
Camera: Brian Kast
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Tool Review Disclaimer: ETCG is not paid to do tool reviews. Yes, I get to keep the tools after the review, but I do not receive any financial compensation for any reviews. The views expressed in this video are my own and unsolicited.
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we would use a grinder adapter on our aamco lathe. no chatter, grinds up hard spots.
Many
Cars have a flywheel with two levels
Sorry…..i do that all the time
I live un México…l do that allá te tome…
I have a am machine
Is this practice fine….??? My mechanic advising me to replace my older flywheel with new one… Can i avoid it by resurfacing this way???
Seen your video a while back finally bought an old brake lathe machine and tried putting my accord flywheel on Ammco 7000 the hole is too small for that 1' arbor.
Where can I buy that machine?
Did you check the runout of the mount face prior to cutting? When you started cutting, it sounded like it was touching and then not touching as the flywheel wobbled a little bit? Did it pulse after you put it in the car?
Does it make the grip any different because don’t they usually cross hatch it when they resurface flywheel?
of course you can, but should you. A flywheel should be surface ground, period.
flywheels should be ground….tool bit wont cut hard spots>
Buen trabajo👍
why didn't you cut a few pounds off the back?
The "flywheel machining machine" you mentioned having used before didn't operate like this, nor did it produce a finish like this.
Will this work in a pinch? Probably….somewhat. But does it make sense once you figure in the cost of your labor, the burning up of a cutter bit, and the sub-optimal result?
Couple things you're doing incorrectly in your video. Yes people have mentioned your sleeves. Second thing take those rubber gloves off don't ever use them on a brake lathe. One of my customers employees some reason grab the arbor when it was spinning with those rubber gloves and a broke all his fingers so I recommend all my customers take them gloves off. Next thing you didn't chuck it up correctly on the Arbor. You need to use a cup a spring the center cone then put the flywheel there and then use another cup on the outside and whatever spacers you need to reach the nut that will help with some of the vibration. You want to know the reason you burned your bit. You didn't take a heavy enough cut always take between 4 and 6 thounsanths 2 thousandths is too light of a cut it will overheat the bit. As far as a silencer goes Ammco makes a horseshoe magnetic silencer you slap on the back of a flywheel that will help with the vibration. I've been building and repairing brake lathe for 18 years now. Contact me if you're interested in one of those horseshoe flywheel silencers I have a few of them
Did you dti to make sure piece is flat
Nice bent flywheel hahahah
I did this very thing today! I put the disc side out though, then I googled to see if anyone had done it and found you. Great minds think alike! Lol
Brake lathes are by no means ideal to machine anything. Rotors are ground, as are flywheels. Back in the day I used to send rotors out but these days cheaper to buy new ones.
Interesting point,, a friend spent hours trying o bleed the brakes on his [production based] racecar after having an on car brake rotor machine job. . Could not get a decent pedal. Eventually found the rotor faces were not paralell with each other. Ooops.
I have seen rotors and flywheels milled. Better than lathe but it still bounces on the hot spots. And that does not do the face cutter any good!
Now try to machine a pressure plate!
Flywheels are best machined on a surface mill like the one used on a cylinder head and engine block. Hot spots in a flywheel are not handled very well by a brake lathe.
I actually have a flywheel cutter attachment for my ammco lathe. Ammco I'd assume didn't sell many of them because it was hard to find
What do you do for flywheel step?
This is the only Flywheel/Brake lathe video on Youtube. I have an AMMCO 4000 and searched and only found this.
Where are you located? Would you do that to a 2000 Honda insight fly wheel!if by chance you were close by I'll give you some business thank you
What puzzles me is that on this side of the Atlantic we just chuck away brake disks (you call them ‘rotors’) they are fairly cheap after all! Yet you have special machines designed to re-surface them!
can you make cones on a brake lathe
This is a great idea, UNTIL you encounter hard spots. That cutting tool will glide right over them leaving a bumpy finish. The only way to remove these "hard spots" is to grind them out.
Awesome video looks new
I would have the flat Machined crank contact face on the machine flat surface, not the cone side.