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Ammco brake lathes

endmill

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Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
259
Location
nashport,Oh
Looking @ 2 brake lathe Ammco 7900 and 4000. I presume the 7900 is for rotors and the 4000 is for drums, which i need.
Just trying to figure out if the tooling has been mixed together.
I want to get whst I need for rotors.
Thanks
 
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mikedodge

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Joined
Jun 27, 2017
Messages
2,780
I saw some brake lathes for sale the other week for a decent price. I was tempted but already bought a big pile of equipment recently so didn't want to drag anything more home.
 

Andy1234

Active member
Joined
Jul 5, 2018
Messages
44
Location
St Louis
What you're probably looking at are an Ammco 7000 "Hustler" (rotor only machine) and either an Ammco 3000 (drum only) or 4000 (does rotors and drums). The tooling for both is interchangeable, so make sure you get the proper adapters for whatever machine you buy (example: if you buy the rotor only machine (7000), then you don't need the drum cutting attachment from the other machine).
Parts and/or adapter kits are all still available, usually on ebay.
 
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rustyzman

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May 7, 2015
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772
Location
Chicagoland
The combination Drum/Rotor machine is a good unit. Most of the shops I worked at had those and we used to cut all drums and rotors as standard part of the brake job as long as it was possible. Later shop had a STAR machine. Same basic idea, but much heavier casting and electric power feeds instead of mechanical.

All the AMMCO lathe hardware we used on the combination and rotor only machines was interchangeable (1" arbor?). There is a smaller diameter arbor also available for really tiny stuff like older import drums/rotors and that adapter tooling is independent of the normal tooling. I think there was a large scale machine too for class 7/class 8 category brake stuff too, but you would know it, it would be very large in comparison.

Make sure all the power feeds work correctly, both speeds on the rotors and the variable feed on the drum side. More adapters = better. Get as many as you can for both hubless, composite and bearing types. Silencer bands are a must, but you can buy those new easily, as they do deteriorate. I found the pucks to be about useless, myself. The original DOE wrench is a nice touch, but by no means necessary.

If I had the room (and everything here didn't rust out so badly), I would have one too.
 

etherhuffer

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Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
88
Location
West Seattle
I just did front brakes on my Mazda 6. The rotors were top of the line Centric and were 28.0 new with 26.0mm minimums. After 4 years of wear with OEM pads, micrometer said 27.5. I expected worse as I had pulsing in the pedal from hot spots. Local machine shop turned both for 50 bucks. Machinist pointed out that not all rotors have the same quality, but the higher carbon choices are harder and last longer. Local brake shops wanted to do full pads/rotors/calipers for 1K. Its hard to justify that when I can turn the rotor and go another few years. I think if I had used Akebono ceramic pads I would have had more wear. The car I put those on did brake much better than with OEM pads. You really can't go anywhere on the web without starting a flame war over brake rotor turning. Its unfortunate
 

rsanter

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Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,510
Location
visalia ca
I know but I'm a dumb machinist 🙃 you can usually get one turn out of them
If your a machinist with a lathe, you can make the tooling/adapters or buy them and cut drums and rotors on your lathe.

i have had 3 machines in the past that did drums and rotors. Get the machine that does both or set your lathe up. Single operation machine is not worth it
 

Aileron

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Joined
Apr 15, 2019
Messages
460
Location
outside
just a hobby mechanic but I thought about a rotor lathe also as I have a small fleet The throw away deal is BS. I'd rather pay extra and buy a good set of rotors and not have to get pedal pulsation after a couple thousand miles. Even if they say they are good nowdays I don't trust any of it. I have a Excursion that goes through them like candy. Its all chineism ****. Hopefully Someday, they can be produced back in the states and have better quality control than Jim Bob Flinstone Stoppers wont be importing and advertising them under a US SELLOR label and painting them Gold.
 

Wrench97

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Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
12,086
Location
Southeastern Pa
just a hobby mechanic but I thought about a rotor lathe also as I have a small fleet The throw away deal is BS. I'd rather pay extra and buy a good set of rotors and not have to get pedal pulsation after a couple thousand miles. Even if they say they are good nowdays I don't trust any of it. I have a Excursion that goes through them like candy. Its all chineism ****. Hopefully Someday, they can be produced back in the states and have better quality control than Jim Bob Flinstone Stoppers wont be importing and advertising them under a US SELLOR label and painting them Gold.
Even OEM replacement rotors have turned to **** except for the pricing.....
 

51dueller

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Joined
Feb 22, 2021
Messages
219
Location
Saskatchewan
What many forget is the rotor/drum prep before it goes on the lathe. The shop I worked at had a sandblasting cabinet that we used to clean the hub faces. Any rust or debris will cause extra runout.

Also any rust inside the rotor vanes reduces the heat dissipation.

Nowadays, I won't bother with turning rotors unless it's some special application where the rotor bolts to a big hub assembly.
 
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