Machining a dual disc clutch in a lathe question....

[Cranky]

Have a guy that needs his setup machined/reconditioned. I've done some flywheel work by surface grinding then 'feathering' out the one way grinding marks that the surface grinder left by hand and they seemed to work pretty good but have never done a dual disc high performance unit before. Seems to be there are no more shops around here that want to do this kind of work and have told him to just buy another clutch setup....but that's 1500 bucks. The floater plate seems to be not too hard based on a 'file test' and it's not burnt, just a bit worn.....with about .0045" at the worse spots from the virgin metal. What say y'all?

 

[69Bee]

If the "Floater" disc is flat, a surface grinder with a magnetic table will take care of it. The flywheel should be surfaced, and I can't believe that no one has a flywheel grinder. As far as the pressure plate, you need a special kit to hold the platen, not to mention take the pressure plate apart. I never bought the kit as people usually just replace it.

 

[69Bee]

Same with a front pump on an automatic, they can be ground but need to be held properly. I usually just chuck them in the lathe and clean them up with the cross slide.

 

[Cranky]

If the "Floater" disc is flat, a surface grinder with a magnetic table will take care of it. The flywheel should be surfaced, and I can't believe that no one has a flywheel grinder. As far as the pressure plate, you need a special kit to hold the platen, not to mention take the pressure plate apart. I never bought the kit as people usually just replace it.

Just about all of the 'engine' shops around here and throughout the Houston area have gone industrial....where the money is and the ones with any kind of grinder don't want to mess with automotive stuff anymore. I have one guy I can call to see if he can do it but he's over 50 miles away. Anyways, I have the flywheel plate...it bolts to the aluminum flywheel and have the floater plate and that's all that needs to be resurfaced. I hit the edges with a file and they don't seem to be all that hard. Didn't hurt the file at least

 

[Cranky]

Same with a front pump on an automatic, they can be ground but need to be held properly. I usually just chuck them in the lathe and clean them up with the cross slide.


View attachment 1821730 View attachment 1821731

Looks pretty nice to me!

 

[69Bee]

The inner section gets scarred from the pump gears. You just take as little as possible to prevent moving the reaction shaft too far into the converter.