howdy folks me again

[furltech]

Need to pick some brains here i recently acquired a block on the side of a cliff and in my infinite wisdom now is the time i decided to put the brakes on the porter it is a timberjack 230. When i got the brake housing off i realized the problem was a bad seal in the transfer case everything else looks near new other than being soaked in oil .so my question is this i have seen that someone on here cooked the oil out of the clutch bands on a skidder winch and since i am as cheep as you can get i thought i would try this on the brake disks for obvious reasons the wife wont let me do them in her oven so i am trying on the barbecue anyone have any way of telling when they are done .if it was a steak i would know but not these .or am i just wasting my time and should i bite the bullet and just buy the new ones they are only 100.00 but it is just the principle of it i hate buying new if i can fix what i got .lol.thanks in advance for any help you can provide .

[JohnG28]

As opposed to cooking the oil off of them you could try letting them sit for a day or so in an oil absorbent material such as OilDri or cat litter.  I have been using this on an oil spill in my basement and it will suck the oil out of concrete, so I would imagine it will do the same on metal.  I believe all it is is ground up clay, and its pretty cheap, like $5 for a 25 lb bag. 

[furltech]

well the brake disks are not metal they are some kind of fibre .they look pretty much like a truck clutch but there is no rivets in them they are all one piece  but your idea would probably work allright. i  will try it out the next time if the heat fails .

[Doppelganger]

you could try kero or meths soak and a little bit of heat. that will get most of it out   After the soak then boil in water.

Most brake recon places should also do that job if you cant  CRC has brake clean it can also work.  Cleaning the disc will also need to be done as it also holds oil.

[furltech]

Well barbecue was not the answer for this job .it might have worked if i had payed better attention but i think it got too hot .thanks everyone for the advice i will surely try a different approach next time .Right now i am trying to design some idea to use the front disk and caliper off of a 3/4 ton chev ,but will probably just go buy the parts and fix it original monday and work on a design for the future . Oh well you live you learn

[bushmechanic]

Too bad I never saw this till it was too late but I have got oil out of a good many clutch and brake bands.I soak them down good with brake cleaner and then take a propane torch and burn them till the oil is all out.When you are burning them watch and you will see the oil comming to the surface of the shoe then it will catch fire and let it burn off,when nothing else comes to the surface your done,give it another shot of brake cleaner and your good to go.The way I look at this is if you can get the oil out your money in because the band or shoe is already screwed if there is oil in it-nothing ventured nothing gained.     

[Tom]

Well barbecue was not the answer for this job

What did it do?

[furltech]

well it seemed to get to hot or something and it made the disks right  powdery like they lost what ever resin holds the fibres together  this is the best way i can describe it it is like it took the temper out of the asbestos or whatever it is made out of these days .

[Hilltop366]

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

A link about brake cleaner and heat for what it's worth.

[furltech]

a very good warning to be sure i think a fellow gets complacent sometimes

[PAFaller]

I had the same issue on my 240, but I bought new discs. Maybe the price has gone up, but they were cheap when I did it last summer. The metal plates can get real spendy, but the discs weren't too bad. I'm not sure of your situation but I am a production logger. To me it was worth it to spend the 150 bucks on new discs while I had the transfer case torn apart, rather than try some home remedy that may or may not work and be wrenching on a skidder a week after putting it back together. I'm all for saving money when possible, but if you are making a living cutting wood, your downtime is far more expensive than brake discs, and I like knowing that crucial components, like brakes, are in tip top condition. Just my $.02