I have successfully machined, (turned) 8 lug brake drums, both front and rear ones. As Chief says, grinding would be preferred, but who has one anymore? I use a regular AMCO 400 Lathe. Mount the drum to the lathe with the proper adapters for a front or rear drum. Then I bolt the 8 lug wheel to the drum and torque to factory specs. like it's on the car. I use brand new carbide cutter triangles for each drum. Each cutter has 6 working surfaces so you can cut 4 drums with 1 cutter. I cut an old tire inner tube and tie it inside the well of the wheel to absorb vibration from the cutter bar. It there is room, tie two tubes in there. This acts like a much larger and better anti-chatter belt than the ones supplied with the lathes. That's about the best you can do. The problems is , many of these old drums now have corrosion between the aluminum drum and the iron lines and there is really no easy way to know how severe it is or if there is any. Drums may be perfect off the lathe and begin warping, pulsating and chattering once put back into service and heat cycled. It's a crap shoot. I used to machine allot of them. In my experience here in Ohio, about 25% of them after this time consuming process were lousy after 6 months back in service. That's why at least 2 companies stay in business relining them.
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