The carriage is commonly known as the complete sliding component on the bed ways of the lathe. The Apron is the front part of the carriage, and usually contains gears, engagement clutches for longitudinal travel and cross feed travel, half nuts for threading, and a lubrication device for the carriage and lathe bed ways. The cross slide and compound are the most commonly utilized components of the carriage, and are susceptible to the most detectable wear. The cross feed and compound adjustment screw / nut(s) can wear to a backlash condition that may require replacement of both the screw & nut as a complete unit. The dove tail slide ways and Gibbs are susceptible Operational wear and may require renewal to achieve the accuracies desired. The apron contains feed drive clutches that controls longitudinal the carriage movement and the cross slide feed movement. These clutches can wear to a failure condition, and will need repairs to function properly again. There are interlocks in the apron to select the threading range from the feeding range. When malfunction occurs, the selection choices may be difficult or limited. Some machines have a built-in rapid traverse option that is part of the apron. Any of these problems should warrant a Field Service Call to pin point The exact cause to the problem and reveal the options of choice. RAKO has the special handling tools to safely dismantle the apron from the carriage, should this be the case. These specialty tools are a REAL TIME SAVER in time of need, when down time is critical. Please send or txt pictures for phone assistance.