Question for Staton chain drive owners

Chain drive

I'v had my chain drive mounted since mid june. Those 4 allen plugs I think are to access the bolts to remove the motor and to add grease as indicated earlier. I am using the Honda GXH50. I think the gearbox is pretty loud...so loud in fact that when I'm riding at cruising speed (31ish MPH) I have a really hard time hearing the engine. I think this will be problematic later when I have to diagnose engine problems. When I pulled the 4 allen plugs out (which I didn't know they were plugs at that time) i realized they were just for access. The part that surprised me was how little grease I could see!! I'm assuming he added an approrpiate amount of grease to the gearbox. It is possible/probable that being the gxh50 is mounted to the gearbox that the grease has all slid forward because the gearbox end is tilted up at the back so the engine is parallel to the ground (4 cycle splash type lube).

So far there is about 1600 miles on everything and all is good now. Originally i tried to put his kit together with supplied hardware. the chain kept coming loose and so I kept tightening (which is done by rasing the whole setup). It became clear that his/my mounting method would not work. So...I bought a welder and an old bed frame...recycled some parts from the original kit and welded a rack to mount the kit to. Haven't had a problem since and everything is rock solid (700ish miles). The chain does come a little lose from time to time...but NOTHING like it was. Now I'm happy.....these issues were all super important because this is my new commuter vehicle (100 miles a day). I needed reliability, predictability and dependability. I hope this wasn't a mistake, else this was a very expensive toy!!! So far so good. I'm just hoping the clutch holds well (22 tooth gearbox sprocket and 16 tooth on the rear wheel). My fuel economy dropped from 190 MPG to 175, but I'll make the sacrafice to save time. If the clutch really were slipping THAT MUCH i would expect to smell it after 50+ miles...and i've never smelled anything. Could i be wrong?? Oh well, this is just a bunch of ramblings now. Happy riding!!
 
Thats weird I don't hear any noise from my gearbox except the ding of the clutch bell when its getting engaged or disengaged. Definitely add more grease if you haven't yet as I would think the gearbox should be thoroughly packed with the stuff. Mine tends to get a bit hot probably just from being attached to the engine so I would assume after 1600 miles that stuff would have burned off somewhat. I wouldn't want to be grinding those gears together dry as it'll produce a lot of shavings which could eventually cause the bearings to fail.
 
finally were getting good input

I'v had my chain drive mounted since mid june. Those 4 allen plugs I think are to access the bolts to remove the motor and to add grease as indicated earlier. I am using the Honda GXH50. I think the gearbox is pretty loud...so loud in fact that when I'm riding at cruising speed (31ish MPH) I have a really hard time hearing the engine. I think this will be problematic later when I have to diagnose engine problems. When I pulled the 4 allen plugs out (which I didn't know they were plugs at that time) i realized they were just for access. The part that surprised me was how little grease I could see!! I'm assuming he added an approrpiate amount of grease to the gearbox. It is possible/probable that being the gxh50 is mounted to the gearbox that the grease has all slid forward because the gearbox end is tilted up at the back so the engine is parallel to the ground (4 cycle splash type lube).

So far there is about 1600 miles on everything and all is good now. Originally i tried to put his kit together with supplied hardware. the chain kept coming loose and so I kept tightening (which is done by rasing the whole setup). It became clear that his/my mounting method would not work. So...I bought a welder and an old bed frame...recycled some parts from the original kit and welded a rack to mount the kit to. Haven't had a problem since and everything is rock solid (700ish miles). The chain does come a little lose from time to time...but NOTHING like it was. Now I'm happy.....these issues were all super important because this is my new commuter vehicle (100 miles a day). I needed reliability, predictability and dependability. I hope this wasn't a mistake, else this was a very expensive toy!!! So far so good. I'm just hoping the clutch holds well (22 tooth gearbox sprocket and 16 tooth on the rear wheel). My fuel economy dropped from 190 MPG to 175, but I'll make the sacrafice to save time. If the clutch really were slipping THAT MUCH i would expect to smell it after 50+ miles...and i've never smelled anything. Could i be wrong?? Oh well, this is just a bunch of ramblings now. Happy riding!!

Like I said earlier my engineless kit came with a tube of grease. I put all of it via the silver plugs. I took out the two top plugs and pumped the grease in one and was expecting to see grease come out of the other plug. All the grease pumped in and none came out the other hole. Wonder if it should.
Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. NOW how bout the sprockets Terminal has a 22 tooth gearbox sprocket and a 16 tooth on the rear wheel. Mine is a 18t gbs with a 16t rws:cool:
 
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Sprockets

Dave staton wouldn't put a 22 tooth sprocket on the gearbox. He said that he was out of stock. Personally, I think he didn't want to deviate from the package (includes up to 19 tooth) and he was looking out to make sure the kit performed the way most people expect. In his defense, he said I would burn the clutch out (which I am still concerned about it...however, i've convinced myself that if I can't smell it, it can't possibly be slipping that much). Good point!! He also said that with the 19 th sprocket I would have to get it going. Well, I have a degree in physics and I'm also a physics teacher...so practicing what I preach I mean teach I did some math to see just how fast I had to get it going. With the 19 tooth sprocket on the gear box, it is necessary to be moving at approx 14.7 MPH when the clutch engages at about 3000rpm for the gxh50. With the 22 tooth sprocket it increases to a little over 17 MPH. So what's the point? Well, IF I don't want the clutch to slip, it is necessary to get the bike going that fast so that when it engages there is no difference between what the bike needs to be going and the engine is doing. SO, (and this is a big so or I will burn the clutch) I get the bike going as fast as is reasonably possible and I continue to assist the motor/clutch up until at least 25 MPH. From there it is ok and once the engine hits about 5500-6000 rpm's (31-32 MPH) I feel it is grabbing as good as its going to and its not straining the engine. Armed with this information, I have made an informed and calculated risk!! One more important point, it is VERY flat where I am. The only "hills" are bridge bypasses

The big question is, why DECREASE my fuel economy (190-175 mpg) and RISK losing my clutch often. Well...SPEED!! I have comfortably increased my cruising speed from 25 MPH to 31-32 MPH. I actually like crusing at that speed better anyway. I have a long commute (100 miles/day) and time is truly of the escence here. I have to allow myself 2 hours to get to work as it is. It it were any slower it would not be practicle. I will leave the house somehwere between 430 and 5 am...i've not decided on when just yet.

The scary thig is, I originally wanted a 24 tooth gbs and even thought out of some ways to do it since nobody sells exactly what I need. But all of that was for nothing since I have changed my mind based on the performance with the 22. I ordered the 22 tooth sprocket that is supposed to be used with the NuVinci drive along with the adapter and installed it. The rest is history! BTW, if anyone wants the spreadsheet I used to calculate speed based on sprockets, rpms, etc., let me know and I can send it to you.

About the grease, I have no problems adding more grease...but what is best? Not all grease is created equal!! How much is too much? and...will it really silence the gear box? I would assume that dave put in the proper amount of lube for the job since he's warranting the gears for a life time. Also, I never described my gear box noise, its is very whiney which is why I assumed it was just the gears I was hearing and no more lube was necessary. It sounded like that from day 1.

One more question, what type of bolt is used to hold the motor to the gearbox? I can't tell when peeping through the holes and I don't want to break the case if I don't have to. Just seems like a lot of messy work.
 
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I'm pretty sure I have the 19 tooth gearbox sprocket and a 17 tooth on the hub. I DO pedal up to about 10mph or so before I give it any serious throttle. I hit 38 mph around 8k. Yesterday I saw over 8,500 rpm's (and my speedo isn't working for some reason!) so I'm guessing I was going about 40. It sure FELT like 40!

Warner
 
From my own experience there was never any whine from my gearbox. Just because it came with the proper amount of lube when he shipped it out to you doesn't mean thats all it'll need through its lifetime. Think about bicycle wheel bearings and suspension components and every other moving part in every machine. They all need to be re-lubed every now and then. The only exception I can think of is car wheel bearings which are sealed without any grease nipples so you can't help but let them wear out and get them replaced *angry scowl*
As far as not smelling the clutch burning. These small engines don't use friction material in their clutches so it won't smell like burning cardboard like if you burn up a cars clutch. They're pure metal on metal and when you wear them out you're actually just reducing the clutch pads and bell into metal dust. So just because you aren't smelling anything doesn't mean damage isn't being done.
In any case its your rig and it's been serving you this long so maybe its fine as is. Just be careful traveling at 30+ speeds on a bicycle. I have a dual suspension frame and I try to keep it in the mid to high twenties for safety sake. Carp can go really wrong really fast on a bicycle traveling even 20mph.
 
I too have a full suspension frame. I think about safety all the time and I never take anything for granted, but I do have to have some trust in my equipment. ...now about the clutch. The GXH50 uses a clutch shoe that looks like a brake material bonded to the shoe. At the very least the friction pad doesn't look like any metal I've ever seen. I guess I could call it a friction pad. Check it out at statons website. I agree that the gearbox would need relubing from time to time, I just wouldn't expect it yet...there's not really been any grease leaking out of it and i would expect it to last many times longer than this. When I think about lubing a bicycle, its because grease has become contaminated or it has dried up. Oh well, regardless of what anyone thinks, I just want to do what it takes to keep it functioning properly.
 
kerf is running a 16T at the GB and the hub both, 18.75:1 overall, no reported clutch issues and 45mph @ about 11,000rpm w/ the GP460.

i'll be running the same in a couple days when my inside drive arrives, THANKS LENNY !!

steve
 
Full susp Staton mtbs RULE

I too have a full suspension frame. I think about safety all the time and I never take anything for granted, but I do have to have some trust in my equipment. ...now about the clutch. The GXH50 uses a clutch shoe that looks like a brake material bonded to the shoe. At the very least the friction pad doesn't look like any metal I've ever seen. I guess I could call it a friction pad. Check it out at statons website. I agree that the gearbox would need relubing from time to time, I just wouldn't expect it yet...there's not really been any grease leaking out of it and i would expect it to last many times longer than this. When I think about lubing a bicycle, its because grease has become contaminated or it has dried up. Oh well, regardless of what anyone thinks, I just want to do what it takes to keep it functioning properly.

Yep. My Tanaka 40 also has the same brake material stuff bonded to the centrifical weights:devilish:
 
Interesting. I've never seen a small engine use friction material like that. I've only seen it on larger clutches for go-karts and the like.
 
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