Belt Drive Conversion To Needle Bearing

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With a brake cylinder hone, I have to hone out about 1mm
of the clutch bell housing. It was very easy to do this for the
oilite bushing so I'm not expecting a problem. Will let you
know. But no modding to the shaft. The bearing is a slip
fit over the motor shaft.
That sounds stinking awesome.
 
It's not as simple as hardness differences. A good grease or lubricant provides
a polymer boundary layer, separating the two metallic surfaces, and a sealed bearing
prevents grit from entering the bearing. Grit acclerates shaft wear. Under these
circumstances, the probability of shaft wear I suspect may be low under normal
conditions but I can't prove it without testing. And I really can't do extremely
long term testing. I can inspect the shaft after a 100 miles or so, but that's
all. If there is any concern about this, I would advise modding to the
Oilite solution which is very easy, or staying with the bronze bushing and
greasing it periodically with a high quality grease, and properly adjusting
the belt.
 
I'd like to explain something to everyone about
R&D (research and development) A researcher
or inventor works on the basis of testing, not
predictions. Testing, only testing, tells the inventor
what ideas work and what don't. Sometimes,
the test reveals a complete surprise, an unexpected
result, like, wow! Endless testing, repeated testing
reveals the truth. Anyone who is quick to
predict the outcome of an experiment does not
understand the development process. It's not
a process of being positive or negative. It's
a process of data collecton ultimately
leading to a solution. Anyone who claims to
be able to predict the outcome of development
work is simply ignorant, and doesn't understand
the invention process. The process is time-consuming
but persistence usually pays off. Enough said.
 
Keeping this on an "Above The Belt" level....

So far, out of the solutions proposed, I like the Oil-Lite the best. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the only time wear happens to the bushing area is when the crankshaft and the clutch-bell are at different speeds? (Idling and the beginning of acceleration). Wouldn't a well-taken-care-of Oil-Lite handle such momentary duties? I recall our much-abused Mini-Bike clutch, back in the 70's, only squawking after us dumb kids figured out that it's not a bad idea to take care of our expensive toy.

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(My Learning Test-Bed of Hard-Knocks)


I applaud the work and research Wrench, Mike, and others are putting into perfecting our hobby, as there is plenty of room for innovation and improvement. But we also gotta keep this in a constructive direction, and not nip at each other.
 
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I realize this is an old thread, but just in case this idea is still being pursued........ my big concern is how are those little needle bearing rollers going to like the idea of skipping over the keyway groove in the shaft ?? The other thing to consider is the quarter inch gap between where the crankshaft ends and the inside end of the bearing retainer. What are the rollers riding on here besides air ? One would have to machine a new retaining cap that extended all the way in touching the end of the crankshaft. Like I said before....." with a little extra thought this design could have been so much better."
 
Right, needle bearing wouldn't work unless the keyway groove
is filled with a hard material - too complicated. The groove would
likely chew up the bearing.
 
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