Conversion of Belt Drive, Bronze Bushing to Oilite Bushing

[Deleted Member 4613]

C'mon what insult. I simply pointed out that machining is not
practical for most people. I don't have access to a machine shop
and the cost of going to a machine shop could be more than
the cost of the entire kit. I'll study your ideas for sealed bearings
after I finish evaluating the Oilite solution. Thank you for all
your ideas and thoughts. Mike

 

[Deleted Member 4613]

OK, I studied this idea, using a spacer inside the housing. so the bearings would
not protrude beyond the housing. But how would you plan to tighted down on
the clutch housing with the insert plug without directly contacting the housing,
and causing friction? If you had the parts in your hands, you could see how the
clutch is designed. I encourage you to get a clutch and modify it to demonstrate
the concept and take a pic. Go for it. A good sealed bearing solution is
needed.

 

[Deleted Member 4613]

One more point: I have the bearings and they do not fit
the motor shaft. The bearings have an ID of about 14.9mm
and the shaft 14.95. So some material has to be removed
from the shaft, but the Oilite bushing fits on perfectly,
with no mod to the motor shaft.

 

[Deleted Member 4613]

This conversion is looking very promising at this point. I installed
the belt drive and it looks like the tension on the belt would
keep the clutch bell in alignment, so it doesn't move out
towards the spacers. I'm not sure if there will be any contact
with the spacers. As soon as I get the kit on the bike and
start the motor, I'll see if the clutch bells moves outward.
Super interesting.

 

[Deleted Member 4613]

I'm about 90% sure I have a sealed bearing solution that
would work and only require hand tools. What has helped
is having the belt drive design in front of me. I like that
the large pulley is close to the small one, and tension
on the belt would seem to prevent the clutch bell from moving
outward too much. The larger pulley stabilizes the small one.
There just isn't any play for movement to happen. A sealed
bearing solution would be a permanent mod, no additional
maintainance needed, and would probably last for 50,000 miles
before any wear occurs. It would be unlike the original mod
that uses six bearings. I would use five bearings plus a couple of extra
parts. Some material, about 0.05mm would have to be removed from the
shaft to slip the bearings on the shaft, and about 1mm from the clutch
bell housing, to accept press-fit bearings. I'll explain more after I test
the Oilite solution and check for chutch bell migration.

 

[Deleted Member 4613]

FIRST TEST REPORT: NO CLUTCH BELL MIGRATION

The engine is great, very impressive. It
started on two pulls, idles smoothly, and I felt the power
when the clutch caught. The good news is I checked the
operation of the Oilite bearing and the additional parts
I installed and there was zero movement of the clutch bell
from side to side, no contact between the clutch bell housing
and the spacers I used. The larger pulley definitely stabilizes
the small one totally. Now I'll proceed forward and ride the bike
to further test the Oilite bearing. If the Oilite bushing
performs better than a greased bronze bushing, that
would be a significant improvement in the belt
drive. I also upgraded the carb by drilling out the
fuel jet to 0.026 and drilled holes in the outer filter
cover and put in a high flow filter. So far, so good.
I need to make a video of the belt drive while running
to show how stable the clutch bell is.