Friction drive problems!

yoyofred

New Member
Local time
2:17 AM
Joined
Jul 3, 2017
Messages
10
Location
NW Illinios
Hey everyone! This is my first post, and I'm new to motorized bikes. I recently purchased a friction drive kit from bike berry with the 49cc four stroke. Wow what a blast for a couple days! Until the clutch drum ripped in two. The customer service there was not the best, and instantly blamed me for the clutch and drum failing. I was totally disappointed in the way they treated me, so I decided I would just take the loss and buy a staton kit and use my motor on it. I bought the kit with 1 inch roller because that is what Dave recommended, and it does feel like the right fit for my weight. I love riding the bike it goes right up the hills even with my 230 lbs of weight. However, going down the hills is stripping out my clutch drum, pulling the threads right out. It has done this twice with two different clutch drums. I used red locktite and everything. This last one I even JB welded it on after it striped the last time. Hey I got 8 miles out of it lol! Anyone else have this problem? If so what did you do to fix it?
 
Anyone? I reinstalled my bikeberry kit with a new clutch a clutch drum and this is what happened after 30 min!
 

Attachments

  • 20170612_124002 (1).jpg
    3.1 MB · Views: 818
  • 20170612_123936 (1).jpg
    2.8 MB · Views: 731
Folks with in-frame chain system with the HS-142F face the same issue. My "guess" is that the stock three-arm clutch with the springs are designed for a pocket bike clutch drum. If you ever compared the clutch drum that comes with these kits and the clutch drums in pocket bikes, the pocket bike clutch drums have a smaller diameter. The pocket bike three-arm clutches work with the stock HS-142F clutch drums also.

That being said because the stock clutch drum has a larger diameter I think this puts a lot of stress on the clutch drum because clutch engages or "bites" the clutch drum at a higher RPM, causes excessive heat, and some slippage is probably occurring too. I've been using the pocket bike clutch drum (smaller diameter) with the three-arm clutch in my HS-142F and so far so good. But this is not the best solution.

The best solution is to get a heavy duty clutch from Staton-Inc that many HS-142F engine riders here swear by. The diameter of the heavy duty clutch is much larger than the three-arm stock clutch and has more grip material. This will cause your engine to grip the clutch drum at a lower rpm and the extra material will reduce heat. The better springs will also retract the clutch arms faster when let off the gas.

What is happening to your drum is that there is no grip material on your clutch (all metal pads) so the metal on metal contact is heating up the clutch drum to beyond specification. As it gets hotter and hotter, the cheap metal is probably failing causing your clutch drum to break. TLDR, buy a new clutch drum and buy a heavy duty Staton Inc clutch.

Others here can probably explain it better than me.

http://www.staton-inc.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=1676
 
Quote: However, going down the hills is stripping out my clutch drum, pulling the threads right out. It has done this twice with two different clutch drums. I used red locktite and everything. This last one I even JB welded it on after it striped the last time. Hey I got 8 miles out of it lol! Anyone else have this problem? If so what did you do to fix it? Unquote

Get a friction roller with a one-way bearing, aka sprag clutch.
 
Thanks bakaneko and 5-7heaven! I did purchase the heavy duty clutch it stripped out two clutch drums so far. The staton clutch drum is made much better than the flying horse, but pulled the threads right out of the drum after about 6 or 7 miles! Pic included....
Get a friction roller with a one-way bearing, aka sprag clutch.
Where do I get a sprag clutch? I see Staton has the sprockets and a go-cart one, but the go cart one is a 109 dollars and most projects need 2.. I don't mind droping a little cash, but after two kits and 3 bikes in less then a month it might have been cheaper to buy a Harley!
 

Attachments

  • 20170624_134539.jpg
    20170624_134539.jpg
    155.2 KB · Views: 869
Last edited:
Had the drum tig welded to the drive roller today. It lasted about as long as the JB Weld I used last time. The weld held up but the drive roller snapped right after the threads. I think its happening when I gas it after coasting down the hill I felt the clutch grab at about 15 mph and was like slamming a car in low gear. After that I was careful and waited till it slowed down to about 10 mph before I tried to give it gas. Do you think this could be a problem with my motor or does the 49cc just have to much torque for these friction kits? This is my 2nd kit, 3 rd clutch, 4 th clutch drum, and numerous rigging attempts. Anybody have any solutions? The sprag roller I can not find any info across the web on where to find one.
Thanks Fred
 
yoyo, I think you found your own problem.

There's nothing wrong with your clutch, bell housing or roller.

DO NOT give any throttle when coasting downhill at high speed.

It's like shifting to 2nd gear on a 4-speed vehicle on the freeway at 60mph.....
then stepping on the gas pedal.

Something's bound to break.

You could prolly get away with it if you had a 1.5" roller.....

and you rolled slowly into the throttle at 30mph.
 
Yeah I hear ya! I think the clutch should slip, not the drum or the harden drive roller! The clutch should be the weakest link and slip before the unit itself is destroyed. Like I said I was cautious of this, and made sure the bike slowed down to peddling speed before I hit the throttle probably around 10 mph or so. Do I have to slow down even more, and act like it is a complete restart? If that's the case I guess the friction drive is not for me.
 
I've had several bikes with friction drive, even a 5hp CY46 engine.

My present ride, Snow Tiger, was friction drive before I converted to mid-frame shift kit.

Strangely, I've never had clutch, bell or roller problems.

Did you try replacing the bearings supporting the roller?

Yours is an unusual problem.

What kind of engine do you have?

What size roller?
 
Back
Top