Please Help, Slipping Clutch

Hello jobin144,

As chainlube points out, Zeda is also a China Girl even though the instruction manual is written by an Australian...hope that didnt fool you into thinking it was built in the "land down under"...lol.

You have an HBC along with a Zeda 80 im guessing...probably much like my HBC with Zeda 80 pictured below.
Im willing to bet that what you reported about resistance and locking up and then being able to roll it the next day after the failure you reported might just be something simple.

On mine, i had the same problem but with the HBC rear hub, To be more specific, the coaster brakes and wheel bearings. It could well mimic a clutch problem but it was not the clutch at all, and yes, that added resistance and locking up on the rear wheel can scorch your clutch pads as well, as i can see by your pics that your pads appear scorched as well.

It seems the Chinese must be suffering from a lack of heavy duty multipurpose grease/wheel bearing grease etc. As you read below, this may be your problem.


First thing i did was disengage the drive chain from the motor to the sprocket and then hand spun the wheel, hit the coaster brake and then respun the wheel again...it was snagging which told me that after only about 250 miles on the bike, that i was looking at an impending brake failure due to lack of proper rear hub lubrication.

Low and behold, I was correct...there was zero lube on the bearings and next to none in the hub assembly itself...I removed all the guts from the Hyper hub, cleaned the hub out and replaced it with the freshly greased guts as well as bearings from a 5yr old 6000 mile Huffy hub i had in my spare parts from an older build Huffy that i kept for spare parts when the frame on the Huffy broke.

The frame of the Huffy is not as good as the Hyper frame but besides the lack of good greasing on the Hyper, I found that the break shoes were also substandard in comparison to the ones i saved of the Huffy which were still next to brand new in appearance with wider grooves and higher ridges than the Hyper brake shoes were.

After i put it all back together, everything just worked again the way it is supposed to. Problem solved, at least with mine.
Hope your problem is as simple as mine and might even be the same problem...DAMIEN

Edit...When stupid stuff like this happens to me, i tend to notice these problems much quicker than others might due to more extreme conditions i live in.

Im in Alamogordo NM now after i retired 10 years ago and moved from sea level from New Hampshire, to here in New Mexico not far from the Mexican border in the high desert where im operating this thing at between 4,500 ft. to 9,000 ft when i leave the desert basin and go cruising up the mountains around me.
Also extreme temp variations that have been in the 110 dgree F range most summer days, so if a problems going to happen, im going to know pretty quick...lol.
 

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Look at it this way most likely that upper end is the problem. Study up on porting, port matching cleaning casting on new cylinder. Which only helps your performance and longevity of engine. Search on here and use YouTube video . Which you can ask us on here too. It’s really a win win situation.Theres really not much to these engine but all of us have problems too. Good luck, be safe. Ask us if needed.
Will do, thank you. I am just trying to get a greater understanding before I dive in and tear everything apart this weekend and what I should look out for. I will probably post pics of the internals
 
Will do, thank you. I am just trying to get a greater understanding before I dive in and tear everything apart this weekend and what I should look out for. I will probably post pics of the internals
I would love to see them. please do. thanks
 
Hello jobin144,

As chainlube points out, Zeda is also a China Girl even though the instruction manual is written by an Australian...hope that didnt fool you into thinking it was built in the "land down under"...lol.

You have an HBC along with a Zeda 80 im guessing...probably much like my HBC with Zeda 80 pictured below.
Im willing to bet that what you reported about resistance and locking up and then being able to roll it the next day after the failure you reported might just be something simple.

On mine, i had the same problem but with the HBC rear hub, To be more specific, the coaster brakes and wheel bearings. It could well mimic a clutch problem but it was not the clutch at all, and yes, that added resistance and locking up on the rear wheel can scorch your clutch pads as well, as i can see by your pics that your pads appear scorched as well.

It seems the Chinese must be suffering from a lack of heavy duty multipurpose grease/wheel bearing grease etc. As you read below, this may be your problem.


First thing i did was disengage the drive chain from the motor to the sprocket and then hand spun the wheel, hit the coaster brake and then respun the wheel again...it was snagging which told me that after only about 250 miles on the bike, that i was looking at an impending brake failure due to lack of proper rear hub lubrication.

Low and behold, I was correct...there was zero lube on the bearings and next to none in the hub assembly itself...I removed all the guts from the Hyper hub, cleaned the hub out and replaced it with the freshly greased guts as well as bearings from a 5yr old 6000 mile Huffy hub i had in my spare parts from an older build Huffy that i kept for spare parts when the frame on the Huffy broke.

The frame of the Huffy is not as good as the Hyper frame but besides the lack of good greasing on the Hyper, I found that the break shoes were also substandard in comparison to the ones i saved of the Huffy which were still next to brand new in appearance with wider grooves and higher ridges than the Hyper brake shoes were.

After i put it all back together, everything just worked again the way it is supposed to. Problem solved, at least with mine.
Hope your problem is as simple as mine and might even be the same problem...DAMIEN

Edit...When stupid stuff like this happens to me, i tend to notice these problems much quicker than others might due to more extreme conditions i live in.

Im in Alamogordo NM now after i retired 10 years ago and moved from sea level from New Hampshire, to here in New Mexico not far from the Mexican border in the high desert where im operating this thing at between 4,500 ft. to 9,000 ft when i leave the desert basin and go cruising up the mountains around me.
Also extreme temp variations that have been in the 110 dgree F range most summer days, so if a problems going to happen, im going to know pretty quick...lol.
Thank you so much for the detailed response. I attached a pic of my setup. HBC Cruiser, Zeda motor, I have a husky 11g wheel in the back w shimano coaster brake, as well as a husky 11g freewheel in front. I can rule out the coaster brake issue, my HBC rear wheel had already failed some time ago (of course) lol. I also have a 44t cdhpower sprocket on the rear wheel, as well as a motor mounted chain tensioner. I tried to build it so it would be as bulletproof as possible. Of course, nothing ever works out according to plan. All part of the fun tho. And yes I know my fuel is disconnected, I ordered/cleaned a new carb thinking that would rule out that issue but alas it didnt
IMG_1598.JPG
 
They're all pretty good if a little care is taken when breaking them in. If you can find one with wider intake and exhaust ports it's even better.
 
Hi Chainlube,

The Zeda 80s are already so equipped with wider intake/exhaust ports along with ceramic lined cylinder...DAMIEN

  • Improved large intake port (40mm bolt hole width)
  • Improved large exhaust port
Complete specs for Zeda 80 found here:


And PDF here, showing comparison with other engines being offered in the 66/80 series:

 
Hi Chainlube,

The Zeda 80s are already so equipped with wider intake/exhaust ports along with ceramic lined cylinder...DAMIEN

  • Improved large intake port (40mm bolt hole width)
  • Improved large exhaust port
Complete specs for Zeda 80 found here:


And PDF here, showing comparison with other engines being offered in the 66/80 series:

Yea, I thought that was the case. I just don't order from the US. There's a couple Canadian sites that have them and one of those sites has the Zeda.
 
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