Ok I got the carb problem sorted, now I think I fried the clutch. The engine pulls me along fine, but I think I cooked the new clutch. The mini bike took me down the road fine, but when I drove it in the yard it was having a hard time and when I got back up to the house, I noticed that clutch was smoking a bit, and was still trying to turn the drive chain at idle. I turned it off, let it cool down, and when I started it again it was operating like normal. Is there a break in period with these or do I need to get a heavier duty clutch if I want to ride the mini bike. The clutch is a plain jane max torque.
clutch questions
- Thread starter Rumnhammer
- Start date
- Tags clutch questions
oil the bushing on the clutch. Odds are you just overheated it. If you got it too hot, you cooked the bushing and will have to either rebuild it or replace the entire clutch.
If it did overheat, it's because the gearing is too high for the type of riding that you're doing. If that's the case, you have two options. You can get a larger sprocket for the rear, or a new clutch with more teeth on it. Either one will knock the top-speed down, and increase the torque and put less stress on the clutch
If it did overheat, it's because the gearing is too high for the type of riding that you're doing. If that's the case, you have two options. You can get a larger sprocket for the rear, or a new clutch with more teeth on it. Either one will knock the top-speed down, and increase the torque and put less stress on the clutch
The bike is a Wards/Gilson 525. gearing is 11 tooth clutch sproket to a 17 tooth sprockets on the jackshaft to a 60 tooth rear sprocket. With this the bike moves right out on the road. had more trouble on the grass. I weigh ~190 or so. The motor is a 3.5 hp that I've breathed on a bit so output is probably closer to 4.5hp it has a 5/8 output shaft so high po clutches are not available :-(. I did oil the bushing before installing. The chain is straight but might be a bit tight, I'll loosen it a bit before the next ride. I definatly think I overheated it, but I don't think it is toast, after it cooled down it seemed to release fine and was not trying to spin the wheel at idle. I definatly think the life has been reduced but at least it is a cheap clutch, so if it needs replaced, it's not too killer. Thanks for the quick replys. if I continue to have trouble with it, I'll find a smaller mini bike for kids, put this engine on it and put a predator with a torque converter on this bike.
both jackshaft sprockets are either 17 or 18 I forget. I took the clutch off and didn't see a lot of heat damage, none on the bushing ( I did oil it prior to use) but what was strange, was how the friction material was wearing. only on the back 1/8 inch or so of the clutch drum.
Here is a pic.
What would cause it to wear like this???
I took a second pic of the springs, they don't look like they overheated, they look normal colorwise and they have retracted the friction material just fine.
Any guesses why it would wear this way? perhaps the chain was too tight? It's no wonder why it was having a hard time with only this small amount of the clutch engaging. FWIW I was going to full throttle pretty much every time I accelerated no part throttle stuff at all.
Here is a pic.
What would cause it to wear like this???
I took a second pic of the springs, they don't look like they overheated, they look normal colorwise and they have retracted the friction material just fine.
Any guesses why it would wear this way? perhaps the chain was too tight? It's no wonder why it was having a hard time with only this small amount of the clutch engaging. FWIW I was going to full throttle pretty much every time I accelerated no part throttle stuff at all.
