Sperry Rand Wedge 4-stroke conversion

[liflod]

I started the conversion this evening by pulling the engine and the clutches. The original belt is only 7/8".

I need a 1" shaft driven clutch that will accept a 1 1/4" belt. Anybody have one of those laying around?

I'm going to use a 11HP Briggs single in it. I think I have to modify the fan shroud to get it to fit , but that and the clutch look to be the only hurdles.

The Ledges ride is creeping up on me.

[George]

Lance,

Your Wedge is one of my favorite machines.

Do you know if the Slasbury clutch from a Chief (JLO 400) would do the job?

George

[liflod]

No, it's not the same. I have 4 or 5 extra driven clutches and they are all 3/4 or 7/8 shafts.
I told the kids the Wedge is not for me to drive. You may have to fight one of them to drive it.
It should be a decent trail machine with the new engine. I'll distract them while you take it for a spin

[Amphiman1]

wedge conversion.......

a scrambler clutch is 1" shaft, maybe an amphicat too, argo's have them too
Another member posted looking for one too for his argo....
lance, was the wedge trans etc any good?

[liflod]

The trans is locked into forward gear by a pin through the splined shaft. The corners of the dog clutch were rounded.
Whipper has one of my spare transmissions and we are trying to find a cost effective solution to fixing it correctly.

[mark m.]

Lance. My Baker Hill 7000 had the same problem with the dog clutch. What I did to fix it was to build it back up with some hard face tig rod. Then trimmed it up with an abrasive wheel in a die grinder. I did the welding with the part almost submerged in a can of water leaving only the section that needed building up so as not to heat effect any other portion of the part. In other words I didn't want to anneal what was already hard by welding it.
I explained how I did this to Russ M. and he fixed his Wedge clutches with the same method.

[Matt O.]

Hi Lance,
Just my thoughts on this. I would leave the org. driven clutch on the wedge and buy a small comet clutch that uses the smaller belt. These clutches are common for the Larger go carts made today. If you need help finding the clutch give me a call.

Matt

[liflod]

George was able to locate the correct clutch for the project. I'm going to lose the transmission brake in the conversion, but its only useful if you can change gears. I am working out the engine mounting. I should have it mounted this weekend. Of course I need to replace a chain or 2 that I didn't replace the last time I worked on it. The exhaust should not be too much of an issue.
My goal is to get it together for the Ledges so my kids( and George) can drive it around. It's not going out on the big rides, it will be more of a "pit bike" for AATV events.

I will bet money that nobody has ever said " I love working on my Wedge"

[George]

Hey Lance,

Can you post some pictures of the conversion? Will you ever be able to go back to stock condition or will the mods prevent that?

[liflod]

I'll try to get some pictures this weekend. The only thing I had to modify was the brake band holder for the transmission. I cut it off. Other than that, the original engine and clutch can be reinstalled.

[Matt O.]

Hi Lance,
Do you want me to bring my Wedge too??? We can have a wedge pit area?

Matt

[liflod]

How are you going to fit a Wedge and my Mud-Ox?

The throttle hook up has been kicking my @#@# all weekend. I finally have something that will work. I should have the engine installed for the 10th time this week and the throttle working.

I tried using a Mikuni pulse pump on the Briggs with no luck. I'll have to try a Briggs version and see if it works. The tank should gravity feed the carb, but I was trying to run the engine on a stand and pump fuel out of my lawn mower tank. I ended up placing the engine on the ground and running the fuel line from my lawn mower to the carb.

[liflod]

Finally got the engine installed and running. Ran into carb issues and then steering issues.

I rebuilt the carb and found lots of stuff just inside the fuel shut off valve. It was running great , then would sputter and after idling, it would run great again. Evidently it would only allow a little fuel in the bowl and run great until the bowl runs out of fuel.

The steering brake cables were pretty stiff so the steering was not that good. I removed the cables to lube them and ended up breaking one of them. The other moves free now. I ordered a cable for a snowmobile that I will probably have to engineer to make it work.

The brake pads are worn so the adjustment is at the end of its travel. I ordered snowmobile brake pucks that should work and I will make them work if they don't.

I still have some time to get it ready for the Ledges. The little 11HP Briggs pushes it along pretty good. It's not the same as the JLO, but I think its a good match for the machine and younger drivers.

[trebmaster]

Do you have any pics. I love those wedges

[liflod]

Okay, brake pucks installed by sanding them down to fit. They were a tad too large. This should put the rigging of the controls back to where they should be.
I found a frayed control cable yesterday, so its out to the hardware store to buy some new cable for the steering.

The brake cable is next on the list. The one I bought is too short. If I can trim the outer sheath with the cable ends intact, I can make it work.

I've pretty much figured out how this thing works and its supposed to work. So if you have questions, I probably have answers.