Rough Rider reverse

[dkrk]

I have an interesting story about my McKee Rough Rider.

I was out in my yard having fun with the kids when my engine died down and was sputtering. It started to come back to life and when I engaged the drive I started to go in reverse. Imagine that !!! My machine does not have a reverse. I tried it a second time and it went in reverse again. I shut off the engine and restarted it. It then went forward as it was supposed to do.

I asked a few people and they said that it could not have happened. I disagreed as it did happen. I then asked some other people if it was possible that the engine while running extremely slow somehow reversed itself and caused the machine to go in reverse. I was then told that it was possible for a 2 stroke engine to reverse itself.

Anyone have any ideas on how this works and how I can make it happen on purpose??

[Matt O.]

Hi,
I have 2 Rough Riders too. One is in very good shape with the factory windsheild and the other is very rough. I have not had a chance to get them running but plan to this spring. I have seen a 2 stroke engine start to die back fire and run in reverse!!! I think some gas powered golf carts have a starter that is linked to the engine crank shaft with a belt and when you want to go from forward to reverse or vise versa, you stop the engine move a switch and restart the engine to go the other way. I will check with a friend that is big into golf carts.

Matt

[Amphiman1]

2 cylcle in reverse

Hi, good guesses are dirty spark plug,and /or timing is off... or key on pulley is bent..

[Bw6]

Rotax Electronic Reverse (RER)

Bombardier (Ski-Doo) patented the mechanism for a 2-stroke to run backwards in 1997 I believe. It was later copied by Polaris. Here is a quote:

Push-Button Electronic Reverse: Many of us realized years ago that a two-stroke engine could run backwards. Trying to start old sleds would occasionally result in a backfire, then as you pressed the throttle you realized the engine was running in reverse. Some clever Rotax engineers figured out a way to intentionally make this happen, and control it. The engine RPM is slowed way down, and the ignition timing changed so the engine actually fires in a reverse rotation. Ski-Doo even patented the process. The Rotax Electronic Reverse (RER) was first featured on the 1998 Tundra R and Touring SLE models, small fan cooled models that provided valuable field experience.
Now in 2002, Ski-Doo has made this feature available on many of their liquid cooled twins, including MX Z and Summit models. Yet even more surprising is the fact that Polaris offers a similar feature (“under license” from Bombardier) on their 2002 model 600 Classic Touring. The details of this agreement are less important than the fact that Polaris also recognized the benefits of such a system; simplicity and lightweight.

[LarryW]

I have seen them on those sled at the whitestar snowmobile auction. You just push the reverse button and it starts to die, then sometimes but not always backfires, then it take off in reverse. I didnt know they made them untile like 6 months ago and I thought it was so cool. For a split second, you can see the clutch clear, as if its not spinnng. I went to every machine in the auction just to fire it up and put the motor in reverse.

[bigpopr]

Sorry, my daughter hit the keyboard.

What is you used a transaxle off of a lawn mower and powered your engine through that to give you a reverse?

[LarryW]

Sorry, my daughter hit the keyboard.

What is you used a transaxle off of a lawn mower and powered your engine through that to give you a reverse?

I did that once, lasted like 10 minutes before I fried the differential.

It would have to be a F-N-R gear box to hold up.

[bucketobolts]

I used to collect antique outboards and alot of the early elto's and evinrudes(circa 1920's) were opposed 2 and 4 cylinder 2 strokes. They called them knucklebusters because you started them with a knob on top of the flywheel. The funny thing is that to start them you "bump" them against compression opposite of the running direction and if you wanted to reverse you let the motor get down to low RPM and push the kill button and then release it at just the right time. Presto...your running in reverse. I got really good at it with some of my etter running engines. Mercury also developed an outboard that was mass produced that reversed rotation to back up and had no gearbox. It all depends on engine design, mostly stroke and ignition timing.