Driven Clutch Face "Cut" mod..

[mustangwagz]

Read about a mod some Golf Cart Guru's are doing. Looks like something we shoulda maybe look into if needed (enless someone already has an i didnt read about it) The guys are taking their Driven faces apart, and machining Both halfs of it. The Insides that is, the part where the belt rides. They machine equal amounts off both sides, thus allowing the clutch to close more. Which in return, gives higher bottom end torque. Pretty nifty eh? I dont have an issue with needing more bottom end, but i thought i'd throw this out there. I also read they charge $75 bucks to do this. lol. HOLY MOLY! Gimme a grinder, ill fix ya up for 20, plus shipping! HAHA!! (J/k..i dont do much sidework anymore..but when i do...i use actual machines. lol)

anyhow, food for thought for all of those seeking a nice high torque bottom end log pulling monster machine!

[jpswift1]

Good idea, but you're right, that price is really high. I have a couple driven clutches that have surface rust on the face of them and as soon as I saw this thread I got excited and thought i might be able to make them usable again.

[LarryW]

If the drive clutch are closing more it would give more speed but lower your torque. If the driven clutch is machined it would give more torque. Not sure if thats possible to machine that end without looking at one. I think there are rivets that might get in the way near the shaft? I would think the belt length might need to be adjusted too. Why dont they just make a 20" drive clutch matched up to a 25" driven, lol. That would expand the low and high ratio's. Good idea though. Thanks for posting that. I have a grinder too, lol.

[mustangwagz]

yah, chuck em in lathe, cut a little off each one, and while its in there spinning, take some emery cloth or scotch bright and shine em up. I need to get my hands on a couple so i can do this and give em to some test specimens to try out and see how they work!

[mustangwagz]

If the drive clutch are closing more it would give more speed but lower your torque. If the driven clutch is machined it would give more torque. Not sure if thats possible to machine that end without looking at one. I think there are rivets that might get in the way near the shaft? I would think the belt length might need to be adjusted too. Why dont they just make a 20" drive clutch matched up to a 25" driven, lol. That would expand the low and high ratio's. Good idea though. Thanks for posting that. I have a grinder too, lol.

Meant driven, sorry larry.

[mustangwagz]

Good idea, but you're right, that price is really high. I have a couple driven clutches that have surface rust on the face of them and as soon as I saw this thread I got excited and thought i might be able to make them usable again.

On another note, if you find out the TPF (taper per foot..i beleive thats the abbreveation for it...) you can EASILY cut a couple thousandths off the entire clutch face. Thus giving you a brand new belt riding surface, while still manintaining the same basic shape and form.

[jpswift1]

On another note, if you find out the TPF (taper per foot..i beleive thats the abbreveation for it...) you can EASILY cut a couple thousandths off the entire clutch face. Thus giving you a brand new belt riding surface, while still manintaining the same basic shape and form.

Excellent! Thanks for the heads up on that wagz. Do you know roughly how much something like that would cost to do?

[cclingma]

I'm one of the golf cart guys. I had my driven machined to allow better bottom end but went about it a little more crudely than the full taper cut. They just took a little off the surfaces of the clutch that touch at rest so that the two halves could get closer allowing the belt to ride about an 1/8" or so out of the clutch.

[LarryW]

I had a old rupp minibike once that the drive clutch had a groove worn in it. The groove was probably more like a flat spot in the taper. So when you revved it, it would just stay in the lower range. Then you could wind it out, let off gas and hit it again and it would pop it out of the groove and cycle like it should. Worked like a 2 speed semi automatic. I was actually cool. I bet you could mess with the taper to make it shift slower or faster too.

Jeff, see if you could rig them up in a drill press or something and sand them down with emery or what ever.

[mustangwagz]

Excellent! Thanks for the heads up on that wagz. Do you know roughly how much something like that would cost to do?

Price, no clue jp..some of the other guys would be better at this question. And as for me doing it ya mean?..i'd wanna try on junk before i did it on anthing important. lol

I'm one of the golf cart guys. I had my driven machined to allow better bottom end but went about it a little more crudely than the full taper cut. They just took a little off the surfaces of the clutch that touch at rest so that the two halves could get closer allowing the belt to ride about an 1/8" or so out of the clutch.

Exactly what i'm talkin bout sir, its not the whole clutch to do the mod, just the inner most part allowing both halves to close more. my idea of cutting whole sheave is for cleaning up the belt ridding surfaces to help out JP so he can re-use some clutchs that are rather poopy at the moment.

I had a old rupp minibike once that the drive clutch had a groove worn in it. The groove was probably more like a flat spot in the taper. So when you revved it, it would just stay in the lower range. Then you could wind it out, let off gas and hit it again and it would pop it out of the groove and cycle like it should. Worked like a 2 speed semi automatic. I was actually cool. I bet you could mess with the taper to make it shift slower or faster too.

Jeff, see if you could rig them up in a drill press or something and sand them down with emery or what ever.

Larry, Your on to something here...i once rode a polaris quad that had different shift points in it... i never knew enough to tear it apart and look to see what he had done, but he said he had an aggresive shift kit in it. it started out with a TON of bottom end, like it would tach out, then shift and POOOOOOF!!!! you we're GONE!! it was set up for flat track racing so i dunno..that may be something we could look at as well? (the racing clutch's may have somethign in them?)