TAV 30 bronze bushing?

[noseoil]

I've seen posts about the bronze bushing on a TAV setup. Recently I pulled mine apart to put the heat shroud back in place (Tucson, summer & very hot out now) after a few hours of break-in running. The bushing was missing, but it was already ground up into a fine dust & smeared along the inside of the torque converter cover along with chain oil & some dirt from riding in the desert. Though I'd misplaced it until I started looking at things when it was time to put it all back together. I put the TC back without the bushing, since it was already gone & I hadn't noticed any difference.

My question is, how many of you are running a TAV without the bushing? It seems to me that anyone who uses a TAV is missing the bushing after a very short amount of running time. At $5 a bushing & only a couple of hours between repairs, does it really matter if it's there or not? The belt holds the pulley in place anyway.

I'm wondering how Comet got around this problem, since metal-on-metal will wear out unless it's lubed a lot, which would ruin the belt & make a mess of things. What do you guys think?

 

[super nate]

usually the 30 series belt is a bit tight. the bushing is there to keep the belt from burning on the shaft at idle. a belt that has some hours on it should be ok with out the bushing because its not tight enough to burn. since the bushing is brass and the shaft is steel it will wear a bit but it only wears when your at idle. the bushing spins with the shaft when the driver is engauged

 

[Havasu Dave]

If the belt is tight enough to trash the bushing, it's tight enough to burn into the clutch. I don't use TAV's, but in other Comet applications, I use and retain that bushing. However, I have had two other belt clutch systems, Tote Gote and Powell, that did not use a bushing at all and never had a problem. But I tend to keep my belts a bit looser, so I get some higher RPM engagement, allowing a higher RPM idle for start ups.

It just doesn't seem right to me that you'd burn up a bushing so quickly. I'd fix that by getting a longer belt. My rule of thumb is 1/8" of gap between belt and bushing, with belt held around the bushing. I think that is a Comet Specification.

Note my location, for weather comparisons. (grin)

 

[ole4]

I use the bushing on all my various tc's. It makes it easy to puzh around when not running. My atlas has years of running with a tav 20 and other than initally spraying with moly dry lube on inside of bush has had no maintenance.

 

[Possom point]

I have the same issue with my TAV, my bushing is smooth like a polish finish and has cracked all the way through the bushing, I need to order another one. But I still am riding it and it's doing fine and belt looks good, but this needs to be fixed soon.

 

[MB165]

I run with a bushing, they sure do take a pounding, seems like they only help to keep the belt off the hub, easier to push it around shut off and wont burn the belt at idle. my bushings look bad after only a short time, even keeping up with regular applications of comet dry lube.