Welding clutch bell to driver
- Thread starter kawazukimaha
- Start date
- Tags bell clutch driver welding
I wouldn't think it would help. You'd be amazed at some of the questions that pop up here.:laugh: The best you can do is change the bushing if it's worn and keep it lubed. It's a pretty loose fit in there. Nothing's really that balanced on a cheap clutch . It's kind of the nature of the beast.
Last edited:
The bushing is worn.
Reminds me when we were kids. We had 3 minis. As kids we didn't have the cash or even a place to buy a clutch. So when the clutch died we drilled through it and ran a bolt through it. You couldn't pull start it. It was push start. To stop you drove slow and jumped off it. We had no idea of kill switches. Those 5 horse Briggs were tough.
Reminds me when we were kids. We had 3 minis. As kids we didn't have the cash or even a place to buy a clutch. So when the clutch died we drilled through it and ran a bolt through it. You couldn't pull start it. It was push start. To stop you drove slow and jumped off it. We had no idea of kill switches. Those 5 horse Briggs were tough.
Actually Jeep gets it. The bushing is not the problem, the bell has significant oscillation due to it's worn connection with the "barrel" where the driving portion of the clutch happens. The connection with the sprocket and "barrel". The bell actually is "sloppy" where it mates with the driver portion of the clutch, after engagement, this thing is trying to come unglued. It is obviously shot, worn out. I was wondering (What could it hurt?) as long as it was square to the engagement surfaces. It is a POS. Just trying to get the last out of it without rattling any more eyeballs out of socket. :chinese:
The jingling is the weights banging the drum around as it tightens...
welding the sprocket to the drum won't really help any with the noise.. the weights and drum are still jingling..
But it's kinda like Jeep said, only about 100 times worse..
You will NEVER get that thing to run exactly true.. YOU CAN just press the 1/2's together tight, and zap it.. But those damned things jingle quite a bit.. and when everything is tight and rolling true.. the sprocket and drum ARE NOT alinged strait and true... If they were, they wouldn't be stretched to a loose point, ya know? :shrug:
I GUESS, you can tack weld it in a few spots, THEN BEND the drum around later until it looks mostly strait again....
But it's still gonna be sloppy and jingle and make noise all the same... Because the bushing is worn out, and the drum and weights slap around....
run it and forget about it.. It's a minibike clutch, it's what they do... Or put a new bushing in it..
welding the sprocket to the drum won't really help any with the noise.. the weights and drum are still jingling..
But it's kinda like Jeep said, only about 100 times worse..
You will NEVER get that thing to run exactly true.. YOU CAN just press the 1/2's together tight, and zap it.. But those damned things jingle quite a bit.. and when everything is tight and rolling true.. the sprocket and drum ARE NOT alinged strait and true... If they were, they wouldn't be stretched to a loose point, ya know? :shrug:
I GUESS, you can tack weld it in a few spots, THEN BEND the drum around later until it looks mostly strait again....
But it's still gonna be sloppy and jingle and make noise all the same... Because the bushing is worn out, and the drum and weights slap around....
run it and forget about it.. It's a minibike clutch, it's what they do... Or put a new bushing in it..
Yeah, I'm thinking welding it would make a stronger vibration. The bell never gets locked very true. The sprocket having a little give is what keeps it's side to side runout to a minimum. Welded, it's going to run with the wobbly bell. All of the bell's runout in all directions would now be transferred to the sprocket. That will finish wearing out the bushing faster and uneven too. you could peen around the connection on the inside with a center punch to tighten it a little to get the rest of the life out of it.
2 , 4wheels ? Where else might there weak point ? Motor mount, crack in frame?? Post a pic of what you are doing.You can buy a new clutch fairly reasonable. I think just about everyone here has 1 or more laying around. I have 4 but I'm still running one bike with the stock motor so i can't really part with any yet. For the stock engine the best clutch i've run was a bored out maxtorque I bought from hotrodminibike. It has a lot of play at the sprocket and bell but it's not an issue. When the chain gets overtightened it causes wear to, the bushing. The maxtorque clutches have replacement bushings available. Consider a tav if the rattle bothers you
Can't really tell how serious noise is without vid, I agree with others, cheap clutches are noisy. If it still works, lub the bushing and keep using it.
I like my engine/ mini to be rattle free as possible and run them without fenders, chain guard, etc. For the clutch, if you shim the hub with end space washers so it's mounted tight to the crank, it will get rid of some of the noise, my experience anyway. Once you get rid of all the rattles 97cc engines have a fairly cool sound IMO.
Don't overdo it or may have trouble getting clutch off crank, has to be just right, just enough to take out the slop. OK to be sloppy, but will be a little more noisy.
As I understand it, the bushing is only used while the clutch is slipping. Once locked up, the shoes tight against the bell hold the sprocket in position.
I like my engine/ mini to be rattle free as possible and run them without fenders, chain guard, etc. For the clutch, if you shim the hub with end space washers so it's mounted tight to the crank, it will get rid of some of the noise, my experience anyway. Once you get rid of all the rattles 97cc engines have a fairly cool sound IMO.
Don't overdo it or may have trouble getting clutch off crank, has to be just right, just enough to take out the slop. OK to be sloppy, but will be a little more noisy.
As I understand it, the bushing is only used while the clutch is slipping. Once locked up, the shoes tight against the bell hold the sprocket in position.
It's a minibike, was just a general coverage thing for chain rattles, vibration, wheel wobble, etc. I think I'm right in tune with you, once you said sprocket.:thumbsup: Even though you're not spinning on the bushing after lockup, which is a pretty sloppy event, it's still there and things are shifting around. A new clutch bell to sprocket connection feels tight on a new one, but it works loose due to it not running concentric. The sprocket can run truer then. They're just not a precision built or smooth running part, and a little wear here and there makes them seem like they're going to fly apart.
Last edited: