Centrifugal clutch rattle

army

Thought I'd pass this along for guys with the same issue. I have a cheap Chinese centrifugal on a 1 inch shaft in my EZGO. It's a mini-bike style clutch with a narrow belt pulley, not the variable speed wide belt type like on most golf carts. The clutch started rattling like crazy after very little use, to the point where it was extremely annoying at low revs and while idling. So I took the clutch apart. To do that I had to remove the snap ring on the outer end. It was immediately obvious the snap ring was actually the problem. I wouldn't even call it a snap ring. More like a coiled up piece of scrap metal that 'threads' into the grove. There was lots of play between the outer pulley and the clutch mechanism due to the sloppy fit. I replaced the crappy 'snap ring' with a proper new one and presto! Silent running :)

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

turboaz2

That is actually called a Spiro-lock it is often used in place of a snap ring where 360deg coverage and guaranteed retention is necessary. It sounds like they just used the wrong size.

I.E. metric spiro-lock and on a part machined to SAE tolerances.

army

Good info. I've never run across a spiro-lock fastener before. This one looked like a piece of scrap wire somebody wound around the shaft in the snap ring groove. So a good quality properly sized spiro-lock would be even more reliable than the snap ring I used?

turboaz2

Correct.
They are very difficult to push off, because as you push the expand on one side and contact the other. I have always used them to hold in the wrist pins on my SBC racing engines. I've ripped the pin out of the piston on a over-rev, but the locks were still in the groove.

For your Application a Snap ring will work just as well, and make the clutch easier to clean.