Cutting my shaft

arsoncop

I have a 16 hp. Vangaurd and I am installing it in a 1993 Club Car. I am going to use the stock drive clutch and the adapter kit from Carts Plus. I need to cut the shaft. Does any of you big blockers out there that have done this give me any pointers and suggestion so I want screw it up to start with. Thanks

BGW

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stinger5

Assuming that your shaft and adapter are the same basic items that I got from CPP for a Duromax conversion here's what I did; First, I drilled the shaft to the correct depth for the clutch bolt. I then used the( not be used in my application )aluminium spacer which I slid onto the shaft untill it seated against the shaft collar. I then took a fat sharpie to mark the crank diameter all the way around. This gave me approx 1/16" overhang for the CPP taper collet. I used a four inch cut off air grinder and slowly cut off the excess in small increments and all the while turning the shaft to avoid cutting at an angle. When I was finished, I cleaned up the cut face with a regular 4" angle grinder to level it off. Finally I tapped the shaft and that was it. Around a 1/2 hour to check and double check the measurements and the same again to complete the job as described.

ccmoto286

just be very careful when tapping the threads and use a good quality tap. i drilled and tapped my 16hp vanguard, but right as i was about done, the tap snapped off in the crankshaft. i ended up having to take it to a machine shop to get the tap out and clean up the threads.

stinger5

To add to that sad event,Taps aren't like drywall screws. You just cannot keep screwing in a tap to a dead end.there will be a hydraulic/ friction effect at less than ideal cutting speeds. Always use a good cutting oil, WD40 won't cut it, use a heavy gear oil or a thin type grease. (grease is good at retaining cut metal in the tap lands ). Tap the threads approx 1/ 4 turn at a time, back out and go in again. It's a tactile feel thing, don't stress the tap and after the cut unwind, wipe off swarf cuttings and re-grease or oil the tap. Use a secondary or final cut tap not a taper/primary cut for this process. A taper/primary cut tap will jam to short unless you plan ahead.
I couldn't find the fine thread bolts locally so went with standard 5/8" and loctite. Since the thread is self locking in any event, and I have had no issues in approx 1,000 hrs running time on my last conversion I'd recommend that route to any new builder using the CCW system.
btw, as a young apprentice Engineer many years ago it was one of my tasks to remove broken taps from blind holes. a very hard ground down punch and much labour. No easy task back in the day when wire erosion didn't exist but I learned many lessons.

sho305

You need to figure out where you want the engine, and how far on the shaft you want the clutch. I put a clone in a G9 and barely had room for the recoil and carb on the other side so I wanted the clutch on the shaft far as I could get it. Some use the spacer to hold it out more, I did not use the spacer at all. So I drilled as above, then cut the shaft off with a large air grinder 1 1/8" from the shoulder on the crank. According to instructions with my adapter that is max you can have. I tapered off the end so it was actually little less than that. I put the adapter on, put clutch on, it was all good. The stock engine still had the clutch closer to the block because the shoulder (that is larger than 1") on the clone sticks out what like 1/2" or something from the block. The yami engine did not.

Always drill the hole deeper than you will run the tap. I used a spiral for blind holes as normal taps do not tap very close to the end. Just get them started straight and be careful with taps, it takes a fair amount to break a 3/8 tap by hand and it should cut easily. You should not get that tight with it. Also watch your hole size, typically you drill a larger hole for hand tap and don't get full depth threads. But when you have more threads it does not matter. With mine the bolt had over 3/4" of thread engaged iirc. Pretty sure the yamaha was a 3/8 fine thread.

arsoncop

Thanks for the replys, my next question is how do I line up the two clutches up? The drive clutch opens to the outside and the driven clutch opens to the inside, so how do I line it up so I can get the right measurment to cut the shaft.

stinger5

I placed a straight edge across the mounting flange (Where it will butt up against the crank shoulder) and measured from there to the center of the clutch sheaves. I then marked on the Duromax crank that same measurement. Next, I shifted the engine about to bring the crank mark into line with the center of the driven clutch sheaves to determine that I had enough room for the engine to be mounted at this approximate point. As Sho said earlier though, some applications wont allow the crank to be cut as tightly to the shoulder as others and that's why CPP supply the aluminum spacer to allow a little more adjustment. I have no direct experience with the Vanguard so why not simply place the motor in it's rough position and mark across the centre of the driven clutch sheaves to the Vanguard crank. Now you can apply the drive clutch measurements and this should give you your cut position. There will be room to move the engine laterally after cutting the crank and fitting the drive clutch so super accuracy is not essential at this point. It will be more important when you come to mount the engine to ensure correct belt alignment.

csason

Use the engine mounting slots (make em) to adjust for belt alignment.