80's Harley 3whl keeps shredding starter belt at speed.

ByronRACE

Hi Guys,

I'm putting an early 80's Harley 3whl cart back together and I've gotten everything adjusted and running per the manual and am generally happy with it...with one exception.

As the motor revs up to full speed and the driven pulley fully expands, it gets dangerously close to the starter belt and pulley; and if driven will eventually make contact and shred the starter belt.

I've tried shimming the starter further away from the driven pulley, and that helped some...but it still happens.

It seems like the motor is just simply located too far rearward, but I see no adjustment for this. The motor mounts are in good shape, as are the end links on the motor mount rod.

Short of drastic mechanical alterations to move the motor further away, I'm not sure what to do about this. For now, I've set the governor really low so the driven pulley can't expand and the cart can barely go down the road like this. I need enough power to climb a decent hill...this doesn't work long term.

Any suggestions?

Byron

BGW

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simple man

Possibly a change in the starter belt length?

ByronRACE

Without a belt installed, I rotated the generator over to the position that would offer the most belt clearance, then used a straight edge to see if it would clear the main driven pulley when it got fully extended. It would not. If I put a much smaller pulley on the generator, then rotated it...it might clear. But, this cart is all original; that shouldn't be necessary.

Is it normal for the plane of the main driven pulley to intersect the outermost plane of the generator belt when in operation like this?

Supersquid

I have a few theories, start with removing the drive cup cover and check the condition of the balls. Make sure the fluid is correct. This should give you some clues. I do not believe you have a belt issu. Next check the bearing inner race, make sure it spinns freely. Lastly check the driving flange. I bet it is loose and needs to be cranked back down. You could also have a crank issue. Can you post a few pitchure? Good luck, this is an interesting problem.

ByronRACE

I've been through the drive system and checked it thoroughly. I see nothing out of spec or out of place when compared to the manuals.

I did observe something tonight though, after having read the manual again. The manual speaks about shimming the back axle with washers to set pulley alignment. I think now I realize what kind of alignment they are speaking of. They're talking about rotational alignment in order to get the drive and driven pulleys in the same plane, I think.

With that in mind, I went out and examined my pulley alignment and noticed that the driven pulley that is connected to the pinion is NOT in the same plane, it is clocked such that the top of the pulley is further rearward. If I had to guess, I'd say the entire assembly is clocked about 5-10deg from where it needs to be to make the pulleys lie on the same plane. And, once I correct this, I think it might change the clearance to the generator. By rotating the driven pulley downward, it may actually clear the generator pulley and belt when it expands. It will be close.

Can anyone tell me if the driven pulley ordinarily opens beyond the plane of the generator pulley and belt or is there typically a lot of clearance.

Thanks,

Byron

Craigs carts

the driven clutch is the wrong one for your cart

ByronRACE

That could explain the problem. Here's a picture of what I'm looking at.



Do you still think it's the wrong driven clutch for this cart?

Craigs carts

measure the distance between brake disc and the back flange

ByronRACE

I'd be happy to. Can you tell me what surface the "back flange" refers to?

It must not be the mounting flange for the secondary drive, because that appears to be the same surface as the disc brake. Is it the edge of the pulley half closest to the disc brake?

ByronRACE

Hopefully this works well enough:

It's about 1.5 inches from the pulley to the face of the disc brake.



The center hub on the pulley looks like it's about an inch thick. If I chucked that up in the lathe and took off about 3/8", that would likely solve this problem.