Driven Clutch - so THATS what that is!

[Cessna75]

Ok, so i'm a little new to the golf cart thing and i'm jumping in with both feet. I'm overhauling/upgrading an 87 Club Car and at this point I've used more dollars the sense.

I did purchase the 16hp powermax clone, 780 clutch, and 89-91 ez-go drive belt that I've heard others using. I haven't mounted the engine yet because I had the whole rearend out to clean it up, repaint it, and while it was apart I decided to add the Jakes 6" spindle lift kit.

Last night I decided to hold up the new drive belt to the (stay with me here and refer to my opening sentence) "big pulley" on the transaxel. Well, the new wide belt wasn't even close to fitting down inside the space between the two walls of the "pulley". I did a little digging around and found out thats actually a driven clutch, but i'm still trying to learn why there's two clutches. (any input greatly appreciated).

My big question is, can the driven clutch be set up to accept this wider belt, should I buy the new comet replacement driven clutch from CPP (what diameter belt will it accept?) and how do i tell if this driven clutch is good with no motor present yet?

Thanks!

[scottyb]

There is an impressive amount of questions buried in that post...... The two pulleys must accept the same width belt....quite possible you could use the narrower belt that the Driven accepts? Call Tom at CPP and ask him... If severe duty is needed use the max 1 3/16th belt. Tom can advise ..... I have the comet driven on my powermax conversion in progress and the pulley is 1 inch larger in diameter.

[ads245]

Originally Posted by Cessna75

Ok, so i'm a little new to the golf cart thing and i'm jumping in with both feet. I'm overhauling/upgrading an 87 Club Car and at this point I've used more dollars the sense.

I did purchase the 16hp powermax clone, 780 clutch, and 89-91 ez-go drive belt that I've heard others using. I haven't mounted the engine yet because I had the whole rearend out to clean it up, repaint it, and while it was apart I decided to add the Jakes 6" spindle lift kit.

Last night I decided to hold up the new drive belt to the (stay with me here and refer to my opening sentence) "big pulley" on the transaxel. Well, the new wide belt wasn't even close to fitting down inside the space between the two walls of the "pulley". I did a little digging around and found out thats actually a driven clutch, but i'm still trying to learn why there's two clutches. (any input greatly appreciated).

My big question is, can the driven clutch be set up to accept this wider belt, should I buy the new comet replacement driven clutch from CPP (what diameter belt will it accept?) and how do i tell if this driven clutch is good with no motor present yet?

Thanks!

The reason there are two clutches is to change the "pulley" ratio. If you notice that when the drive clutch is stopped the belt rests towards the center of the pulley and when the drivEN clutch is stopped the belt rests on the top. This so you starting ratio is small to large, giving you more torque for take off. As you get up to speed the drive clutch closes a bit, forcing the belt to ride on top and the drivEN clutch opens letting the belt slip down inside. This creates a high "pulley" ration giving you more speed.

[Cessna75]

Awesome answer Ads245! Thank you for the explanation! Now I need to find out why people get their clutches "machined".

[Riorat]

Tom at cart parts plus can machine your driven clutch.

[Cessna75]

Thanks Rio - but what does machining the driven clutch do?

[Riorat]

Someone else may be able to give you a better answer than me. I am just in the planning stage as doing the same swap as you. I do know that it allows you to use the wider belt that you were planning on using.

[scottyb]

Tom machined my driven clutch on the workhorse .... It pushes the belt up and out of the pulleys a bit for (the lowest gear) or the biggest starting advantage possible. I also had him put the power spring in and change it to a 28 degree.....all $ money well spent!

[Cessna75]

Ads, Rio, Scotty - thank you all, it's all finally starting to add up. I'm beginning to think I shouldn't have purchased the larger belt for my particular application. I'm going to use my cart more as a neighborhood vehicle with maybe just a little offroading here and there but nothing extreme. I don't want to sacrifice much top end speed, so I probably want to make sure the belt can drop into the driven or secondary clutch as much as possible by either 1. getting the clutch machined or 2. going with a narrower belt. Does it sound like I'm on the righ track here?

[Cessna75]

Good Morning All -

I got my driven clutch back from Tom at CPP. He did a GREAT job with it, that new 1 3/16" belt sits right down inside it. I'm about to put it back on and put the comet 780 on the Powermax but need a little input.

Can someone tell me what my center-to-center should be between these clutchs? Or let me see some pictures of how your drive belts sit on your centrifugal clutch? This cart I'm rebuilding had no belt on it to begin with, and I purchased that 41" belt for the horsepower but have no clue where to mount my new motor.