87 Honda Elite 150 suddenly runs OK but makes terrible noise By elitehillbilly (Read 1,058 times)

[elitehillbilly]

Suddenly my variator or clutch is making a lot of unacceptable noise, never did before.  I saw a YouTube that said it was due to the variator rollers having flat spots.  I took the variator apart, and the rollers do have flat spots.  See image.  The roller outer diameters vary from .784" to .794" (19.91 - 20.168 mm), reflecting flat spots, which can also be seen visually.  They are about .582"  to .588" (14.78 - 14.93mm) wide. The average weight of all 6 is 11.7 gram.  

I bought a new belt at NAPA, it makes no difference.  The old one had a worn spot at one spot on one side.  Does anyone know where I can get a new variator, or should I just replace the rollers?  It has a shaft spline with 21 teeth, and the spline is about .742" (18.85 mm).





The top speed on a flat road has been 53 mph.  No complaints there, it's only 9 hp.  

[cyborg]

Time to change the rollers if they have flat spots

[elitehillbilly]

Where do I find new rollers?  I haven't had any luck on Google.

[cyborg]

Contact any of our vendors at the top of the page they'll help you out

[jasonwilson]

Install new roller weights which can be found here www.partsforscooters.com/ or if you prefer to go with sliders as I recently wen with, try some Dr. Pulley sliders. You stated that the average weight is 11.7 grams so that would make the original weights 12 grams.

[elitehillbilly]

Turns out the engine noise was not the variator at all. It was a failed ball bearing on the camshaft, just inside the chain sprocket. The steel ball retainer had failed, chewed up the inner and outer race, and the noise was coming from the balls clashing together as the rolled, with conflicting direction surface velocities. That took awhile to figure out. Right now I am trying to figure out how to get the chain sprocket off of the camshaft, so I can remove the bad NTN 16002 ball bearing, and install a new one. It looks like a press fit, with no obvious rotational indexing feature.