Feelin Sluggish By Smorkle (Read 2,317 times)

[Smorkle]

This weekend I took a couple of 100 mile rides one with a group and one with my GF. I got to noticing that the scooter seemed a little sluggish and it sort of felt familiar... like something I had experienced before but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Tonight I decided to look at the variator because I remembered that once I had had problems with the rubber keepers on the shaft that goes through the thing and lo and behold my variator is shot!

All of my Dr Pulley sliders are all notched on the top and have wear groves on the bottom. The guides that allow the variator to slide back and forth have broken into pieces. I'd say I'm kinda lucky to have gotten it home!

In any event, I'm gonna order a new variator and more sliders and a new belt (just for good measure)

I found these at partsforchinesescooters.com but you have to buy the parts separately and I'm sure I saw someone post a link to a Dr Pulley one recently for about the same price.

I'm searching still... anyone know where any are off the top of your head?

[zugzug]

That link and thread about the Variator was on SD and they just lost the past months posts. I put up a link that was for the cfmoto 244 and then someone put up the link to the 257 Vari but I cant remember what place it was. If it comes to me Ill post it.
-Zug

[Smorkle]

I found this Dr Pulley one on ebay and it comes with everything including the sliders! I'm gonna order it.

Well I ordered the thing and AFTERWORDS I discovered that it's coming from Taiwan. Ugh. Hope it's faster that I think it's gonna be.

[zugzug]

Jul 27, 2010 18:04:53 GMT -6 Smorkle said:

I found this Dr Pulley one on ebay and it comes with everything including the sliders! I'm gonna order it.

Well I ordered the thing and AFTERWORDS I discovered that it's coming from Taiwan. Ugh. Hope it's faster that I think it's gonna be.

lol, I hate when I do that too. Ebay cant make up their mind what they are going to do. You used to be able to choose to search just US or all ebay sites. Then they made it where you could only search the US site unless you specifically went to one of the other sites and you had to be able to read the language. Now they let them all post on the US site. Some of them are tricky. They will make it look like they are in the US then you end up waiting a month for the item to arrive. As long as the item arrives and is as described I give them pos feedback but I will tank them on the stars. If their star average gets too low they will quit letting them list on the US site even if the feedback % is still good.

[Smorkle]

I believe I may have caused this problem. The first time I opened up my variator I discovered it was jam packed full of grease. It didn't look like grease that was supposed to be there, just like some that had accumulated there. At the time I talked to some people in the dawg pound and they all said it should be dry. I'm thinking they may have been wrong and that it needs some grease in the variator.

The plastic part of my variator guides were pretty much intact, but the metal clips on them were all broken off. I fabricated some new metal clips out of some galvanized metal I had about and it worked! I'm not completely sure about the quality, but it'll maybe last me until the Dr Pulley variator comes in.

After fixing it, it seemed to have more power and a lot more throttle available even when I was already doing 60MPH. It's funny how problems creep up on you and you don't even notice that something's wrong because it gradually worked and after you fix it you notice an amazing difference!

On a side note, I read the feedback of the guy I ordered the variator from and he's got 100% positive and one guy said he got his stuff in Canada 13 days after ordering it. I'm hoping that'll be my luck too.

[Smorkle]

I've been having a discussion with Carols about my variator trouble through ebay and he is very helpful! I will definitely keep him in mind for something else if needed in the future. He told me that his packing guy forgot to put the sliders in the box so I'm getting 2 shipments! Very happy with his service.

I already ordered a belt and it was only $6 more than the one you showed me. I used www.scooterbelt.com/

[zugzug]

I know this is a bit late but I think this was the link you were looking for in the OP.
www.gy6150enginepartswholesale.com/variator-assembly-for-chinese-260cc-300cc-engines-p-13995.html

[Smorkle]

Took a little ride last night and suddenly the variator started acting weird. Was about 10 miles from home and turned around and came immediately back. The variator was acting like it was loose and I thought I had failed to tighten the nut adequately. We made it home ok and I put it up because I wanted to take the carb out and clean it in the morning anyhow.

Well today I opened the thing up and the nut was tight as the day I installed it. I pulled the variator and before opening it I could see a piece of metal lodged down inside it. I opened the thing up and one of the sides of the tracks for the rollers/sliders had broken and this piece was floating around inside the thing. The slider that fit in that track was sitting sideways and ruined.

Good thing I have a variator on the way! I'm out of commission until it gets here I'm afraid.

[Smorkle]

I received my new variator and roller weights today. Carols is THE MAN. 8 days shipment tome time Taiwan to Kansas city! I'm impressed.

The Dr Pulley variator is of a FAR superior quality. I could tell just from holding the thing in my hand that it's heavier and feels less like some aluminum piece of junk. All in all, I'm glad my variator messed up. I can tell this one is gonna last forever.

I'm gonna get it put on tomorrow most likely then I go to Arkie land to visit my kids for the weekend so may or may not get a good chance to test it out before Sunday night.

Will keep you all posted. I'm very excited about it.

[Smorkle]

I got the variator installed tonight right after work. I didn't notice until I was actually putting it together that the back plate was not included. I intend to ask Carlos about this, but the old one fit just fine so it's not a real issue.

I started it up and let it run and even though I have not ridden it yet, I noticed right away that a noise that I had been hearing in the bike for a long time has quit. The bike sounds a lot quieter like it should.

Just about to take it for a test ride and see how it does. Will keep you all in the loop!

[Smorkle]

ok.... wow... I mean WOW! That thing REALLY screams. I got it up on the interstate and was able to hit 80 no problem. I don't ordinarily go that fast, but man, that variator is one of the best things I ever did to my scoot!

Thanks Carlos!

[Smorkle]

I just ordered one of those gates belts too.

I ordered one July 27th from scooterbelt.com and they didn't send me an email confirming the purchase, didn't send me an email saying it was sent out and didn't give me a tracking number. I emailed them day before yesterday and they said it had already been shipped. Yesterday they sent me the tracking number and it said it was being sent back because of an undeliverable address.

Their stupid web site would not allow me to use my PO box because it said UPS/Fed Ex shipping and I cannot receive mail at my house, but Fed Ex/UPS will deliver here so I gave them the house address and the idiots sent it Priority Mail.

I give a big thumbs down to scooterbelt.com for no communication.

[Smorkle]

My belts arrived today. I ordered the one from ebay after the scooterbelt.com debacle and ironically they both arrived today. I wanted to pull off the variator cover and check it out anyhow so since my belts arrived it gave me the perfect excuse.

The one from ebay was the genuine gates powerlink 856-23. The one from scooterbelt.com was a Qinjaing VS belt. Both say they're they same size and I measured them both at 22.9 mm and compared them side by side and the length looks identical.

The one major difference I saw is that the Qinjaing belt grooves did not look as good of quality as the gates belt does.



The one on the right is gates


I put the gates one on and kept the other for a spare.
My old one didn't look real worn, but has a nick in it that it has had for a couple thousand miles. I'll keep it as a spare too.

[Smorkle]

I just got back from a ride with the new belt and variator. It's running well and really has a lot of power, but it seems as though it's not shifting smoothly. I know it technically doesn't shift, but it FEELS like an automatic transmission car that is getting stuck in a lower gear and then suddenly popping out. It was doing this some before I changed the belt so I think it may be something to do with the variator..... Or it could be the rear clutch drum? I've never been into that part of the machine. I'm pretty sure I put the sliders in the right way. Hell maybe it just needs to break in a little.

Perhaps I'll take the thing apart and look at the inside of it and see if anything pops out at me.

[Smorkle]

it was NOT doing this before I replaced the variator, but I'll look into the clutch as soon as it's below 200° with 196% humidity