50cc belt,variator,springs help By lobsterman72 (Read 2,856 times)

[lobsterman72]

Hi, I have a Roketa mc-08-50b 50cc scooter with just over 3000 miles on it. Keep in mind it's my only vehicle right now (long story).
I was looking into just replacing the belt and found it was an odd ball 17.7X168. I found scootertronics was able to get me the correct belt. Well, because I was messing around with that, I thought I would change the clutch spring(s) and variator weights. 6G variator weights, yellow torsion and clutch springs which are marked 1500rpm GY6 50.
Well all that stuff arrived and because I did some research before hand watching several different u tube videos it looked quite simple. Well, it's not that easy!!
After trying several times to remove either nut I had to resort to going to the local small town car repair place to use their impact gun and vise to get all of it apart (I guess I NEED to buy one if I am going to keep messing around with the scooter, another must have standard equipment for any household kinda like a 12v battery charger, radial tire plug kit, 12v tire pump, vice grips oh and duct tape ). And it cost me $15. Just to be fair to the guy, he did help a bit.
I did notice that the torsion spring was a bit longer than the stock and the clutch springs were not exactly the same as the original but I was able to get them on. The clutch springs seemed cheaper and smaller in diameter but stronger. The torsion spring/pulley was very hard to compress in order to get the belt on.
The scooter did sound different and didn't do anything better except possibly go up a hill slightly stronger, also needed to rev up a little more before it would take off, but it's not what I was expecting.
THE PROBLEM: After riding about 4-5 miles the new belt broke....
After taking my scooter for a walk for about 2.5 miles (mind you I had back surgery a month ago) wasn't fun. And, it was nice that some guy pulled over in his pickup and let me hang on the back and towed me the last .2 miles . That was a cool and somewhat dangerous new experience, ye haw!! . Oh and if you attempt to grab onto a moving vehicle to be towed while on a scooter I don't think it would work very well mechanically, remember my belt was broken and when I stopped finally, the clutch was spinning like, well, heck! At first I thought it was the gear oil boiling. I'm going to check all that obviously.
When I finally got home and opened the case I found the destroyed belt and the variator is stuck out.
I am curious if it's something I did wrong or maybe the parts aren't right? I was hoping to get a little extra performance but at this time I'd be happy with the way it was. I should have only gotten a new belt only. And for the record the old belt is quite a bit smaller in width than the new one with wear but I didn't quite expect that much. At maybe 5000 or so miles it could have failed by being worn down too much.
I have to save a bit to get an impact gun and also another belt. But I will probably will just put the original stuff back in and hope it still works okay, I am quite concerned that the variator is stuck out.
At this time I haven't been able to uninstall anything for more information till I get an impact gun.

[♔Big Guy♔]

It sounds like a simple belt failure - this does happen a lot... defects. More than likely, when the belt failed, the rollers were also probably displaced in the variator, so you'll need to take that off for inspection and proper reassembly. Both the clutch and variator need to come off and inspected for debris.


-Rich

[Alleyoop]

Yep, putting in a stronger Contrac and Springs sometimes is not a good idea. It takes more force to open the Pulley by the Clutch and a lot more RPMS. Thats probably why the belt broke, th front pulley is trying to raise the Belt up the Variator and at the same time the the Clutch with the stronger springs is trying to hold it in the Lower Gear range.
Alleyoop

[lobsterman72]

Well, if you can afford it get an electric impact gun. It's just easier and has other uses.
After putting everything back together with the original parts (and old belt) the scooter seems different.
On inspection the variator is worn, kind of like a car disc brake rotor that gets worn uneven. I can only imagine how its shaping the belt. The mostly worn area is about in the center of the variator, and makes the scooter feel like there's hesitation as it goes into a second gear. Yes, there is no second gear in this scooter, but that's what I mean it feels like an automatic transmission having a slight problem going into the next gear at a certain speed.
Also the variator was fully pressed out like I said earlier. For whatever reason the weights came out too much and got stuck between the plates.
So now I need to replace the belt again and get a new variator, another $100+US when I could have just gotten a replacement belt and been happy.
Another thing to keep around is a product called Slime. When you drive a 50cc on the side of the road it's like a glass magnet. Either that or I got crappy OEM tires. I used to use radial tire plugs but after 5-10 plugs and re-inflating your tire it gets bald because of the plug material. I used Slime in my rear tire 2 or so months ago and haven't had to add air or fix the tire since, compared to having to check and repair the rear tire every time I wanted to use the scooter.

[larrball]

www.harborfreight.com/1-2-half-inch-electric-impact-wrench-45252.html

$40.00

[zugzug]

HEres the one I use. Got it at Harbor Frt too. It runs off the battery. They had them listed for 29.95 in the flier but was on sale at the local store for 24.95. It works great.

[larrball]

Jun 29, 2010 20:25:44 GMT -6 @zugzug said:

HEres the one I use. Got it at Harbor Frt too. It runs off the battery. They had them listed for 29.95 in the flier but was on sale at the local store for 24.95. It works great.

www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-1-2-half-inch-emergency-impact-wrench-92349.html

$25.99 I thank zugzug ment this one?

[zugzug]

Thats the one. Works like a charm. I was too tired to look for it. This has been a rough week at work. Heck, they all seem to be rough ones anymore.