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Post by rosiemoto on Jul 13, 2016 10:41:36 GMT -6
I noticed the past few days doing the electric start was sounding more and more like battery was dying, and today it barely turned enough to start it. I opened up the bike and discovered my headlight wires were touching the metal connectors and had gotten melted everywhere, so I disconnected the headlights thinking that's what was draining my battery. Turns out my battery is actually full according to a charger. Horn works, lights all work when I reconnect them.
I went to start the bike to make sure it'll still work with the headlights disconnected. The starter gave a very weak sound then made a weird sound like it spun freely for a sec, and now all I get is a click from the solenoid. Jumping solenoid with screwdriver does nothing..no sparks flying, no response at all.
Does this mean my starter finally died? Or did having the headlights disconnected break something (thinking just coincidence)?
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Post by rosiemoto on Jul 5, 2016 21:53:04 GMT -6
dyoung - I'll take a look to get an idea how it's aligned. So, basically you mean the belt should be straight and not curving from front pulley to back pulley, right?
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Post by rosiemoto on Jul 2, 2016 10:44:56 GMT -6
What is the stock contra spring rated? Is it 1000rpm? I want to go with stock... is the $20 NCY really worth getting over the chinese $8 contra springs??
Both my stock clutch and eBay clutch I bought have like a black or dark colored spring. I'm thinking to just buy a new contra spring if I'm able to open up the clutch.
So the belt sliding all the way back up after I squeeze the clutch pulleys apart I assume must be a sign of contra spring being worn/too weak and not putting enough tension on the belt. edit: WAS THE BELT! The belt is only a week old and is already shredding. I put my previous chinese belt and it didn't slide. Brand name of the bad belt is: Xing-Fang VS Belt
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 28, 2016 19:48:12 GMT -6
I was there at Harbor Freight today and picked up a pipe wrench, but my gosh that clutch nut on my stock 6 year old clutch is STUCK. I was planning to open it up, clean it good, then put it in place of the one that's in now and see how it goes.
Question! I sprayed WD-40 on the clutch springs in it before (while assembled), and after a ride or 2 it went all over the clutch pads and inside of the bell. I cleaned it before, put it in, and it happened again... this was months ago... do you think the WD-40 would have dried up by now and won't be a problem now if I clean up the pads and bell once again?
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 28, 2016 7:37:33 GMT -6
Yeah my original belt lasted about 5 years, and was still going but I lost too much top speed so changed it. Belts wearing out quickly started around the time I got a new clutch; it was from eBay for $30, and arrived dirty, and was slipping/slow at takeoff until I cleaned out the bell and pads. I think you're onto something there!
What are the symptoms of a bad torque spring? Here's what I've got:
- Too-low RPMs/weak acceleration until 35mph+
- A creaking sound during takeoff
- Can feel the bike shifting gears around 15mph, as in I feel the acceleration change, but RPMs stay constant
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 28, 2016 7:17:40 GMT -6
No... I don't remember seeing any wire or weird things in the CVT.
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 27, 2016 22:26:20 GMT -6
Cyborg, yeah I've actually been wondering for the past couple weeks if the clutch is acting right. When I'm slowly accelerating, at about 10-15mph I can feel as if the clutch pulleys are shifting to a different gear, because I feel the pulling force going back and forth a few times, but the RPM stays the same. But especially with new belt, RPMs are too low and refuse to go above 5800 (& weak acceleration) until 35mph, then it starts returning to normal. It's like it won't downshift to rev higher. It also happened with my previous belt, but not "as bad."
Can what you said be checked without opening up the clutch? If so I can take pictures. I just don't yet have a wrench big enough for the clutch. I've been keeping my eye open at thrift stores.
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 27, 2016 22:01:28 GMT -6
I saw some scooter racing pictures and their holes seem to be only at the under side. I don't have any there except the stock vent, which I took the metal piece out from inside. I was thinking also, maybe I need MORE air coming in from the front. Or just more holes everywhere I guess? I drew a picture of what I'd do if I went crazy with more holes... do you think this would be an improvement, or more more more?   |
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 27, 2016 19:07:04 GMT -6
You guys are silly. Well it seems the extra holes did NOT help at all  , so maybe I do have a problem in there that's generating too much heat. Anyone have ideas? Possibilities I'm thinking is: belt constantly slipping without me knowing, clutch bearing, or clutch slipping. I can't feel or hear any slipping though! Except for, I was beginning to hear a little bit of creaking as the clutch engaged during takeoff, but I think it might've stopped since the new belt. This might be something: When reassembling the CVT, when I manually squeeze the clutch pulleys apart to give slack to the belt, the belt keeps freely sliding right back to the top of the clutch. Is this a sign that the belt is slipping on the clutch pulleys?? I've read that you should sand all the pulleys when putting on a new belt... I've been through 3 or 4 belts with these same pulleys in the past 7 months, and I cleaned the variator pulleys with soap+water, but never touched the clutch pulleys. Sounds like I should give it all a good scrub and a little sandpaper, huh? What do you all think could be going on? |
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Post by rosiemoto on Jun 26, 2016 13:48:50 GMT -6
I've been going through belts like crazy lately and found out it could be the heat inside the CVT area. Touching my CVT cover after a ride was not possible.. too hot. I decided I'd drill some holes in the cover to vent it, after reading about some people's success doing that. I thought I'd share my version and experiences. First I started with a bunch of holes on the side of the clutch area, and 3 holes in the back. That alone didn't help at all. I then took off the rubber intake cover/filter, and then I noticed a decent difference; I could hold my hand anywhere on the CVT for at least a couple seconds now! Intake area became only warm, and clutch area could be touched but only for a couple seconds. I felt it was still much too hot in there though; opening the cover and touching the variator, clutch bell, and belt nearly burnt my finger the instant I touched it. Today I just got done drilling more holes in hopes to get more airflow. I created an intake for the clutch area, and a bigger hole for extra exhaust. My attempts of drilling the bigger holes aren't pretty..all I had was drill bits to work with, no fancy grinders or other tools. Anyway, I haven't taken a ride yet with the extra holes, but if it doesn't improve then I heard it could be a clutch bearing or belt slipping. If belt is slipping, why would that be? CVT temperature is the same on a brand new belt. Here's some PICTURES... the pink thing underneath is just a dollar tree "kneeling pad"..works well for sitting "indian-style" out there working on the bike. This is about as far as I'll go drilling holes, unless maybe someone strongly believes there should be a hole here, and a hole there for best venting. I'll update when I go for my next ride, on how the heat is doing.      |
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by: rosiemoto - Jun 25, 2016 22:26:25 GMT -6
Post by rosiemoto on Jun 25, 2016 22:26:25 GMT -6
I got the new belt in. I'm finally back up to 61mph top speed!
Here's my K&S and Koso variator results on a brand new belt! Previously I *barely* got 57-58 with these same parts.
* Note: The "Throttle response" ratings below, refers to how much throttle is needed to cruise a certain speed. If there's bad throttle response, it feels like the bike is revving but not really going anywhere, or like the belt is slipping.
K&S + 13g rollers + 107mm variator fan
Top speed: 61mph @ 7000rpm
Acceleration WOT: ~6400rpm
Cruise 40mph @ 6000rpm
Cruise 50mph @ 6400rpm
----Throttle response----
0-30mph..... ***** (does pretty good up to 25mph)
30-40mph... ***** (throttle starts getting much less responsive after 30mph)
40-50mph... ***** (50-75% throttle to cruise these speeds..feels like belt is slipping!)
50+mph..... *****
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^ K&S Notes: I think the 13g rollers may be too light for it, but strangely it still gets the top speed when wide open. I really wonder how properly weighted sliders would affect this variator?? It might clear the throttle response problem up.
Koso + 12g Dr Pulley sliders + 107mm variator fan
Top speed: 61mph @ 7000rpm
Acceleration WOT: 6200rpm
Cruise 40mph @ 5000-5500rpm
Cruise 50mph @ 6000rpm
----Throttle response----
0-30mph..... ***** (hard to go under 30! ..10% throttle for side streets, for real!)
30-40mph... ***** (absolutely effortless, feels like I'm in "overdrive" gear)
40-50mph... ***** (it cruises these speeds at 20-40% throttle; still feels effortless)
50+mph:.... *****
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^ Koso notes: I was on the K&S setup as shown above, for about a week, then when I went to this Koso+slider combination, WOW the difference is night and day.
Now to drill some more holes in my CVT cover for venting. It's less hot than before, but still hot enough to worry me this new belt might wear out quick too. The clutch bell itself was WOW hot, almost burnt my finger in a split second.
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by: rosiemoto - Jun 24, 2016 9:42:36 GMT -6
Post by rosiemoto on Jun 24, 2016 9:42:36 GMT -6
Thanks cyborg! Is your scooter an actual manual transmission?? Like clutch and all? Or does it just change belt position as you change gears?
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by: rosiemoto - Jun 23, 2016 13:57:39 GMT -6
Post by rosiemoto on Jun 23, 2016 13:57:39 GMT -6
So I drilled a pattern of 3/4 inch holes in my CVT cover at the clutch area yesterday, because I can't even touch my hand to it after a ride without it burning me. I don't yet have a picture to show, but here's how everything went, in order.
1: Stock CVT cover: Too hot to touch (hot potato)
2: Took CVT intake rubber piece off: No difference
3: Put intake rubber piece back on then drilled ~15 holes around clutch: Strangely, still no difference
4: Took intake rubber piece off: NOW I can touch the cover! Variator area is warm, middle and clutch areas are still a bit hot but I can at least hold my hand on it for 2 seconds.
5: Went for a gentle ride, felt it, and went for a hard ride and felt it: both were the same temperature as above (#4)
So it seems the holes only benefited when it had more air intake. Maybe I need to make more or bigger holes? Anyway, I'm hoping this will let my belts last a "sane" amount of time. I've been through 3 belts in the past 7 months, two of which were "Gates" brand that everyone seems to speak highly of. Honestly? The chinese belt I have in right now lasted the longest out of them.
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by: rosiemoto - Jun 23, 2016 13:42:32 GMT -6
Post by rosiemoto on Jun 23, 2016 13:42:32 GMT -6
I know I said I'd hold off on my testing until my new belt, but I've been out there hard at work drilling CVT vent holes and swapping variators and fans, and well I've got some more results to share! I FINALLY got this thing back up to 60mph. This is with the same loose/thinned out belt as the last recent results I posted, so as usual, think of these results as all relative to each other, and not absolute numbers.
As always, the clutch etc is all stock; I only change variator, variator fan, and roller/slider weights.
Stock variator (13g rollers) + 115mm variator fan
Top speed: 52mph @ 7200rpm (ha...ha...)
RPMs: WOT 6300rpm, cruise @ 40mph 5900rpm, 30mph @ 4800rpm
Gearing "runs out" around 40mph, and rpms climb fast.
K&S variator (13g rollers) + 108mm variator fan (smaller, fins stick out past pulley)
Top speed: 60mph @ 7000rpm
RPMs: WOT 6700rpm, cruise @ 40mph 6100rpm, 30mph @ 5000rpm
Gearing "runs out" around 52+mph? I can't really tell.
Next post: CVT cover temperature results after drilling holes to vent CVT!
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by: rosiemoto - Jun 22, 2016 20:37:57 GMT -6
Post by rosiemoto on Jun 22, 2016 20:37:57 GMT -6
question why can't you get 93 octane? Go to auto parts store and get octane booster at a small shot glass at a time till you get it better just don't go nuts with it. I use in in my trikes all the time they really love it. It's that I can't get 93 in ethanol-free form around here. Actually there IS one shop that does 87-93 ethanol-free, but I was told because their gas tanks are above ground in the open, it can collect condensation, and that was told to me after I apparently had water in my float bowl after using that shop's gas faithfully for months. There's a Sunoco that sells the 90 that I've been using, and my bike seems to be happy. My bike hates gas with ethanol in it regardless of the octane, for some reason. |
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, so maybe I do have a problem in there that's generating too much heat. Anyone have ideas? Possibilities I'm thinking is: belt constantly slipping without me knowing, clutch bearing, or clutch slipping. I can't feel or hear any slipping though! Except for, I was beginning to hear a little bit of creaking as the clutch engaged during takeoff, but I think it might've stopped since the new belt.