my hoot gearbox survival method!!

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Rockenstein

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Feb 8, 2009
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so as it stands now, with that amount of wear on it how long do you think it will last?

if i just kept riding it,
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You stated in a recent post in another thread that you have about 400k on it so far...looks like about 50% of the tooth profile I pointed out is worn away. If you leave everything as is and continue using the gear lube your using I think the longevity math relating to the pinion gear should be quite easy to figure out ;)


On the upside if you get the clutch bell shimmed and the gears meshing properly plus use a decent gear grease it will likely be an ok setup...having a spare clutch bell on hand would likely be a good idea though. You might need it, you might not but having a spare is cheap insurance if you dislike downtime because your waiting for a part to arrive in the mail.
 
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linnix13

linnix13

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HEY all! i just got back from my garage, i pulled the entire gearbox apart(i have been meaning to see what it looks like inside anyways) and got every gear out of there and cleaned to good as new condition and lay-ed it all out, the wear on the clutch bell in the above pictures is misleading, that's tapered gear wear was a trick with the camera, up close it is not worn down at all, and the metallic wear, its just skin deep, its not actually wearing down its just a discoloration of the metal due to the gears meshing, and to shim the clutch bell up, its a 12 cent fix, all i need is a washer to put in behind the bell and its perfect, but the vendor made a good point, they made it that way for a reason? not sure, i don't know if i should go screwing around with it when it already works fine, and ive seen some other pictures of the hoot and how poorly they machined the key-ways and all that, i must have a different one because all the work in there looks pretty darn good, i may not need another gearbox after all? i really wish my camera worked(had to borrow one to take the above pictures) but now i don't have it, i will try to get some pictures for tomorrow before i reassemble the gearbox, thanks and i will keep you posted,
 
R

Rockenstein

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linnix13 said:
but the vendor made a good point, they made it that way for a reason?
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Made what what way for what reason?

If your talking about the clutch bell gear being unhardened...yea I can see some logic behind that. If your talking about being able to move the clutch bell in and out on the shaft enough so that it messes with the gear mesh...no good engineering reasoning behind that that I can think of especially with spiral cut gears. As you say though shimming the thing isn't so bad and won't be expensive, a shim here or there with mass produced Chinese products is pretty much the norm anyway right.
 
Motor Boys

Motor Boys

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If you read his last comments Joe, there is no wear(just a bad pic), it has also lasted about 570 kms longer then you had said in the first place. I just don't get why you continue you say neg. things? Let the kid have fun, he is happy. Maybe the 2 gearboxes you had were different, this one is running fine, Let it be!
 
Bikeguy Joe

Bikeguy Joe

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Jan 8, 2008
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Also, the "no wear" "skin deep wear" and "trick of the camera" are a little deceiving at best.
The gears are obviously not right, look at the photos yourself!

Linnix13 is having fun from what I can see, and maybe even learning a thing or two along the way...he has been given some great advice, and has had more than a few things pointed out to him by Rockenstein. Whether he chooses to take that advice is up to him.

He may be using this gearbox as a way of learning metallurgy, or just taking it apart to see what makes it work. I told him BEFORE he ever bought the box about their history, or horrific lack of reliability. He chose to buy it, and now the experiment begins.

Was it worth the price of the cheap box to take it apart, grease it and play with it every hundred kms? Only linnix13 can answer that one.

I'll still bet it (or yours) don't last anywhere near 10,000kms.
 
linnix13

linnix13

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yeah your right about the shim, the only thing i saw as being problematic was that the clutch shoes will engage further back on the clutch bell, which is weaker? also the inside of the clutch bell has a track worn on it from the clutch shoes(not real worn out but just set in place) and there is a small metal lip on the back of the clutch bell. so if i shim it then the shoes will engage onto the little metal lip, hopefully the clutch shoes will wear the lip down to flat(its only like half a mm thick)but worst case it might wear a groove into the clutch shoes! i will try it, worst case it wrecks the clutch and i will get a new one, and luckily i have a good reliable vendor who is close to home, so i can always buy new parts if i need them, and about the fun, im apprenticing in big rig repair and later on aircraft repair, so i enjoy working on it, i love to sit down every 2 days and clean up and fix the gearbox, last night i enjoyed taking it apart and figuring out how it works, then cleaning it up, and now im looking forward to reassembling it, i have fun riding it to! i take pride in knowing that im what keeps it running, i guess im strange, and i am aware of what i got myself into when i bought the kit, i read all the reviews, and i decided to buy it anyways, i think i made the right choice, because im having alot of fun for a meager 230 bucks, that's one day at the go cart tracks fee!! i got a camera today(yay big spender!) and i will take pictures of the gears and the box and post them, i will post my shimming job too,


PS im getting mad at this website, it keeps disabling the feature that sends me an email when someone posts, and then now i dont know who replied to what!!
 
civlized

civlized

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I'm glad to hear that everything is working out in a good way for you guys. I don't think I would do anything to it. I agree with Motorboys, ride it and have fun. You have the money for spare parts or a new gearbox when you need it anyway. You have already had more success with a hoot than anyone I have heard of. Maybe you should buy a lotto ticket!!! Maybe they have upgraded their product, finally. I may now be interested in trying one again. I did like the looks and gear ratio better than the grubee. I can honestly say that I am glad you decided to purchase this kit. It has been a lot of fun for everyone here.
 
linnix13

linnix13

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civlized said:
I'm glad to hear that everything is working out in a good way for you guys. I don't think I would do anything to it. I agree with Motorboys, ride it and have fun. You have the money for spare parts or a new gearbox when you need it anyway. You have already had more success with a hoot than anyone I have heard of. Maybe you should buy a lotto ticket!!! Maybe they have upgraded their product, finally. I may now be interested in trying one again. I did like the looks and gear ratio better than the grubee. I can honestly say that I am glad you decided to purchase this kit. It has been a lot of fun for everyone here.
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~Thank you, kind words go a long ways,
 
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xlite

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Jun 18, 2009
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Bikeguy Joe said:
I'll still bet it (or yours) don't last anywhere near 10,000kms.
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Joe, I'm beginning to wonder about that. lately vendors swear new gearboxes are better. I look forward to Linnix13 experience. Even with all that preventative maintenance I'll be impressed but maybe not surprised it holds up. Possible these helical teeth and other improvements solved the problem.


Motorboys, do you stock spare parts in case these do wear out? I don't see any on the site.
 
linnix13

linnix13

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well i have a buddy who works in crane mechanics, he is getting me some super heavy duty industrial grease that cannot be bought in stores, apparently its really expensive and is super high temperature and sticky and will stay on metal for a long long time, i will put that on the gears,
 
linnix13

linnix13

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xlite said:
Joe, I'm beginning to wonder about that. lately vendors swear new gearboxes are better. I look forward to Linnix13 experience. Even with all that preventative maintenance I'll be impressed but maybe not surprised it holds up. Possible these helical teeth and other improvements solved the problem.


Motorboys, do you stock spare parts in case these do wear out? I don't see any on the site.
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well the gears in my HT only lasted 3000kms and i needed to replace them, so i think that if i get 3000kms to a clutch bell gear then thats just fine, and i will get new ones, im sure i can get some from my vendor,
 
RebelMoby

RebelMoby

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Nov 14, 2009
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hahaha linnix13 - you are complaining about the auto email keeps dropping off and I am being driven nutz that it is working - I rather look see at whats up... anyhow...

I have good faith that this hoot gearbox is going to last him because he is seeking solutions and ideas from people and making decisions from there. None of the vintage vehicles I have would be around if people gave up on them when they had a few issues. Perhaps this will be one of the few hoot survivors if the nay-sayers are right but so far this one is getting the kliks racked up on it and linnix13 is having a lot of fun on the bike.

For shimming the gears you would want to shim the clutch bell either in, out or shim both in and out to find the point where you have the most contact across the gear teeth between the drive gear and driven gear set. As the intermediate gear also drives the output gear you may have to play with the shimming of both the drive and intermediate until you get the best contact for all the gears in the box.
 
linnix13

linnix13

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ok here are some pictures of my gearbox and how it works, and how i am going to shim it, now the camera i used is garbage, something from 1801 would take better pictures, so sorry in advance,
also i was trying to get a picture of the gear teeth but its to fuzzy, but trust me, they look pretty good to my eyes,
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