Hoot Gearbox Success Story?

Maybe the title of this thread will have to be changed to a period instead of a question mark.....

Time will tell.
 
BTW linnix13, that gray color is from metal powder/chips. Keep an eye on it and change the grease when the color starts to change.

Are those boxes ball, roller, or babbit type bearings?
 
hey there, im using heavy duty truck axle bearing grease, and lots of it! about as much as i could get in there, and they look like roller bearings but im not sure,
 
Last edited:
HI Bikeguy Joe, it is a bronze bushing on the crankshaft, sealed ball bearings on the intermediate shaft, and as I remember sealed ball bearings on the output shaft.

Now we have the bronze bushing and crankshaft wear, and the notorious teeth of the gear-set, combined with powder from the fiber-type 3-shoe expanding clutch, and, since that is a pivot-type clutch, it is probably wearing rather quickly to seat itself, as they are not Arc-Ground.

I do not remember seeing any roller bearings in the Hoots I have. There have been a couple of minor changes in that box, spur to helical gears, cold-rolled tin clutch bell, to a hardened vented type, but I don't think there were any bearing changes, neither have I ever seen or heard of one lasting long enuf for the sealed bearings to fail.

These boxes, in general, are shameful.

Mike
 
As usual, great info Mike.

I am guessing that gray grease is a toxic concoction of all sorts of good stuff then.
 
well i bought some green grease, heavy duty, and cleaned out the box with break cleaner and took off to my buddies house in the next town over, nice long ride, all went well,
 
That all sounds like lots of work & dirty hands. I like to ride & not have to do any work or get my hands dirty. Like to just ride & have fun.
Jay
 
update, success, what is a success story exactly? i have 700kms on my hoot, i dont like it, i dont trust it! but its working, the whine under acceleration is gone completely but when i let off the gas altogether the whine is there and its there with a vengeance! the teeth are wearing but acceptably, so its withing reason, my clutch is rubbing on idle a bit but its ok for now, we will see, im getting an ez box when i can, my frame is the scary thing, i am thinking of getting a new bike, over 5000kms on my bike(various engines) and its been worn to crap! everything that can be broken is, my frame snapped the other day and i got it welded back together, every bearing on the bike is shot, the pedals are worn out, gears dont shift, all rims wobble alot, no back brakes at all, front breaks work abit, seat welded on, the list will go on for ever!
 
linnix13 said:
when i let off the gas altogether the whine is there and its there with a vengeance! the teeth are wearing but acceptably, so its withing reason, my clutch is rubbing on idle a bit but its ok for now, we will see, im getting an ez box when i can, my frame is the scary thing, i am thinking of getting a new bike, over 5000kms on my bike(various engines) and its been worn to crap! everything that can be broken is, my frame snapped the other day and i got it welded back together, every bearing on the bike is shot, the pedals are worn out, gears dont shift, all rims wobble alot, no back brakes at all, front breaks work abit, seat welded on, the list will go on for ever!
Click to expand...


A little whine (specially ofter dinner :) ) never bothers me. It's when the bike stops going forward that I find annoying. So far this should be considered a success story. At least as far as the gearbox.

Note to self: do NOT get a $1000 bike.

PS You can get aftermarket springs for those clutches to alter point of engagement.
 
Guess we'll leave the question mark, and call it an ongoing saga....

We were/are all hoping for this hoot to be some new deal and run reliably without constant maintenance.....I guess for a 230 dollar engine and box, it's not the worst deal out there.

Still, 220 miles or 400 kms is not even broken in or considered a viable option for any kind of reliable transport.

You have gotten almost a dollar a mile, if you don't count the grease and massive amount of time (relatively) doing maintenance.
 
Bikeguy Joe said:
Guess we'll leave the question mark, and call it an ongoing saga....

We were/are all hoping for this hoot to be some new deal and run reliably without constant maintenance.....I guess for a 230 dollar engine and box, it's not the worst deal out there.

Still, 220 miles or 400 kms is not even broken in or considered a viable option for any kind of reliable transport.

You have gotten almost a dollar a mile, if you don't count the grease and massive amount of time (relatively) doing maintenance.
Click to expand...

well ive gotton almost twice that, 700kms, but its better than any other hoots right? and who knows, maybe my immaculate maintenance is not needed, maybe im over killing it, and maybe it will last a long time? i dont know, i hope it will, but i dont count on it, i just hope im close to home when it goes!
 
Sorry, my bad math!!!!
Yes nearly 500 miles on it.

I think you have the endurance record for a Hoot, and I am sure your maintenance and diligence have paid off.

Half the fun is wondering whether you'll make it home....but that's what pedals are for, right? ;)
 
Last edited:
I think you have the endurance record for a Hoot said:
Well spoken! That's just what it is an endurance race!

They're still a good deal as far as what you get in the kit ($225), the only drawback is the 15mm c/shaft on the motor. EZ seems to have the shim thing worked out. But I don't like workin' w/ the 15's (.592"); everything (power transmission products) comes in 5/8's (.625").

Gear teeth, in a good system, Don't wear noticably for the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of miles. Usually it is engagement dogs in a multispeed system. The meshing teeth aren't normally the wearing part of gears.

This is a constant mesh 1 speed transmission. It's not acceptible that they don't last longer. The teeth on the clutch are trying to seperate from the reduction gear because there's no outboard bearing on the engine shaft like there is on the reduction shaft.The motor shaft flexes (try this w/ your hand).
Click to expand...
 
tyrslider said:
The teeth on the clutch are trying to seperate from the reduction gear because there's no outboard bearing on the engine shaft like there is on the reduction shaft.The motor shaft flexes (try this w/ your hand).
Click to expand...

That is my understanding to be the primary reason for failure. It certainly is the reason most of the DIY friction drives fail on this forum. I learned to put a bearing on the outside of my friction designs very early on. I wonder if it's possible to add a shaft extension and outboard bearing to the HS?
 
Well you definitely can (add shaft ext). I did w/ my transmission design. The problems I've experienced w/ my chain drive transmission are solely due to load factors concerning chain strength, speed and small sprockets (now that we are aware of these factors they are easilly fixed). Other than that it works well and the engine c/shaft flex is virtually eliminated.

W/ gear and chain drive alignment is critical. Belt systems are a lot less sensitive to problems associated w/ flex as long as belt tension is retained.
 
shaft woble? do you mean on the crankshaft of the engine right?

the centrifugal clutch? when i shimmed mine out it made the hex bolt that holds the clutch on touch the casing, and wore a little spot into the cover, if the shaft were wobbling at any rpms then this groove that the hex bolts patern on the cover would show it, so then it must not be wobbling? oh 800kms by the way,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top