McColough 32cc chainsaw bike

[cannonball2]

The crankshaft threads are 5/16 fine. I believe most of the BMX pegs are around 10mm. Besides, they would be on the large size for the limited power these engines make. The ones I have measure 1.5". Its very easy to make a roller from aluminim barstock. I make all my prop hubs when I convert these to R/C. One of my hubs would make a good roller. Just center drill and tap it to 5/16 and screw it on, simple. I will post a pic.

 

[LS614]

I can imagine how that would be done but a pic would also help

 

[deacon]

I'm going to take a serious look at my ryobi this morning. I didn't last night because my wife made me promise not to. I am going to move all this to the weed whacker revisited thread so we can keep that separate for guys who come after us.

 

[LS614]

I'd like to hear what you find !

 

[cannonball2]

Here are some pics. Thought I still has a long hub Homelite, but musta sold it. These are two Ryobis and a Poulan. The Poulan, the one with the prop is a screw on, just imagine it in 1" dia and longer. The Ryobis are bolt through. They are easier as the cranks are long, common to blowers. BTW there is a 4stroke Ryobi in the pic. I ran that on glow fuel and man did it rock. The laters ones are 30+cc, that one is an earlier 26cc I believe. Try to score one of them. they sip fuel. I could probably turn these out in the $10-15 range depending on the bar stock cost.

 

[LS614]

Thanks for the pics Those are some good looking engines! I'll get back to you on what I end up doing with mine

 

[deacon]

You know they are selling those converted engines on ebay now. If you ever need money just crank out a few. Like the man said the raw materials are hanging on shop walls all over the place.

 

[deacon]

I got bored so I remounted the chainsaw. I have a bike I bought for the rear wheel. I stuck a damaged rear wheel on the bike just to fit the motor. I have a bolt and maybe a little welding to do on the hinge this time. When I have it ready to go. I still have to rig a gas tank of some kind. I learned a lot about starting the bikes from the ryobi I have been working on. I am not going to put the squeeze tube on the carb. I going with two lines directly to the tank and let it pump itself a load of gas while I drag it.

I have the cdi coil exposed to the outside air now. I hope that will keep it cool enough not to give me any starting problems; If i get this bike rigged and working, maybe I can find someone to ride with me it i supply the gas and bike.

On in this hilly place I live and draggin my 210 lbs the ryobi bike gets 85 miles per gallon. I expect this to do about the same. If I was less of a man the milage would be better and if I lived at the beach and I was less a man I could probably ride it a month on a gallon of gas.

 

[LS614]

I would ride with you if I lived in carolina, but I'm too far away

 

[deacon]

too bad man. I don't have a single neighbor who i think would enjoy the ride. Most of them are my age but seem to think im crazy lol. They might have a point.

 

[LS614]

Well, anyone who's a grown person who rides a little bike does look crazy, but I like being crazy, my new bike is 25cc and jackshafted. We look silly but it's super fun Still, wish I could be there with you.

 

[deacon]

wife says I look like a circus bear, lol

Kind of funny the 25cc I picked up in a group of three and put it on a bike. It ran a day or two then I took it down for parts. But you know the funny thing is it really did pretty well I thought. It was a good assist on the hills in my neighborhood. I think it would be a fine little assist on a bike with gears..

 

[LS614]

Rotfl, when I have a beer belly in a few years that will be the same with me

 

[deacon]

This bike is pretty much the worst junker I have ever built with. I mean the motor wouldn't start once it got hot, which all motors do when ridden even a mile. The bike was bought just to rob the wheels from it for my WW bike. So the rear wheel was replaced with the wheel that failed on the WW bike. I stuck some mismatched bearing in it just to get it on the bike to fit the motor. It is all crammed onto a unmodified 20" BMX type bike. I did weld an extension on the bike's seat post so I didn't bang my knees on the handlebars.

I have the chainsaw back on the bike. I had enough junked up channel steel to build the frame and lord knows I had enough old hinges laying about. It is going to vibrate a bit I expect. I hope it holds together long enough to test for it's restart ability. If it does restart with the additional cooling of the CDI, I will look at making it more stable.

But today the project is either find another rear wheel, or buy the proper bearings and hope that fixes it. Coaster brake wheels are a real pain. I have never learned to go through them completely. Mainly because until this year. I could find them in the thrift shop for under ten bucks.

These days with all the new immigrants, from countries with a bike tradition, the thrift store sells out in a hurry. The thrift shop used to keep about twenty bikes on their porch all the time, now they might have six and they will be gone in a couple of days, if they have any miles left in them at all. Fortunately I seldom build with geared bikes and that is the most in demand.

If anyone knows where there is a good video on rebuilding a coaster brake wheel, feel free to add a link.

Im going to the thrift store first, then try to find a yard sale or two, if all else fails its off to the bike shop for wheel bearings. I have to just keep in mind that other people need used bikes as much as I do and not recent them for buying them all up.

I almost posted this in the tavern but I thought there might be some information another builder could use in this rambling post.

If I can find the patience I want to build one bike and do it over and over. I want to build with the ryobi/homelite 31cc trimmer motor attached to a 20" BMX type bike with a long seat post. That motor is available almost anytime, even if I have to buy it new. The 20" Bmx is easy to mount and dismount for people with even a little age or slight disability.

The build will be easy to install and replicate adding only a throttle to the handlebars. using a gear shift lever from the old style I won't even have to remove the grips from the handle bars. The lift mechanism is no more than a junked bike tube with the lift lever attached to the bike frame with hose clamps or a single 1/4 hole drilled through the frame which is how I mount the lever. Cable from the home depot is better than a solid metal rod type lift. The scissor hinge with cable pull is by far the easiest and least offensive looking design..

 

[cannonball2]

Search it deacon. Im sure rebuilding a coaster is in here somewhere. I have done them in the past and dont remember it being hard. However having a good inventory of bike stuff is not all bad. Problem is we start looking at the parts, then putting a bike together, then looking for a motor-you know how it goes.

 

[deacon]

then you wind up with ten half working motors and bikes with parts missing everywhere lol.

 

[deacon]

I looked up one of those how to tutorials and found that I knew all of it but how to get the brake pads back in. His Idea seemed to be leave them installed in the first place which was good advice but I have always had trouble doing anything without them coming falling out but he did give me an idea.

The channel I build rails with for the motors can easily handle a 3/8 hole on one side, then I can add a couple of 1/4 holes in a on the other side of the channel. With a piece about six inches long it should be strong enough to bolt the piece to the work bench using the 1/4 inch holes, then bolt the brake side of the coaster wheel to the channel at the edge of the work bench.

At that point I can easily remove the nuts and the bearing from the sprocket side and clean and repack them. without the axle moving inside the wheel too much. That bit of info was worth reading the article. Thanks C B

 

[LS614]

Ah, the joys of keeping it cheap and doing it yourself. Yet again I am humbled by your intrepid diyer nature Deacon

 

[rustycase]

GM Deacon,

I think the 16 & 20" bikes might have the lowest quality bearings, over all, of any of the bikes I've gathered, in general. They are the least expensive to buy, from wallyworld and other places.

Do you look at Craigslist for your town? There's always 25 bikes for sale here, because there is a college town nearby.

I ran an ad, myself... "I RECYCLE OLD BICYCLES. WILL PICK UP FREE. Don't throw away that old bike, recycle it !"
...I got 4 bikes locally, rebuilt one good enough to donate to a local charity thrift store. (It was a 'cool' Spiderman kids bike.)
Had to drive to the next town to pick up 7 bikes from a college student who was done with his engineering project... a lotta parts!

Large apartment complexes frequently have discarded bikes set near their dumpsters... I'm not bashful. Good source of bedframes for angle iron, too.

It's a good thing to recycle, but I'm really just a packrat !

Best
rc

 

[deacon]

I found something a few minutes ago that should be of real interest to anyone planning this kind of project. The henge I was going to use went wonky on me and I never could get it straight, so I went looking for another way to mount the bike frame to the bike.

stumbled across, and i mean that litterally, a half cut up handlebar from a BMX wallymart type bike. I cut the small cross bar out of it. The one that gives it some support. I was thrilled to find that it is exactly the right size to slide a 3/8 inch bolt or axle through. I welded the pipe to a hanger and bolted it to the bike then slipped an axle through it. Instant bike attachment with minimum movement.

I haven't road tested anything about this bike yet so don't rush out to do any of this stuff.

And RC that's what the guy at the bike shop told me. He installed that bearing set for me for two bucks. He has come to like me I think. He said the brake shoes were soft metal and the bearings were carp. I know the bearing failed and the brakes are not the kind that lock down but they stop the bike. I usually run a second hand brake on the front just in case. I probably will again later.