In the interest of seeing if this 16" steel pulley will work, Curt is going to pick it up for me at his local Fleet outlet. He is also picking up a 3" weld on pulley and will be making the modifications on my old Tecumseh clutch, turning it from a sprocket clutch into a pulley clutch. (In return favor, Ill be upholstering another old seat for him.) We talked about the frame clearance issues and I'll be doing some measuring today.
It is a little early to speculate, but I think he will be cutting down part of the pulley from the center out since the pulley is going to be bolted to the old driven sprocket. The pulley will be bolted to the inside edge of the sprocket to draw it a bit closer to the spokes and away from the seat stay and chain stay. Adding spacers is another possibility. Giving the belt clearance from the frame is an ideal. Big sigh if major modifications are needed. A plus is that the sprocket the pulley will be mounted to is a full 10" in diameter and is substantial. It, in turn, is mounted to a Manic Mechanic clam shell hub adapter which can be adjusted laterally on the hub. This, too, gives opportunity to draw the pulley in closer to the wheel.
If after all is said and done, tried and if found wanting, I can always resort to using a sheave attached to the spokes. Just in case, I'll be on the lookout for a 20"wheel with a narrow tire, 20" X 1 3/8" (with an actual rim size of 16", the same as the pulley from fleet and the approximate size of a Whizzer sheave). I have a set of Whizzer spacers and clips which should work attaching it to the spokes. So there is a backup plan and I could have saved some money ($26.00) by just going this route. But in the interest of finding out how this big pulley bolted to sprocket will work I had to give it a try. If it works out it should open up some belt drive options for others on a budget.
Curt will be converting the clutch this winter and I'll ask that he take some pictures along the way. Material costs for the conversion should be around $7.00 for the cost of the weld on pulley. And he may be cutting away part of the center from the 16" steel pulley before sending things back to me. Once I have the big pulley in hand I can mount it to the worn toothed 10" Manic Mechanic sprocket with bolts. Hopefully by then winter will be losing it's iron grip in northern Minnesota (20 below zero the last few nights) and I can do some work directly on the bike. It would be nice if when the last of the snow melts I can fire up my American Flyer and give my "new" belt drive a test run. Woohoo!
SB
It is a little early to speculate, but I think he will be cutting down part of the pulley from the center out since the pulley is going to be bolted to the old driven sprocket. The pulley will be bolted to the inside edge of the sprocket to draw it a bit closer to the spokes and away from the seat stay and chain stay. Adding spacers is another possibility. Giving the belt clearance from the frame is an ideal. Big sigh if major modifications are needed. A plus is that the sprocket the pulley will be mounted to is a full 10" in diameter and is substantial. It, in turn, is mounted to a Manic Mechanic clam shell hub adapter which can be adjusted laterally on the hub. This, too, gives opportunity to draw the pulley in closer to the wheel.
If after all is said and done, tried and if found wanting, I can always resort to using a sheave attached to the spokes. Just in case, I'll be on the lookout for a 20"wheel with a narrow tire, 20" X 1 3/8" (with an actual rim size of 16", the same as the pulley from fleet and the approximate size of a Whizzer sheave). I have a set of Whizzer spacers and clips which should work attaching it to the spokes. So there is a backup plan and I could have saved some money ($26.00) by just going this route. But in the interest of finding out how this big pulley bolted to sprocket will work I had to give it a try. If it works out it should open up some belt drive options for others on a budget.
Curt will be converting the clutch this winter and I'll ask that he take some pictures along the way. Material costs for the conversion should be around $7.00 for the cost of the weld on pulley. And he may be cutting away part of the center from the 16" steel pulley before sending things back to me. Once I have the big pulley in hand I can mount it to the worn toothed 10" Manic Mechanic sprocket with bolts. Hopefully by then winter will be losing it's iron grip in northern Minnesota (20 below zero the last few nights) and I can do some work directly on the bike. It would be nice if when the last of the snow melts I can fire up my American Flyer and give my "new" belt drive a test run. Woohoo!
SB
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