Track Tac

centrifugal clutch VS. disc clutch

Until you equip the engine with two rpm measurements, one for the clutch and one for the engine, you cannot make a truly informed decision.
The shoe type clutch, built for racing, is the equivalent of the disc.
 
At the 1977 IKF Nationals, I got to use one of the first Horstman disk clutches ever. What I first noticed was the disk clutch seemed to have more top end. That tells me it locks up better at high RPM.
I had been using a Burco oil bath centrifugal clutch. I didn’t really notice any difference on the low end while the clutch was slipping. Drum or disk, if the clutch is slipping, and holding the engine at peak torque, the power to the rear wheels should be, if not exactly the same, very close. The amount of heat generated, (a power loss) I would think, would be the only difference.
Now both of those clutches I used where oil bath and it sounds like you might be thinking of a dry disk clutch. Somewhat different, maybe, but not by much.
The best thing about a disk clutch is the ease of adjustment. It makes it very easy to get it adjusted to peak torque RPM on the starts.
You might want to talk to the people that make the clutch you plan on using and see what they say about using their clutch on an engine with that much power.

Comments, Complements, Criticisms and Questions are always welcome.
 
93notch408 said:
the yellow bike is my bike with my jockey on it ....heres another vid of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30BNkKhZmxk
Click to expand...

From my home town 313
110507detroit.jpg
 
Yes , I totally agree
Weddle Racing said:
If the clutch is over slipping then it is not set up perfectly, the shoe clutch should lock up just as good as a disc clutch would on your application, also when you upgrade the motor on your bike you also need to adjust the clutch to raise the rpm engagement so you can get the clutch to engage when the engine is at or close to peak torque. Your problem is probably that the clutch your using is trying to engage too soon and is engaging before the engine is at peak torque, meaning you arent in the powerband of the engine when the clutch locks up and it feels like you arent putting any power to the wheels or the ground. Shoe clutches can be set up to where they grab quick just like a disc clutch does, you might be able to use the bathroom scale trick to get your clutch set up for the right engagement for your engine. You can take a bathroom scale and place it between the front wheel of your minibike and a strong wall, and give short bursts of throttle for a few secs at a time but dont hold it wide open or you will burn up the clutch and overheat it. Do a pull, adjust the clutch some, then do another pull. Record how many pounds the scale reads after each adjustment you make, after you make a few adjustments you will start to get the picture. What your looking for is the adjustment that gives you the most pounds on the scale. Say your first pull that is your baseline gives you 20lbs, you tweak the engagement a little and then you get 15, that means you went the wrong way with the adjustment and you need to go the other direction with it, then you make another pull and its 25, so you make another adjustment and it drops to 22, your highest number was 25 so that was the setting where you made the most torque and thats where your clutch needs to be set. After doing the scale trick, take your clutch apart and clean it good, sand the shoes down good with sandpaper and remove any blueing or black you see on the shoes or inside the drum.

What i do is take my clutch apart after every night of racing and sand down the shoes and drum both, wipe both clean with wd40, then grease or oil the bearing or bushing in the clutch drum and reinstall the clutch on the engine. Your clutch could be slipping too much if it hasnt been cleaned in awhile also.
Click to expand...
 
93notch408 said:
my clutch is setup perfectly but the way the shoe clutchs work they slip too much and the dick clutchs grab and dont have that slip i seen a big diff in my friends bike from his shoe clutch to a disc felt like a whole diff bike and picked the tire up off the ground didn't do that before lol
Click to expand...
Shoe clutch slips too much? Clutch is not set up correctly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top