My Cuda so far.

[Lance-W]

I recognize that idler sprocket

[Reidy02]

I was told to get rid of it!! I mean I can see it would put some huge forces on either side of the housing, especially if you grabbed the wrong gear.

[Lance-W]

I was told to get rid of it!! I mean I can see it would put some huge forces on either side of the housing, especially if you grabbed the wrong gear.

Seems to work OK in ours.  Plus the chain would hit the housing in the sprocket area if it wasn't there.........?

[Reidy02]

Exactly, mine does that's why I put it in!

[Lance-W]

So if your not supposed to use the idler how do you solve the interference problem with the bottom of the sprocket cover?    Tilt the motor WAY! back?  Or is it one of those things that really doesn't exist?

[chrishallett83]

Custom sump like Dougs V-Twin and mount the motor lower in the frame so the chain doesn't rub on the motor.

[Doug Heim]

even with the custom sump it does not clear enough.

Forces on the Housing? Not enough to cause anything to fail is there? That and the idler uses a double row ball bearing. The idler is strong enough to stand up to the forces of down shifting and what not. I down shift, and Im no nice about it either. Mine is still as good as new and going back on with the chassis now finished.

Comments on forces applied to the housing from the idler are justified how? The A-arms and drive unit supply enough force to the entire housing to not even consider the idler causing any issues, The Idler IMO also offers brace to the front of the housing as when it is bolted together acts as a front support member. People making those comments obviously dont understand the benefits it really provides.

Not only does it help the chain into the case but it also allows more contact of the chain with the front sprocket. I can go on but those 2 reasons alone are good enough for me. As long as it is a good quality idler which this is. I have sold tons of these and many of them all around the world. So much that since I am now sold out, I am making them from billet vurses a modified Martin blank. Lathe work was done yesterday and today. Sprocket profile will be cut on the CNC VMC hopfully tomorrow. Video maybe?

 

[chrishallett83]

That's not my position on the matter Doug, I was repeating the rest of what was said in regards to the motor-chain contact issue.

Personally I believe the benefits of running an idler outweigh the cost of setting the idler up properly. Gusset the idler bolt mounts and you'll snap chains before you break the idler off the housing...

[Doug Heim]

I understand you were not questioning its function bud. I just wanted to explain the reasons I use it and my personal thoughts of what it is intended to do so those that question it can maybe see the justification of it.

Look at my V-twin build and the recent Busa build. Both shallow sumps and both use the idler.

[Lance-W]

That's not my position on the matter Doug, I was repeating the rest of what was said in regards to the motor-chain contact issue.

Personally I believe the benefits of running an idler outweigh the cost of setting the idler up properly. Gusset the idler bolt mounts and you'll snap chains before you break the idler off the housing...

Did someone actually claim the idler mount would rip off the housing?  NFW   Mine has at least a 3/8" bead to the housing on both sides of it!!!  The housing would fail before the idler would rip off.  Somebody is just spewing with no knowledge of strength of materials or weld strength, bead size, etc.................

[Doug Heim]

That and it has a Grade 8, 5/8" bolt spanning the distance. I think many of the cheap idlers use a crap bearing with a small bore so it s much weaker. This idler is made to take the heavy loads. That is the point.

[chrishallett83]

Did someone actually claim the idler mount would rip off the housing?  NFW   Mine has at least a 3/8" bead to the housing on both sides of it!!!  The housing would fail before the idler would rip off.  Somebody is just spewing with no knowledge of strength of materials or weld strength, bead size, etc.................

Nope. They said that they snapped a smaller bolt in double shear clean through when they downshifted on tarmac.

But with a 5/8 high tensile bolt, you'd snap the chain before you broke the bolt. Next weakest point? The welds holding the bolt mounts onto the housing. Unless you run a nice big fat bead both sides of each fitting as you said. Even so, I personally would gusset it anyway, just because I like to over-build stuff like that.

[Lance-W]

Nope. They said that they snapped a smaller bolt in double shear clean through when they downshifted on tarmac.

But with a 5/8 high tensile bolt, you'd snap the chain before you broke the bolt. Next weakest point? The welds holding the bolt mounts onto the housing. Unless you run a nice big fat bead both sides of each fitting as you said. Even so, I personally would gusset it anyway, just because I like to over-build stuff like that.

Consider this........... A 1/4" (6mm?) quality bolt/screw will support a 2,000 lb load in shear.  That's a flippin Volkswagen hanging on it.  There's more to the story than they're telling.  Especially in double shear.

[Doug Heim]

gusset like this as I do!

[Reidy02]

Well that one took off, as I thought it would. But what I was going to say is that it could have been avoided if it were made to take the forces on it, as Dougs are!