reverse idea

[Voodoochikin04]

why not use a common centrifigul go kart clutch.. cheap..  modify a regular car starter to just be the motor with the gear removed.  fit the go kart clutch to the starter and run a chain from that to a big sprocket on the axle? using say, 30 series chain (common size for go kart clutch)   that way the rotating mass is low. the clutch action would allow for smoother reversing than a toothed gear.   is this plausible?

[Grimm Reaper Racing]

It could work, the only thing that concerns me a starter that would have enough torque to move a big buggy would likely not spin fast enough to engage a stock centrifugal clutch.  If you could find the right starter motor/clutch it might work though.

[Voodoochikin04]

i thought a normal gm starter spun pretty fast..  maybe its not enough.  id like to try it..

[Nutz4sand]

I have thought about the gokart clutch to with several ways to spin it.

The real problem I see with it?

The gokart the motor starts and idles a bit while warming up or while stopped which face it is usually not that long. Even at that the bearing in them fails. Thats with it only being a bearing while the motor warms up or idles. .

While the clutch is enguaged the bearing sees no "bearing" action as the whole clutch spins as one.

If you tried to use it on a rear end where it would be spinning the bearing the entire time the car was moving forward the bearing would not last. Especially at the MUCH faster speeds it would see then being a bearing at idle like it was made for on a go kart at idle.

The ONLY way I can see to get around this would be to mount the clutches outer part on its own shaft of high quality bearings and the motor to spin it would have to be on its own shaft as well so there was no touching till you NEEDED it. Lots of work for it to work. IMO.

[Voodoochikin04]

ok.. good point..lol..    mount a sprocket on the starter, moutn starter on a hinge, and lower it on the main drive chain when ready... :P:P      there has got to a an easy cheap way to do this starter reverse, that doesnt require a massive flexplate...

[Boostinjdm]

You can get a clutch with bearings, but they still prolly wouldn't handle the RPMs for an extended period.  Next problem is gearing.  The sprocket on the clutch would be larger than the original gear on the starter.  Which means that the driven sprocket would have to be even larger than the original flex plate. 

The cheapest way to get reverse is to let a buddy ride along, then he can get out and push...

[Voodoochikin04]

haha, only effective if he is strong...   jets barracuda got me thinking about this again. his flexplate deal is tiny.....

[Nutz4sand]

I am out at the library right now but I got a few pics of one you may or may not have seen and may or may not like at home and when I get there I will post them on here. 

[Carlriddle]

Thought about using a gear reduction starter motor and have it spin the front of the rear sprocket.  If you get the gearing right you'll have the torque and even saw one who was trying to use an electric speed control to vary the speed?  Not sure how that went, cant find the post now.

[chrishallett83]

What about using the electrically comtrolled clutch off the front of a nice big truck a/c compressor? Clutch engages at the same time as the starter relay is energised, and only if the buggy gearbox is in neutral?

[fabr]

Now you're getting close to a workable solution.

[Nutz4sand]

This starter reverse setup gives a bit more geardown so its eaiser on the starter and the batteries too. Not so fast a backup speed to to make it easier to back in or out of a trialer.

It also allows for more ground clearance.

The center chain could be doubled for strength and/or enclosed pretty easy to be oil bathed.

The top shaft could be farther back for a longer primary chain too.

In the buggy pic you can see the starter mounted atop of it. In the other pics you can see the starter mounting bolts.

Is it perfect? No. But you may or may not like it.

[Nutz4sand]

For some reason I cannot post pics at this time...