2 Speed Setup

[r97]

looks like a pretty steep ratio you have there, how is the acceleration? you may actually gain some top speed by gearing it LOWER.

there are many ways for a multi-speed transmission,
-a 2+ speed belt tensioner (like blue posted)
-2 speed jack shaft (blue mentioned that too) link
-atv/dirtbike engine w/ gear box
-lawn mower transmission
-some home-brew thing i thought of using disk brakes as clutches for each speed (can explain more)
- electric clutch transmission (another home-brew thing i came up with, can be explained)
-homemade transmission, many different ways to do this, heres one, http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8890&highlight=speed+transmission
-i have read somethings about bicycle de-railer system being used, but i'm not too confident in its ability to handle the speed.

there are probably more i cant think of right now. of course maybe you would be better suited by upgradeing, or moifying your engine. maybe installing a torque converter. its also probably worth while to play around with your gear ratios.

 

[Say What?]

Thanks for the help and link, i finally understand how that guy made the homemade tranny, and i think i can tweak it a little to work on my kart. again thank you guys for helping me very much. i will update everyone once i get it built.

 

[Say What?]

Ok so i came up with an idea that might work for my kart:
Right now i have a centrifugal clutch with a sprocket on it and a chain that connects the clutch to a sprocket on the axle and thats giving me one speed, now if i added a pulley to the clutch thats about the same size as the sprocket on the clutch, and i ran a belt from that pulley to another pulley(That i can engage or disengage by adding tension), and that second pulley is atatched to a bar that has a sprocket attatched to it that is bigger than the clutch sprocket, and i ran a chain from the sprocket that is attatched to the bar, to a sprocket on the axle (The sprocket will be smaller than the one that is already on the axle), and if i had the motor running and was up to top speed in the first gear, and i then simply add tension to the belt spinning the bar that i mentioned, turning the higher speed gears. would that give me more top speed? Sorry if im not making sence it sounds perfect in my head lol.

 

[Say What?]

Does anybody have an idea as to what will happen if i go with the setup i posted above?

 

[Badot]

Not 100% sure what you're trying to say but from the sound of things you'll need some form of heavy duty roller clutch on the lower speed axle sprocket, or some way to disengage/bypass that drive, otherwise you'll do major damage to something.

 

[Orange Krate]

Ok so i came up with an idea that might work for my kart:
Right now i have a centrifugal clutch with a sprocket on it and a chain that connects the clutch to a sprocket on the axle and thats giving me one speed, now if i added a pulley to the clutch thats about the same size as the sprocket on the clutch, and i ran a belt from that pulley to another pulley(That i can engage or disengage by adding tension), and that second pulley is atatched to a bar that has a sprocket attatched to it that is bigger than the clutch sprocket, and i ran a chain from the sprocket that is attatched to the bar, to a sprocket on the axle (The sprocket will be smaller than the one that is already on the axle), and if i had the motor running and was up to top speed in the first gear, and i then simply add tension to the belt spinning the bar that i mentioned, turning the higher speed gears. would that give me more top speed? Sorry if im not making sence it sounds perfect in my head lol.

First of all I think there are a lot of us here infatuated with this idea and I encourage anyone to make it work so I can live vicariously through you.

Now, are you trying to say you want to use a centrifugal clutch to engage a jackshaft with different ouput ratios to the axle that you selected by multiple tensioners?

If that's the case the clutch is overkill. The tensioner can be your clutch. Some pretty good concepts have been illustrated and discussed here:http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6764&highlight=gears+belt+tensioner

and here: http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7915
One day I will try one. I found another power reverse tiller like this I'm thinking of cannibalizing to work as a 2 speed but I can't bring myself to drop $150 on it.