riddle me this.

[neracoal]

Okay i replaced a centifical clutch on a cart i bought and it got hot fast. I assume over loaded due to the cart size. It has a 10 tooth cent clutch with a 54 tooth axle sprocket.

Here is my thought to solve the ratio problem. It has a jack shaft on it since it probably had a torque converter on it before. So if i went from 10 tooth on clutch to say a 15 tooth in on jack shaft then 10 tooth out to the 54 tooth axle. (which should give me a 8.10 gear ratio). Would that be a tall enough ratio to not burn up the clutch? If i went to a 20 tooth in on the jack shaft i would be at like 10.80 ratio which is pretty high.

i am not looking for a lot of speed really. This cart would be used in the yard or flat dirt roads. very little elevation changes.

any opinions would be helpful.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

whats your tire diameter?

 

[neracoal]

22"

 

[Bluethunder3320]

sounds like a tall ratio, have you tried the gear ratio calculator on this site?

thats geared to 44 MPH.

http://www.diygokarts.com/speed-calculator.html

sounds tall to me. my avatar bike is geared 10:1 with a jackshaft, 19" tires. and i go about 20MPH with good power. when i removed the jackshaft and went 5:1, my acceleration was terrible but i went really fast. i changed it back to stock gearing after that....... i like power better than speed.

 

[neracoal]

i used this link to get the ratio. http://www.fasttrackraceway.com/calc/index.php My question is that wouldn't a 10:1 ratio be alot easier on the cent clutch but with a result of alot slower?

 

[Bluethunder3320]

It is slower than a ratio that is double, (5:1) however it has great acceleration and power.

Sacrafice speed for more take off and power,
Sacrafice take off/ power for speed.

 

[neracoal]

so it wouldn't be any easier on the cent clutch to go up to a higher ratio like 10:1?

 

[B man]

yes it is.