FREE MOD to the Scooter's Clutch (Part 1/2)

Thank you to the FIFTYMil FAM!!! Thank you for donating some of your hard earned income to support me and my YouTube channel through PayPal. Thank you so much for watching my videos and showing me your appreciation for my work. :)

Roy Chan
Jesse Dime
Ali Jänisch
Anh Dep Thanh
Ngai Mai
Peter McManners
Chan Kar Yuen
Christopher Knight
David Philipp
Josif Bastille
TokyoPigeon
Sky Wu
Raymond Yeung

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

With more power, stiffer clutch springs, and lighter roller weights, the clutch on the Honda Ruckus 50cc NPS50 became the weakest link. In stop & go traffic, the clutch would often overheat and slip so much that all power to the ground is lost until it cools down again. Opening up the CVT case reveals the clutch housing has turned blue from overheating. The mating surface also glazed over completely. This video is part 1 of a free mod to the clutch to reduce slip and improve performance. While this mod was originally for cosmetic reasons, the unintended consequences of improved cooling, reduced clutch slip and reduced weight appears to be beneficial. It is advised, with sufficient budget, to purchase a more robust racing clutch to handle the extra power and engagement RPM.

Disclaimer:
FIFTYmil cannot guarantee against improper use or unauthorized modifications of this information. FIFTYmil assumes no liability for damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. FIFTYmil recommends safe practices when working on vehicles and or with tools. No information contained in this video shall create any expressed or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage, or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or from the information contained in this video is the sole responsibility of the user and not FIFTYmil.

Help support my content by using my affiliate links when you buy online through my links! It cost you nothing and greatly helps support the channel!

[jay_tarantula]

Seeing those clutch pads killed me inside

[daveflynn]

Like the bell mod, but the rear pulley isn't opening up to allow the belt to drop down coming out of the hole. Your belt is riding the high side all the time in the video. When this happens, you loose low end torque. Once your into the WOT cruising range its not noticeable because your belt is already there on the high outer side of the pulley. Its like driving a stick and taking off in 3rd gear. I'm sure this also played a part into the clutch over heating....

[watahyahknow]

it will allso help to sand down the brakepad material on the slippers so there matt again, this allso helps against the screaming of the clutch if the brakematerial is glazed it whont grab as well and create a lot more heat
reducing the mass of the flywheel allso reduces the amount of heat it can hold untill it will deform, from wat i can see on the video the axle holdingthe flywheel is slightly bend making it go round in two different planes
if you make the slippers heavier and the springs heavier the amount of slippage untill it grabs fully might be shorter mounting slippers with more heatresistand brake lining might help too

[FIFTYmil]

6 months update: Still running very well. A bit more noise than stock.... but otherwise the improved response and cooling outweighs the noise many times over. I would therefore recommend this mod unless you prefer the transmission to be as quiet as possible when launching the bike from a dead stop.

[vassilijzietseff]

1/ your clutch pads are worn but not completely gone, however you need to remove grey material from pad end, and remove with scotch bright pad the glaze,
2/ your belt on run up bench test is refusing to move up or down the bell on clutch and variator, at rest, (ie not running ) the belt at front or left, should be sitting on spindle centre shaft, and be touching the bell sides, on start up the belt should take up a more 1\3 to 1\2
way up bell face, upon acceleration the belt should rise up to the top or widest point apart on bell, while reducing to centre on rear clutch end, nothing is happening why ?.
could you take a look and see what the problem is, like bell polished faces to close together acting as friction brakes instead of driving up to the top or edge as in normal operation in other words they swap positions when running, ?.

[chillysloth]

You remove material on the outside but need to refinish the inside and get new pads that's the issue it slipping which is causing heat soak. Removing material will only effect rotational mass.

[ood-hrve]

If you like to work on your transmission you should get a impact wrench. so easy to remove the nuts.

[HDFatboy]

Having had snowmobiles in the 80's, you don't want to remove the cover off of the clutch.
It is there for extra heat dissipation and to help if the clutch disintegrates.
I hope you did not have any problems.

[shizothereal]

no wonder it got so hot... Whats up with thoose cluth pads? U tried some burnouts and it didnt worked huh?

[FIFTYmil]

I received an email about how this modification essentially polishes the variator face and does no good for belt slippage. I would like to clarify that this modification absolutely does not affect the variator at all. The variator is located in a different part of the transmission all together. This is the clutch bell which is directly connected to the final drive gears and out to the wheels. When the inner clutch assembly spins to a set RPM it engages the clutch friction pad onto the clutch bell and provides the propulsion that moves the scooter forward. What I removed is the outer layer of the clutch bell to increase cooling efficiency and reduce rotating mass. Hope that helps!

[minimotorman]

Here's what probably happened.

Most likely the surface of the inner clutch was glazed to begin with, and the simple resurfacing of the bell was enough to get the shoes to properly bed in, reducing slippage and all the heat in the first place. It had nothing to do with the weight reduction or removal of the outer ring.

Centrifugal clutches usually don't slip passed a certain rpm and cooling is irrelevant passed the first few seconds of setting off, so the fact that your clutch bell got so hot in the first place means that a whole lot of unnecessary slipping was going on in the first place.

I also just did this to my own Piaggio for not the exact same reason, but the shoes were slipping nonetheless under high load and I risked burning up the clutch had I not done so.

[braxtonbarrett]

I'm willing to bet that sheet metal was installed by the manufacturer as a safety. If over spun and clutch bell had a stress crack it does heat cycle like crazy without the sheet metal it's a gernade explodes throwing shrapnel. The sheet metal would help it not explode as easy. Plus removing metal it's just gonna heat up quicker and your clutch shoes were glazed over take some emery cloth to em remove the glaze it'll ruduce your slippage issue some

[bulletgt]

Not to be that guy, but that ring is a reinforcement so the clutch bell wont be deformed by the heat or, when you have a high power output, even explode. Buy a new 107mm clutchbell with coolingwings and made out of an harder material. :)

[bubbai]

Small holes in a zig pattern but spaced out so you don't weaken it to much do this on a spar cluch plate so you don't mess up a good one I'd probably space them out every 1/2" or what ever will even the holes out

[zenargaming]

some modification put thicker ring to prevent it from getting out of shape, that thing is what prevents your bell from getting oval. what you need to do is put some thread like line inside the bell for gripping not just put some patter or scratches to make it grip that will kill your clutch pad for sure, it will give you the best grip because of the thread like line and also avoids your pad from getting worn out.

[ludditeneaderthal]

Rather than a lathe and grinder, you can remove that outer sleeve by using a 1/4 inch end Mill chucked in a hand drill. Just lock the rear brake with the belt cover off, cover anywhere you don't want chips entering with masking tape (vent holes in clutch drum) and a rag or 2 (everything else) then slowly, carefully chew away those 3(in your example) spot welds holding the sleeve on the drum. Run the drill at low speed, do one at a time, and brace yourself. A cheap end Mill is fine, no need for carbide, fine cut, etc. 4 flute is better than 2. Go just deep enough to break the weld button. If you already have a drill, but no lathe or grinder, it's far cheaper. If you have a grinder you can mask the same way for chips, and just carefully spot grind those welds also, then clean up with brake cleaner, no lathe required.

[NitroGuyJH]

The clutch pads look a little worn to me personally and that may attribute to most of your slipping. Besides that, I am curious how well they stood up to the bead blasted internal surface. Although it definitely would increase grip by the multitudes it just sacrifices the life of the clutch pads tremendously. Without a smooth clutching surface it’s pretty akin to sanding the pads every time you take off.

[Thedeaconoftrade]

another note, if you wanted to aid in cooling you could drill many evenly spaced holes around the bell

[dufus]

Modify ducting and fairing to channel more air into clutch..make allowance for water ingress also expelling air

[OverlandOne]

You need to watch a video here on Youtube somewhere showing a scooter clutch exploding! Guy was revving the engine about like you were here, not too high or anything and...wham! It totally shattered the cvt case and part of the swingarm...there was almost nothing left of the clutch. I had no idea that could happen until I watched that video. Hit me up if you can't find it if interested and I will look for it.