Bringing the 4lb Caged lower back from the Dead?

KLLR SNK

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Looks good Mike. Did you press the pulley onto the cage using Locktite? What bushing material is that?
 

cj428mach

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Looks good Mike. Did you press the pulley onto the cage using Locktite? What bushing material is that?


The bearing is locktited into the pulley. On my lower the pulley isn't locktited onto the pulley shaft.

The Machine shop owner said a person could use locktite in place of the staking as thats what they do on aircraft parts. He said the interference fit was tight enough it wouldn't require locktite, I wanted to see if he was right so I had him press my pulley on with out locktite and figured I'd see what happened.
 

MG0h3

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Curious on the bushing material as well and when you expect to unload of few more of them.

Its possible my lower bearing is starting to howl and Im concerned the 3.00 upper will slip a little anyways....let me know.
 

cj428mach

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Curious on the bushing material as well and when you expect to unload of few more of them.

Its possible my lower bearing is starting to howl and Im concerned the 3.00 upper will slip a little anyways....let me know.

1-1/4" OD, 1/2" ID, 6" Long, 60a Durometer, from McMaster Carr.com P/N: 5546T56
Its silicone and here is a link to their catalog.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/121/3578/=z9ybw2




The lower pulleys have the bearings/snap rings installed and are ready to be installed on lower cage brackets. I really just don't want people coming back on me if they have issues before they're thoroughly tested. If people really wanted one right now with out testing I'd probably let them go.
 
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joshcarp81

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4lb lower.....

Lookin good buddy. I'd be more than happy to test one out for ya if it wasn't February in ohio....still interested in grabbing one off ya. Let me know what ya think you need to get out of one anyways.
 
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04sleeper

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The pulley is installed and I put about 35 miles on the car today of back road boost filled driving and the pulley performed flawlessly. With my 2.9" upper and 4lb lower the car pulls 22.5psi on the TVS.
Oh man! :burnout:

Nice work Mike! I have to come up and check it out sometime.
 

f2hatch

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that came out fantastic! when do you think testing will be complete because i just bought a 4lb lower metco and wondering if i should even put it on. or sell it for this if available soon.
 

cj428mach

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I got a ton of pms about pulleys most of which I haven't read yet. I've been in the shop all day long. I want to do some more testing before im willing to part with them.

When I get home tonight ill post more.
 

cj428mach

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This morning i was looking over the lower pulley and I could see several threads of the center drive shaft sticking out past the tribar assembly. There was much more of the shaft sticking out than when i originally assembled the lower.

I removed the lower and disassembled it in order to determine what went wrong. The problem is the tribar assembly essentially over tightened itself on the shaft beginning to mushroom the threaded area of the tribar assembly. While nothing had failed it was easy to see that it wasn't going to last.

Stock lower- The threaded shaft is flush with the tribar assembly.
33njl1h.jpg

Over tightened lower-You can see how many threads are sticking out of the front.
2dbl6bl.jpg


Stock Lower- The out side of the threaded area of the tribar is even with the drive assembly
so0eih.jpg

Over tightened Lower- The threaded area has been "Bubbled" out because the threaded area of the tribar has been compressed.
vb2fs.jpg


I spent the afternoon building 2 anti-tightening plates and will mount them via studs like others have done. I'm going to visit with the machine shop and see how quickly they could work something up. Sam AKA Cozmo has volunteered to possibly help build some up anti-tightening plates for this run just to get them going. I will have to see about getting them mass produced though in the future as they're obviously a must as my testing and the previous caged pulley makers have shown.

There is also some good news for people that aren't needing 4lb lowers as I when I was picking up the lowers the shop owner told me it would be no big deal to change the outside pulley diameter. Thus opening up the option for 2lb and maybe even -2lb for larger blower guys. Sorry I can assure people that there won't be 6lb available as it will only add more headaches to the project.

For everyone thats sticking with the project and paying attention I do appreciate it. I hope to get the new parts whipped up ASAP and get these pulleys available to people that want them.


Here are pics of the piece I welded up today that I hope to get made as well to accompany the 4lb lower. You can see the 14mm shaft in the center prevents turning and is bolted to the tribar. This will probably be studs pressed in as then you don't need welding on the tribar.
wme2c8.jpg

dm8utz.jpg
 
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cj428mach

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Oh man! :burnout:

Nice work Mike! I have to come up and check it out sometime.

You do. As i was out beating the hell out of my car I was just thinking I love E85 and I love Kevin's tune.

I need to get caught up and email you....we'll talk mixers lol.
 

oldmodman

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Here is a word of caution regarding the bearing in the small pulley. Since that pulley now has to turn over twice as fast as it did when it was the stock factory size keep a close watch on it. Actually take the belt off and spin it by hand. The bearings have been known to fail when spun that fast.
On the original run of caged lowers several people had the tiny bearing fail. The solution for them was going to a fully ceramic bearing. I'll go back to the thread about it on ModFords and see what the part number and price were.
The people that had the failures were all running an "8 pound" pulley. That was spinning the small idler pulley so fast the bearings failed after an unexpectedly short time.
 

cj428mach

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I love the anti tightening setup. I may do something like that in the future for my car.
You like my home powder coating kit getting some more use? lol.

If you want I can see about getting an extra anti tightening hub made for you when I'm at the machine shop.....I know I know it all depends on price. I'll text you when I know more incase you want in on one.

Here is a word of caution regarding the bearing in the small pulley. Since that pulley now has to turn over twice as fast as it did when it was the stock factory size keep a close watch on it. Actually take the belt off and spin it by hand. The bearings have been known to fail when spun that fast.
On the original run of caged lowers several people had the tiny bearing fail. The solution for them was going to a fully ceramic bearing. I'll go back to the thread about it on ModFords and see what the part number and price were.
The people that had the failures were all running an "8 pound" pulley. That was spinning the small idler pulley so fast the bearings failed after an unexpectedly short time.

I'd love any info you have on the subject. I do know the original 4lb pulley project started with 50mm idlers before the jumped up the size to I believe 63mm which is what I'm running now. The idler is a Metco double ball bearing idler that they've sold for a long time so I believe it to be a good piece. I see Dayco makes some 60mm idlers so that seems to be about the smallest anyone goes probably for the RPMs.

The nice thing about a 2lb caged lower is you can get away with a 90mm idler, its tight but it works.
 

MalcolmV8

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You like my home powder coating kit getting some more use? lol.

If you want I can see about getting an extra anti tightening hub made for you when I'm at the machine shop.....I know I know it all depends on price. I'll text you when I know more incase you want in on one.

Sounds good :)
 

cj428mach

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I went by the machine shop that built the pulleys and they are going to build a 1 piece locking hub that will prevent the tribar from over tightening itself. The locking hub will be made of 4140 steel and zinc coated for rust prevention. It will also have a puller hole threaded in it to aid in removal of the locking hub. The good news is with the hub I'll still be able to keep the whole setup under $500.

Now for the bad news, the shop said it would be a approximately 6 week wait time. I'll try to do my best to keep the fire lit under them as me and the shop owners are becoming kinda becoming friends. With the help of Cozmo we're going to proceed on making some 2 piece locking hubs that I'll test. If they prove themselves I'll see about getting the lowers out to the people that are in a rush and can't wait for the 1 piece design.

Hopefully I'll have my car back up and testing in less than 2 weeks...I guess I need to get the parts over to Cozmo.
 

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