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Axle Conversions
JoelP - 13/9/03 at 11:39 PM

Anyone know a good way to turn a bike into shaft drive, or to make an axle chain drive? I dont need to know myself just yet, i ask more out of interests sake and to start a useful thread for anyone who is bothered.

Any good ideas?

Rorty - 16/9/03 at 06:28 AM

The easiest way to transform a chain drive bike to shaft drive, is to turn the engine 90 degrees anti-clockwise, and run a prop adaptor off the output shaft a la BEC.
There are various ways of converting a live axle to chain drive. The easiest way is to replace the axle's bearings with sealed bearings, then cut an in -and-out hole in the front cover, remove the crown wheel, and bolt a sprocket on in its place.
Some diffs actually have room for a new front cover made from a bit of AL or steel plate.

carcentric - 21/9/03 at 03:06 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JoelP
Anyone know a good way to turn a bike into shaft drive . . . ?


Here's one way:


It's the middle drive from a '79 Yamaha XS1100 and was originally designed to transfer the transmission's output to the bike's propshaft with close to 1:1 internal gearing. Of course, if you start with the whole XS1100 (or similar bike), you'll already have a bike with shaft drive!

I bought one with the idea of connecting the splined input to the rear end of a car propshaft and then bolting a chain sprocket to the four-hole flange. Would have worked, but it's for sale now as I found an even better solution given my donor car (see http://www.carcentric.com/SpitTrike.htm if you're curious). I don't see why you couldn't have a splined hub machined to mount a sprocket onto and then use the middle drive as it was intended - with the four-hole flange bolted to a propshaft.

joolsmi16 - 11/12/05 at 11:32 PM

I have seen a diff with a sprocket on one side and the driven wheel on the other, not sure if its technically correct but room for improvement

joolsmi16 - 17/12/05 at 02:03 PM

Theres one ebay now Item number: 8021177844