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Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

P/W Autodrive linkage/arm broken in less than 30 days


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Not sure what I did wrong or what caused this. But today when simply decapping and swaging the arm just snapped. I had it setup just right where it wouldn't bottom or top out.

Common problem? Did I set it up wrong? Is this covered under warranty?

15860855893_0cb9bb2c33_c.jpg

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They are probably going to tell him he didn't have the stroke setup right and it was overstroking, causing the arm to flex and break due to fatigue.

In reality, it's poor design geometry that caused it to fail.

If you want to fix it to work properly, envision this.

1. A sleeve over the crank where the arm attaches.

2. A spud welded to that sleeve with a milled slot and cross hole in the end of the spud. This is where the heim joint (spherical rod end) would attach.

3. To locate the sleeve in the proper position, drill a hole in the sleeve and put a pin through it into the stock hole where the old crank arm goes.

4. The spud should be aligned to where the middle of the stroke is vertical.

5. From there, you can ditch that stupid bent arm they use and replace it with a straight arm.

6. You may have to lower the motor, because PW mounts it too high.

I based my 650 auto drive loosely on their design, but without their inherent design flaws relating to geometry.

The important things to note in the video is the vertical spud that operates the crank going through the pillow blocks, as well as the spud length and relationship to motor height.

Edited by Brassaholic13
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