Modern Buddy

I got a new variator from ScooterWorks. On my stock variator, the outermost piece (Ramp Plate?)…Part 33 on “E7 Driven Pulley� page has a smooth (un-geared) center hole.. THEN, the first washer type thing outside of that (Ratchet Kick-Starter?)…Part 34 has teeth in the middle. This makes sure it fits the splined Crankshaft.

HOWEVER, when I got the new variator from SW, the Ramp Plate itself has teeth in the middle to snug onto the splines of the Crankshaft. No problem, EXECPT now the Ratchet Kick-Starter won’t go on because the Ramp Plate doesn’t go far enough on to the Crankshaft.

What’s the deal? Why won’t my replacement variator fit the way the old one does? I got the cheap one but my issue seems to be the same on the expensive ones. They’re all geared in the middle. What gives?

The pic attached doesn't show the smooth center of the old one very well...

Just ruling out the simple stuff first, are you compressing the rear pulley to loosen the belt up front? If the belt is tight up front, you'll have a tough time getting that ramp plate to seat. Try test fitting it with the belt off, if there's any doubt.

The stock ramp plate should have a splined hole to mate with the splines on the crank. Your old ramp plate looks odd to me, like it's been modified by cutting a recess where the hole is. Did you buy this scooter used? If so, my guess is someone replaced the original crankshaft with a generic one. The problem with that is PGO cranks have a longer spline in order to accept both the ramp plate and the kick starter pawl. So in order to allow reuse of the kick starter pawl with the generic crankshaft, a recess was machined out and the splines removed so that the ramp plate can sit deeper on the crank thereby allowing the splines on the kick start pawl to engage the crank. This is not a good thing because now the only thing driving the belt is the inner ramp plate as the outer one now spins free.
There are two ways to fix this: 1) replace the crank with an original PGO crank or 2) pin the kick starter pawl to the outer ramp plate using dowel pins. The ramp plate and the pawl will have to be machined to accept the dowel pins. This is the route I took when installing a stroker crank in my Blur. There is a third choice, get rid of the kick starter pawl and use electric start exclusively.

babblefish wrote: There is a third choice, get rid of the kick starter paw and use electric start exclusively.

I recommend that one!


PS - it's a kickstarter "pawl".

JettaKnight wrote:

babblefish wrote: There is a third choice, get rid of the kick starter paw and use electric start exclusively.

I recommend that one!


PS - it's a kickstarter "pawl".

My "paw" has hair all over it, just like everything else in my house. I have two hairy cats...

My paws are both hairy but I've got no cats!

@babblefish: Bought the Bubu new in 2008. The ugliness on the outside of the original variator is from where it spun the hell off and skated across the parking lot when I failed my belt replacement exam.

@Stanza: Affirm. New ramp plate will not seat even with belt off...er, that is..
Won't seat with enough spindle left over for the pawl, washer, and nut.

Now that I know something about CVT, I understand why the ramp plate would need to be geared also. But it hasn't been for 14k miles/10 years (original belt, variator).

To note: I put the new variator on (for no reason I suppose) with the old ramp plate and outer pieces. Works like always did. Mysterious that crank isn't long enough for splined ramp plate++. Everything is stock.

Since I don't want to go in and replace the crank, I'm thinking of drilling out the gears in the new ramp plate. Don't really want to play games with parts though. Thoughts are appreciated.