Aluminum Lovejoy coupler

[vdubnut62]

Anybody ever use an aluminum lovejoy coupling with a Changfa to direct drive an st head?
How did it work out? Is aluminum strong enough to take the hammering?
Ron

[Henry W]

What size Changfa? I know the larger Changfa's from S195 and up need a good size coupling of at least a 40 hp rating. The reason is the power stroke of a large single cylinder. I do have a coupling that I have in mind. It is designed for 1, 2 and 3 cylinder engines. I will post it later tonight.

Henry

[flywheel]

Ron

You can get a nice lovejoy coupler half attached to a adapter to fit your engine from George at utterpower.com.  It will bolt to your flywheel and they work great.  It will save you a lot of time and trouble if you get one already made up and ready to bolt on. 
                                       flywheel

[Henry W]

Hello Ron,

I believe you have an 1100. Personaly I would not trust the lovejoy you posted. It is way to small. And steel would be a much better choice.

Henry

[Henry W]

Hello Flywheel,

That looks like the way to go if you are going to run a lovejoy. Any idea what the rating is.

Henry

[flywheel]

Ron

I'm not certain what the rating is and I know they are made in different sizes.  I believe this one is 150 size iirc, it 3.75" od.  Lovejoy site may have hp ratings on their couplers.
                                                                                     flywheel

[vdubnut62]

Hey, anybody wanna buy an aluminum lovejoy coupler?   Cheap?
Ron

[vdubnut62]

Thanks for the input everyone, I am grateful for the help.
Flywheel, I have seen the adapter that George sells, I think Randy Allmand actually makes them. I believe they are machined from a
VW brake rotor. That's what I had in mind, but I was going to machine my own, and use the aluminum lovejoy half directly bolted to it.
Oh well, now for Plan "B".
Ron.

[prof.blink]

vdub, i used a lovejoy about 6" dia. on a 2 cyl lister running@ 1800 driving 10k st w/mixed results. when running @rated speed w/no load, it hamers and vibrates. when even lightly loaded, its dead smooth. alighnment is on point and frame ridgitity is not an issue. imo, the cushioning element is to close to the centre line of rotation. i am in the process of fabbing a plate to mount on gen shaft to hold 4 rubber isolators out near the rim of the flywheel. blink

[veggie]

Belt drive ?

Veggie

[TimSR2]

That aluminum coupler will definitely will not stand up to the abrupt accel/decel pulses of a diesel single. 10 years ago  I had one of those couplers on a Ducati 11 horse  and it lasted less than an  hour before blowing the motor side ears off.

Personally,  I would rather have a heavy cloth wrapped B series v belt on large cast pulleys than any fancy lovejoy type coupler. Think big on the pulleys, 12 inch cast pulleys will add a great kick to your flywheel for starting refrigerators and other capacitor start motor loads. Large pulleys don't slip, absorb power pulses,  and have very low losses. Plus you can run any RPM you want. Run your engine on the torque peak for maximum efficiency.

TimSR2

[Henry W]

What size Changfa? I know the larger Changfa's from S195 and up need a good size coupling of at least a 40 hp rating. The reason is the power stroke of a large single cylinder. I do have a coupling that I have in mind. It is designed for 1, 2 and 3 cylinder engines. I will post it later tonight.

Henry

Well guys this is what I wanted to post yesterday. I found this early this week.

http://www.guardiancouplings.com/productline/superflex.htm

They claim it is designed for 1,2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines.

They claim it can hold up to our application.



I copied this description:

SUPERFLEX
Super Elastic Coupling


The Guardian SUPERFLEX Coupling consists of two cast iron (GGG40) hubs, a super elastic flexible rubber element of 55° shore "A" hardness, and bolts with self locking nuts required for assembly.

The rubber elements are provided with an outer metallic band that is to be removed after mounting. This allows the rubber to expand from its original pre-stressed condition. As a result of this, the allowable torsional load of the rubber element is influenced favorably, i.e., a lower tensile stress and a higher permissible vibratory torque load.

The SUPERFLEX Coupling has been used world-wide on a variety of applications including light towers, gen-sets, compressors, welding sets and other construction machinery with large driven inertias.

With a service factor of 2.7 I was looking at the SF-16.

Henry

[Henry W]

Check out the Lovejoy Saga Couplings.

http://www.lovejoy-inc.com/uploadedFiles/Catalogs/sp.pdf

I need to look into these.

Henry

[vdubnut62]

Wow! That's a lot of options. Ya"ll are really doing your homework here. Ok just to start, I detest Vee-belts! For me they are an
absolute last resort. I know the are indispensable, cheap, and set up correctly they work great, personally I don't like 'em.
Now, the  Guardian and the Lovejoy Saga connectors, hmmm, they look suspiciously like a Mercedes rubber U-joint.
And they hold better that a hundred horsepower. Now that definite has do-it-yourself possibilities! A complete driveshaft at Pull-A-Part goes for under $20.
Any comments?
Ron

[Henry W]

I believe the 1993 240 volvo uses them also I need to crawl under my 240 to check it out.

Henry