# Motor Vibration



## Snakub (Sep 8, 2008)

I have been feeling a vibration in the drive train for a while now and I am not sure what's causing it. At first thought the direct drive motor coupler was out of balance but I have replaced that with a clutch and it does the same thing although it seems to be less severe. I don't feel anything at low rpm but when I reach about 30 mph in 2nd gear it vibrates, but when I speed up more the vibration stops. I have replaced the u joints b/c I thought that could be the problem didn't make a difference. Could it be inside the motor?


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

Snakub said:


> I have been feeling a vibration in the drive train for a while now and I am not sure what's causing it. At first thought the direct drive motor coupler was out of balance but I have replaced that with a clutch and it does the same thing although it seems to be less severe. I don't feel anything at low rpm but when I reach about 30 mph in 2nd gear it vibrates, but when I speed up more the vibration stops. I have replaced the u joints b/c I thought that could be the problem didn't make a difference. Could it be inside the motor?


when you replaced with a clutch/flywheel, did you have that balanced?

when your direct coupler failed, could it have bent anything?

how sure are you that your motor is well centered? i.e is your adaptor plate using dowels to the bell housing to center, or is your plate homemade, or???


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

Next time you have it apart, spin up the motor (careful you don't overspeed it) by itself to see if it is vibrating. It might be quick to unhook a driveshaft or axles to do this test. Motors can vibrate by themselves.


Snakub said:


> I have been feeling a vibration in the drive train for a while now and I am not sure what's causing it. At first thought the direct drive motor coupler was out of balance but I have replaced that with a clutch and it does the same thing although it seems to be less severe. I don't feel anything at low rpm but when I reach about 30 mph in 2nd gear it vibrates, but when I speed up more the vibration stops. I have replaced the u joints b/c I thought that could be the problem didn't make a difference. Could it be inside the motor?


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## Snakub (Sep 8, 2008)

dtbaker said:


> when you replaced with a clutch/flywheel, did you have that balanced?
> 
> when your direct coupler failed, could it have bent anything?
> 
> how sure are you that your motor is well centered? i.e is your adaptor plate using dowels to the bell housing to center, or is your plate homemade, or???


My direct coupler never failed it just had this vibration at a certain rpm so I took it out and replaced it with a clutch but no the clutch was never balanced but it was machined out by an expert I could have it taken off and tested though. The adapter plate is homemade I took a steel plate then cut out a hole the size of the part that protrudes from the Warp 9 then I used pointed steel markers screwed the bolt holes of the face to mark where the holes would be. Then I found a hollow steel cylinder that fit over the part that protrudes on the Warp 9 and welded it onto the adapter plate while it was bolted in with steel spacers. I took the transmission out and lowered it onto the coupling drilled the bolt holes for the tranny and cut off the excess of the steel plate. I mean it seems pretty solid and why only at a certain rpm and then the vibration stops beyond that
When I was in the process of putting on the clutch I ran the motor at 12 volts no load and it seemed to be fine what kind of rpm does a warp 9 get up to at 12 volts no load? Could it be the power steering pump on the other end of the motor? Maybe the adapter plate is flexing idk but I will post pics though.


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## Snakub (Sep 8, 2008)

Note: something is wrong on this website I tried to embed a youtube vid and it wouldn't let me but here is a link of my clutch out of the truck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vX7srp85E


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

well..... unless you are dead-nuts centered and VERY close to balanced, there will be a harmonic rpm where the unbalance will build on itself. If you are unlucky, the harmonic is within the operating rpm. Given that your adaptor plate is homemade, I would suspect center alignment might be the bigger problem than balance, but it wouldn't hurt to have your clutch assembly balanced up to 6000 rpm first.


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## Snakub (Sep 8, 2008)

So what you are saying is that if the clutch and the transmission shaft are not aligned then there will be a vibration? Isn't there some play in the transmission shaft itself? It may be the new motor controller I have now I called the technicians and they said it has a hiccup problem. I might take the clutch off though and have it tested.


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## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

Snakub said:


> So what you are saying is that if the clutch and the transmission shaft are not aligned then there will be a vibration? Isn't there some play in the transmission shaft itself? It may be the new motor controller I have now I called the technicians and they said it has a hiccup problem. I might take the clutch off though and have it tested.


If it isn't centred and aligned then the splines on the clutch shaft can 'roll*' around the spline in the clutch plate just taking up the slack in the spline.
I had this with my tractor motor when I made a splined shaft to fit the female spline in the club car motor.

At non harmonic rpm it just 'rolls' or floats to take up the slack but at certain speeds it starts to whip round causing a vibration.


*Rolling like a sun gear in an annulus, but with the same number of teeth, as opposed to the splines slipping.


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