# Lovejoy connector for Bug tranny



## major (Apr 4, 2008)

mpbug said:


> I've just sheared my third P.O.S. Wilderness EV coupler and need a better option.


Hi Mark,

What is P.O.S? Got pictures?

major


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## kek_63 (Apr 20, 2008)

P.O.S. = piece of sh!t (in my world anyway)

Keith


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

I don't think lovejoys are up to it, from what I've read. If you're breaking couplers you may have alignment issues with your motor to tranny adapter.


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## mpbug (Feb 11, 2008)

The couplers I have used are made from the center of a clutch disc that is welded to a keyed coupler that fits my motor. The clutch disc is made from soft metal and 3/4" of spline on it.The tranny shaft has about 3" of spline sticking out in the bell housing.The soft metal splines are only about 1/16" of so deep and eventually grind off and the motor torque evetually spins them off completely. I am not generating a huge,huge amount of torque because I only have 72 volts and at best about 350 amps from my controller.I saw some guy on youtube or someplace using a lovejoy in a mazda with a Warp 9 and 120 volts. Anyone out there have a solution for me? Thanks, Mark P.S. I better not send picture of P.O.S.-I'm sure it will get censored!!


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## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

How is it that your clutch disc centre is made from soft metal?
The clutch centre should be hard enough to handle the drive torque from the ICE without undue wear and tear.

If you look at Jackbauer's thread he has to heat up the corners of his clutch centre to get them soft enough to drill.


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## mpbug (Feb 11, 2008)

Interesting link. The clutch center on mine can be easily filed. It bent easily when I attatched a puller to remove it. It really does seam like a non-hardened steel. On the clutch with VW ICE you don't really have as much torque, as you disengage clutch at low rpm and then as the modest 1600 cc power curve ramps up you don't really have as much torque since car is already moving.If you do you shift up or down to compensate. Porsche used a rubber inner clutch plate in its 77-80 911 s to reduce vibration(They blew up after a while, but mostly because they dried out and had really high rpm's..) So, back to my original problem. How do I hook a round keyed shaft to a smaller, round splined shaft???


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

Something like this maybe:


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2009)

The VW crank end is hardened steel. Never use soft steel. Not even with a 72 volt system. Sorry about your POS. I always thought those were exactly that. 

Pete


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## mpbug (Feb 11, 2008)

JRP= Yes that looks close. Where does one get something like this and how do I measure/describe the splined end? Thanks, Mark


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## grayballs (Aug 27, 2008)

mpbug said:


> JRP= Yes that looks close. Where does one get something like this and how do I measure/describe the splined end? Thanks, Mark


I'm in the process of buying a broach to do some internal splines for my reduction unit. The machinist will want to know,,,Number of teeth,,, outside diameter ( ?.???),,,,, root diameter (?.???),,,,, Included angle of teeth (as in, 30 deg per side = 60 deg included angle,,, the gear companies use a proof guage to measure this) and length of cut. I think it is probably better if you can give them a sample and let them measure. For something that is a one-off I think any decent machinist can handle it.

I have also seen taper-lock hubs used for this application. I haven't used one, myself, so I can't comment on their quality or durability


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## Bruce A (Jul 17, 2008)

I had a similar problem with the center spline stripping out on a 72 volt system. I believe the reason is because I used a stock clutch hub and the metal is to soft, when I did my second coupler after the first one failed, I used a hub off a high performance clutch the metal is a harden kinda like tool steel, an I now run a 9" motor with 120 volts & pull over 600 amps at times so far it seems to be working fine.

Good Luck


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## JRP3 (Mar 7, 2008)

mpbug said:


> JRP= Yes that looks close. Where does one get something like this and how do I measure/describe the splined end? Thanks, Mark


I sent my old clutch hub to Craig Dusing at http://www.electricvehiclesolutions.com/ and he machined down the outside of it for a press fit into a taper lock hub then welded into place for extra security. I'm surprised to hear people saying how soft the stock hub is, I would think it should be pretty hard, but an aftermarket clutch disc might be the way to go as some suggested, or someone might be able to machine the splines for you.


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