fighting friction
Amsnow
More Challenges
So have we now eliminated all friction or are there still problem areas to be conquered? The biggest problem area remaining is the sliding bushing on the moveable sheave. This component has a hard life, constantly thrown around by belt and centrifugal loads.
When it wears, conditions get worse and the moveable sheave starts wobbling and may pinch the buttons. With rollers there is no pinching so there tends to be better performance for a longer period. All kinds of material has been tried for this bushing, and presently a fiber-backed bushing providing some cushioning seems to work best.
A correctly designed billet cover which adds stiffness seems to reduce the load on the movable sheave bushing by transferring more load to the cover bushing, and this is enhancing the performance of the moveable sheave and cover assembly.
More work is probably needed in this area as power demands increase.
Clutch development has gone from reducing friction by design, to eliminating it completely with rollerized primary and secondary clutches. Rollerized secondary clutches are already standard on most brands and we predict that rollerized primaries will be available as standard in the near future.
In the meantime, the aftermarket is there to fill your needs and advance the technology.