Hi, I have a Stella Scooter w/ a Cozy sidecar. i had 7,000 trouble free miles up until recently. While sitting at stop lights, 3 times in the last 1,000 miles, my transmission has failed. I have no gears. After the first time it happend i took it to my dealer, they charged me $350 bucks to "fix". 450 miles later, same thing, this time they charged me $500 dollars and said it was worse and had more damage. Well, 200 miles later, same thing. They are blaming it on my pipe (which adds 2.5 HP) and the new "torquier" clutch they installed after the first time it went south, i have had the pipe for over 5,000 miles. After the first time it broke, i babied it, and it broke again. Fixed it, babied it, broke within 200 miles. Is it possible they don't know what they are doing? I refuse to pay them anymore money to fix it. I just don't know why after 7,000 miles it would start to have so many tranny issues. Should I go back to the original clutch size? Put the stock exhaust back on? Are they installing faulty parts or installing my clutch and transmission wrong? Please advice. I am not a mechanic nor do i have enough money to keep fixing it. Thanks in advance
Originally written by scottbos on 3/2/2008 6:19 PM....it possible they don't know what they are doing? .....
I'd say 100% they don't know what they are doing much less talking about. An exhaust system causing the tranny to go South you have got to be friggen kidding. For goodness shakes don't up on custom handle grips they'll say it caused your engine to blow. I'd have run from these guys on the first repair...much less give 'em 2 more shots "with charges" at it. You ever hear the phrase "Run Forest Run".... Don't know where you live fellow but I'd be getting another opinion.
o~o
They are trying to tell me the extra HP and torque from the exhaust coupled with the new clutch w/ additional bottom end power coupled w/ the additional weight of the sidecar is more then the scooter gears can handle. I live in Norman, OK and will be taking it elsewhere. I just wondered if the gears and clutch et all would shear that easily.
Okay, I can buy maybe the extra weight of the sidehack might cause the problems. I was just out reading about your scooter. I've never heard of 'em. Lived in the Chicago area for 5 years before moving back home to Texas. Noticed these are imported by a fellow up there that imports a lot of European and Iron Curtain scooters, Genuine Scooters. Scooters are made in India.
When I first started reading the specs on this scooter...I thought and he's trying to push a hack down the road with this. ???? I'm no expert on metals but I think you're asking too much from this little cruizer..!!!! This little fellow is just not built, in my opinion, not built for what you're trying to do. I do have one question. You indicated the problem with the tranny started with you put on the larger exhaust...how many miles did you have on the scooter with the hack...prior to adding the exhaust???
You do know there are a lot of Okie jokes here but I'm not going to go there... but Hook 'em.
o~o
There is a possibility the loads demanded of this outfit are greater than it's capacity.
Driving style may also enter the picture. With a stronger clutch installed and no slippage to start out with a heavy load will trash a gearbox in short time. As will abrupt downshifting with a maximun load.
I'd be looking for a stronger sidecar platform than the Stella. They're cute, but somewhat limited in usage.
Lonnie
Northwest Sidecars
Hello
Not sure what capacity your stella engine is, but if it is the same as the Vespa PX200 (stella is the US name for LML) which is a direct copy of the Vespa.
The PX200 pulls scooter sidecars really well and can maintain a decent top speed.
My older PX has done 55,000 miles in 5 years and with one set of plates,the only weak point is the rubber block at the top of the rear suspension 1 hour job to replace.
Their there three methods of clutch attachment and if you use the wrong one the clutch can come loose and damage or break the woodruff key on the shaft.
You should be able to remove a clutch in about 40 minutes and rebuild one in 1 hour and that includes coffee.
Just remove the clutch cover and check the tightness of the central nut, if its a hex, if its castellated and the tab washer has been fitted correctly it cannot come undone.
The later cranks cannot use a tab washer and the castellated nut cannot be used (it will come undone)if you have the flange nut fitted that will also come undone, if you can use the castellated nut and tab do so.
Easy fix if crank undamaged.
Regards
Barry
Hello
Check out www.scooterhelp.com
For a maintenance guide.
Regards
Barry
Hey scottbos - have you been to stellaspeed.com? We have several sidecar riders there. There are some members around OKC that I'm sure can hook you up with a good mechanic or help you rebuild yourself. It's also possible that a bad gear (or batch of gears) was installed - q.c. on that stuff can be spotty at times. Did they use Genuine/LML parts or Piaggio/Vespa parts?
Vespa/Stella gears have to be shimmed for proper clearance - it's possible that inexperienced mechnics might miss that.
How did the tranny fail? Broken gears? Bad bearings? Did it just fail to shift?
never wrenched a scooter,...but never seen an exhaust system effect a gearbox/clutch assembly either.,...tell the kids to put down daddy's tools and find another mechanic. a professional who knows what he is talking about and can show you whats really wrong. harsh drag-racing starts can break things,...heavy loads wear things out prematurely. this sounds like something came apart......because it wasn't tightened correctly in the first place. good luck, crawf.
Hello
Check the clutch woodruff key.
Regards
Barry
