Gearbox worries.

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michaelt
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Gearbox worries.

Okay. On my way home I have a seriously steep hill with a set of lights at the top. I mean if the Vectrix has to stop on the upslope she (he?) can only just get moving. Anyway of late there has been a nasty graunching sound from the gears as if the non existent clutch was slipping and a bit of a stutter. Today while accelerating hard up a moderate hill a similar thing happened. Any ideas? Currently I am at 9000 trouble free k's aside from bad range of about 20k's.

kingcharles
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Re: Gearbox worries.

The gearbox is incredibly strong so unless the oil has disappeared I doubt it has a problem there. I recently changed the gearbox oil at 20.000km and there was still plenty of original oil left. There have been reports on this forum of similar sounds, those were all caused by electronic problems! Have a look at those posts.

Once you go EV, Gas is history!

Magendanz
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Re: Gearbox worries.

Yeah, I got a similar sound once going up my steep driveway and thought my gearbox was toast. The problem actually ended up being a dirty encoder, which is much more easily remedied.

antiscab
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Re: Gearbox worries.

Okay. On my way home I have a seriously steep hill with a set of lights at the top. I mean if the Vectrix has to stop on the upslope she (he?) can only just get moving. Anyway of late there has been a nasty graunching sound from the gears as if the non existent clutch was slipping and a bit of a stutter.

I highly recommend checking the phase connections to your Motor controller.

Also, has your Motor controller ever been removed from your Vectrix?

The gearbox is very strong.
It is worth checking, its just checking the phase connections is easier.
First rule of working on machinery - always check the easy stuff first

Matt

Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km

Drew
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Re: Gearbox worries.

I agree, clean the encoder and your problems will probably go away!

Drew

Drew

michaelt
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Re: Gearbox worries.

Thaks for the comments guys, I'll clean the encoder this weekend and see how we go.

Michael

Magendanz
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Re: Gearbox worries.

I recommend first blowing out the dust and wiping any residue on the wheel and cover with a lint-free rag. For the encoder assembly and reluctor wheel, I've used TF solvent (or eco-friendly equivalent) that's safe for plastics and zero-residue. The only reason to touch the encoder assembly is to remove and replace the wire harness and mirror (plastic part covering the reluctor wheel), and do that very carefully. Be particularly careful not to hit or bend the reluctor wheel, as the clearance is very tight.

In the past I've cleaned the encoder without removing the mirror, but over time I've found that dust will accumulate there even with liberal applications of TF solvent. At times I have used a Q-tip on the mirror and very lightly on the reluctor wheel, but you have to be careful to clean off any cotton residue.

Good luck!

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