Explain - Lock-out and slipper clutches along with Air-shifters (please)

[beobe99]

I did a search, even on "how stuff works", and seem to always get diverted to "how clutches work" in general, which I know.

I'll give what I THINK the description and benefits are in hopes of being corrected, confirmed, or elaborated on.

Slipper Clutch - From what I understand it's a style of clutch that doesn't allow the bike to drag in gear when down shifting. That it "slips" at those points only. The benefit would be A. not getting thrown off your bike if choosing to low of a gear and B. less gear drag in a turn.. Are their different kinds?

Lock-out clutch - Again, from what I understand and by watching drag vids a Lockout clutch gives you clutch-less shift abilities during shifting but not on the launch? Benefits are of course not having to use the clutch?

Air-shifters - Sames as the above but with the use of a air via a button to shift gears? Would an air shifter need a "lock-out" clutch conversion? Benefits are of course not having to use the clutch?

Sorry if I sound ignorant, would just like to know for sure.

Thanks in advance guys!

[seanoktm]

A lock up does not let you do clutch less shifting that is a override trans. The lock up let's you slip the clutch a small amount before the weighted arms apply pressure to the pressure plate to gain traction and better your 60 ft

[udontknowme]

im pretty new to this stuff as well and dont know much about a slipper clutch or air shifter but i have a lockout in the garage. just from looking at it my intuition tells me the weighted balls or fingers apply force to the top of the pressure plate. basically sandwiching the clutch pack tighter. you vary the force applied by the amount of weight at the end of the finger or how many balls and their weight. if you google search a lockout and look at the photo it should become pretty clear how they function. the ones ive seen dont take the place of the pressure plate but rather attach on the outside of it via the inner hub bolt towers

[broken1]

If the slippers for quads are the same as rc cars than there designed for adjustability to increase or decrease clutch slippage. That way you can control the amount of power going to the ground so on slick tracks you loosen the clutch to reduce the chances of breaking the tires loose & spinning out. I would think with a clutch like that the fibers would have to be replaced frequently.

[JesseA420]

o can I add a question to this thread also lol, is back cut tranny gears and override trans the same thing or different?

[Pumashine]

Back cut tranny gears are a process in which the gear has a angle ground into it to keep it from slipping as you shift from say 1st to second. 1st has been back cut. If you launch in 2nd gear then you would get 2nd back cut. An override transmission has a modified gearshift drum to allow clutch-less shifting.

[beobe99]

Sean, udontknowme - Thanks for the info. My first assumption when looking at a lock-out was that those weighted "balls" would somehow engage the clutch when a slight drop in rpm was detected so you could do a clutchless shift... What you guys mentioned makes sense though. So I imagine the benefit is strictly for preloaded (by slipping the clutch) when launching?

Jesse , puma - I now have a solid idea on back-cut gears!!

Any more input on slipper / Air shift? My guess with air-shift you need an override Trans?

[rsss396]

i dont call them lock out clutches but instead lockup clutches but either way they apply more pressure as the inner basket speeds up which is directly contacted to the transmission. so the weights do not apply more pressure until the rear wheels are actually moving. sitting at the line revving to the moon will not add any more clutch pressure
The Reklus style or slipper clutches work the opposite way, the clutch is disengaged with the clutch handle out and the motor idling, as the engine rpms increase the clutch will progressively add pressure until fully locked up at higher rpms. many riders like this because they can power thru a corner in a higher gear without bogging the motor because the clutch has slip. As you can expect clutch wear is much more than normal

override cut transmissions allow 2 gears to mesh at the same time for a seamless shift, but can not be back loaded or the shift forks take a beating,

Back cut gears have the "dogs" cut at a shallow angle to promote more positive engagement

air shifters work by also incorporating a studder box or basically a engine kill that is on a timer. this timer is just fractions of a second to remove load from the transmission gears to allow for a shift by the air shifter. some people just use the engine kill itself and shift the bike with their foot. this works great on asphalt but will not work effectively in sand because of the massive amount of tire slip in the sand. By time you slow down all the inertia in the slipping tires way to much time is used to kill the motor and the bike has to basically nose over to make a shift.

[beobe99]

i dont call them lock out clutches but instead lockup clutches but either way they apply more pressure as the inner basket speeds up which is directly contacted to the transmission. so the weights do not apply more pressure until the rear wheels are actually moving. sitting at the line revving to the moon will not add any more clutch pressure
The Reklus style or slipper clutches work the opposite way, the clutch is disengaged with the clutch handle out and the motor idling, as the engine rpms increase the clutch will progressively add pressure until fully locked up at higher rpms. many riders like this because they can power thru a corner in a higher gear without bogging the motor because the clutch has slip. As you can expect clutch wear is much more than normal

override cut transmissions allow 2 gears to mesh at the same time for a seamless shift, but can not be back loaded or the shift forks take a beating,

Back cut gears have the "dogs" cut at a shallow angle to promote more positive engagement

air shifters work by also incorporating a studder box or basically a engine kill that is on a timer. this timer is just fractions of a second to remove load from the transmission gears to allow for a shift by the air shifter. some people just use the engine kill itself and shift the bike with their foot. this works great on asphalt but will not work effectively in sand because of the massive amount of tire slip in the sand. By time you slow down all the inertia in the slipping tires way to much time is used to kill the motor and the bike has to basically nose over to make a shift.

I actually came across a post you contributed to about override transmissions (on .net) which was very informative. Thanks for doing the same here!

[rsss396]

damn i must have missed deleting that one over there haha