Replacement chain Idler

whilst working on my seat mount on the trike, I found that my chain Power Idler was very worn and not aligned to the cassette.
Looked online and the cheapest reasonable idler was $50, and they go up in price from that.
Decided to see how I would go making one.
It looks like 14 steel teeth is the go. Then I wanted to find some Nylon for the side guides. Couldnt find a suitable piece so found some very strong black plastic from a cable reel.



So cable reel, aluminium bar, 14 tooth ring from dismantled cassette , bearing from scooter wheel , pieces cut from the reel.

construction begins

 

Man!!! You are like MacGyver!!!

 

Why thank you. It was an exhausting hunt for suitable materials with the correct properties
But as luck would have it........
So more steps now


the mad genius on the lathe..... yes there is no one there.
Im really annoyed that I left my Verniers at home - that contributed to the poor tolerance of the bearing / cog fit.

 

first the cog steps in the aluminium, then the bearing hole.


Here it is after parting the piece.

 

Bearing installed


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Think it needed something extra [ I really just wanted to lighten it ]

 

On the downside:
The cog was not a tight fit - so had to epoxy it to avoid it spinning on the alloy.
I could not see what bearing was on the old Idler, it has a larger shaft. So Im concerned that my set up may not be strong enough.
I used High tensile 8 mm bolt for the shaft, so will see how that goes. I can always upgrade to 10 mm if need be.
Ive installed the Idler, but while rushing to finish the job, didnt get pic. Have to do an underview.

 

this idler is underneath the seat, so here are pics.......
from directly beneath - notice the seat has a glossy black curved spine


there are 3 through bolts in the idler, you can see one

 

View from the side, mostly you can see the seat.

 

View from the rear, notice the idler bolt rests upon the bottom of the seat.
This was a fluke, it certainly gives me reassurance regarding the bolt bending

 

I moved the idler outward from the frame to align with the most commonly used cruizing gear. The downside of this is that it is further off alignment with Mountain climbing gears where most force would be applied.

 

Why did I change this ? , here are pics


I imagine this was a plain round plastic wheel. The chain has ground so much into the plastic that it has almost formed teeth. When I saw this I expected that it would not be long till it cut through. The bearing turned out to be 12mm ID, so the upgrade will be lots stronger.

 

End view of old idler, see chain marking, sides getting a bit thin from wear.


and the side is suffering from wear weakening the whole structure

 

Riden approx 200 km and the Idler is working well.
Cant tell whether it is noisier than standard, there is some other chain noise due to another issue that needs rectifying.

 

You are just wearing out that trike. I love it!!!

 

Im certainly wearing it out. I have to accept that it will need replacing within the year. It has paid for itself in fuel / vehicle registration / insurances and Tax savings over the year I have owned it.
Alternatively I could keep repairing it for years - just for the Challenge.