honda elite 50 destroyed rollers

[benjammer112]

so i was trying to figure out why my newly acquired honda elite 50 (1987) was so d*** slow, it topped out at 20 mph if i was lucky. I tore apart the cvt assembly and what not to dig out the rollers and find out the problem, somebody along the road had put grease in this thing thicker then peanut butter, the rollers were clean on one side, and grease on the other. which showed me that they haven't 'rolled' in a long time. all of them have flat spots on them so they are destroyed. so for now i have a couple of questions, what type of grease/oil should i use in the roller assembly? and also for my new rollers, what weight would you recommend?

[Petrock's 1984 Spree]

Honda put that in there to help the rollers "roll". But all it does it make them flat spot easier.

Remove all the grease, and remove the backing plate( the part with the screws in it) on the variator and you"ll be all set

I would get new stock weights if your old rollers have flat spots. Other have found if you drop the weight in the vari a little you can get a little better performance.

I think the stock weights are 10g all around. So if you want to lighten them up find some 9.5g weights and try that

[benjammer112]

Honda put that in there to help the rollers "roll". But all it does it make them flat spot easier.

Remove all the grease, and remove the backing plate( the part with the screws in it) on the variator and you"ll be all set

I would get new stock weights if your old rollers have flat spots. Other have found if you drop the weight in the vari a little you can get a little better performance.

I think the stock weights are 10g all around. So if you want to lighten them up find some 9.5g weights and try that

thanks man, i had some spare rollers that i took out of my honda urban express, and i noticed they had flat spots to, just not half as bad. what i did to my urban is took out 3 of the 6 rollers and i got a lot better mid range power out of it, so i think what im going to do is use my urban express rollers which are in better shape in the elite, but use 3 instead of 6, thanks again

[Petrock's 1984 Spree]

thanks man, i had some spare rollers that i took out of my honda urban express, and i noticed they had flat spots to, just not half as bad. what i did to my urban is took out 3 of the 6 rollers and i got a lot better mid range power out of it, so i think what im going to do is use my urban express rollers which are in better shape in the elite, but use 3 instead of 6, thanks again

Halfing the weight in the variator is pretty drastic. I know it'll make you accelerate a lot faster but your top speed drops off a bit.
Putting in new rollers with a slightly less weight will make you accelerate faster and will keep your top speed almost identical.

But i understand the quick fix is free as well

[benjammer112]

thanks man, i had some spare rollers that i took out of my honda urban express, and i noticed they had flat spots to, just not half as bad. what i did to my urban is took out 3 of the 6 rollers and i got a lot better mid range power out of it, so i think what im going to do is use my urban express rollers which are in better shape in the elite, but use 3 instead of 6, thanks again

Halfing the weight in the variator is pretty drastic. I know it'll make you accelerate a lot faster but your top speed drops off a bit.
Putting in new rollers with a slightly less weight will make you accelerate faster and will keep your top speed almost identical.

But i understand the quick fix is free as well

well actually these rollers are 13 g's each, the stock ones for the elite are 8 g's each, so a total of 3 urban express rollers comes out to 39 g's, with all 6 of the stock ones its 48 g's, so i think this weight difference should be perfect!

[Petrock's 1984 Spree]

Nevermind then

[devenex]

Just an FYI: Using half the rollers will make them wear faster.

Half the surface area pushing the drive face = more force on the remaining area = more friction = more wear

Might not be much of a difference in roller life though, I'm not about to try and quantify it.

[evilone]

20 mph sounds about right if you have the se50P.