On speedster engines it is quite common to remove the magnets from the flywheel. Recently I have seen two engines where this was done and one of the triple gear pins has come loose and caused all kinds of problems.
Is there a solution to this pin retention problem or have just been unlucky to see two this year?
On the second engine I have tried to hold the pin in place by inserting bolts in the holes close to the pins, but I wonder if it will really help or just make me feel better!
Tony, The magnets have nothing to do with the pins. I suspect someone pushed the old pins out in the wrong direction. This will enlarge the holes and make the pins loose.
Dan McEachern was in a position to provide a machined ring retainer for just that purpose. Albeit the pins are a press fit into the flywheel, if something did go awry, a retainer would certainly hold the pins in position as did the magnets prior to their removal.
Were there any oil slingers on the flywheels of the failed engines?
Without magnets something must be done to assure proper oiling of the triple gear bushings and the other parts of the transmission - perhaps lack of lubrication was an additional cause for failure?
Here's a recent thread about the problem: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/331880/355193.html?1366368663
It is true that the magnets would prevent the pins from coming out the back side of the flywheel but that is not their intended purpose and if the pins are that loose you have a real problem and the flywheel has been damaged.
The magnets did not hold the pins in place. Press fit held the pins in place.
Pins do occasionally loosen in the flywheel. It happened to a few people last year. It happened occasionally back in their day. Whether by design or not, the placement of the magnets will delay the ultimate failure of loosening pins for a considerable amount of time. Hopefully, before the pin can fall out the hard way, or munch completely the gears from bad positioning, you may hear and diagnose the problem. That has been a subject of several threads here in the past year.
The two engines I have worked on that had the magnets removed, had oil slingers designed to cover over the pins. Positioning was a bit tricky to keep the balance. 3 does not divide equally into 16. I can't remember how I solved that now.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
Wayne,
Did you add a more oil slingers?
I think you could use eight slingers, cover the three magnets and still be balenced