Shaving Tranny Gears

[kfxguy]

I'm on the quest to lighten everything I can while I have my engine apart. Has anyone shaved their tranny gears? What exactly do you turn down? i'm gonna have a nice look when I get home to see if I can figure it out...I was just wanting to do any little thing I can. I have access to just about any type of machinery and the knowledge of using them. No money involved, just time. On second thought.....what has everyone done to lighten their engine internals?

[SVT]

Just machine your flywheel & be done with it. Or buy a Trail Tech one. Not that you can reinvent the Z. but why ? you dont need to be dropping huge amounts of $$$ in trying to reinvent the wheel. If anything you can have your gears cryo'd. Look up a aftermarket tranny builder. What are your plans for your Z that you want to save so much weight ?

[deviousdvx]

i think that would be too much money for the barly noticeable gain in a z. if you want too throw down some serious money just get a banshee

[kfxguy]

Its more fun to win with the under dog. with that being said, I sand drag alot. i already have the light trail tech flywheel. Getting the gears cryoed won;t change the weight of them. Heck, I picked up the half of my crank case with only the trans gears, shift droms and bearing and (im gonna weight it when i get home) it feels like at least 30lbs, maybe more. i know i;m splitting hairs, but every lil thing counts. I'm not really spending money maching parts because I'm capable of doing it myself, or getting my uncle to do it. If you could only see some of the work he does. He extended my stock swinger 4" and it looks better than stock, but the way he did it was awsome. He milled the pieces out of solid aluminum, and milled the sides to the same angle. Its welded from the inside also except for the bottom plate. It looks simply awsome. cost me like 15 dollars...lol. He has had half million dollars race cars shipped here for him to build the intake and brackets for the turbos, and the tube chassis, for so big wig that works for general motors....You see where i;m going with this. i'm inquiring what to do with you guys because I don't want to waste much of his time with this. He can do whatever I ask him to do, but making him figure out what to do with a measly four wheeler engine would be of no interst to him. I bring him a gear or shaft or a misc. part and tell him what I need done to lighten it and he'll do it.

[deviousdvx]

i would just pull the reverse gear out to save some weight. i would leave the rest to a professional to mess with.

[zophar]

I was thinking about dropping reverse also. How much is that going to help though?

[kfxguy]

nah...gotta have my reverse. the pound or two lost is not worth it.

[zookie400]

my reverse is going this winter. i also was looking into hogging out a portion of the gears. i havent had the bottom end apart yet on the Z, im not sure why, i guess i have been really lucky. assuming its just like all the other ones i have played with, there is weight to be lost. how much is the question.....

why? the new 450's are lighter, and have more power out of the box. you can build your Z to have incredible power, but if it takes all that power to move the bulldozer, you will still lose in the end.

slightly off topic but i am going to make a 1.5 gallon small, low, aluminum fuel tank for next season simply for saving weight and lowering the center of gravity.

[kfxguy]

to me your not off topic. i like ideas...where you gonna mont it? i thought about moving my ballery to the front to help keep it down. i mostly drag race and trail ride. I want a multi purpose machine. back in 2000 I was told my 92 camaro could not be built to run in the 11's on motor and drive it on the street and be reliable. Not only did i attain this, but the car had a/c, power everthing, fuel injection, got 18.2 mpg on the highway, full leather interior, 17" wheels....and it ran 11.47 @ 122 mph on radials, no NOS . I drove it everyday and even drove it to panama city beach and houston. So anything can be done. ANYONE else with ideas.....feel free to chime in. anything to make the Z faster.

[Der2z]

I have done alot of lightening and have a lot of ideas!
LOL

[zookie400]

for the fuel tank i was thinking basically in the stock location, maintaining the seat hook, just basically cutting it lower and maybe not so far forward into the stem. i also want to sink it down between the frame as far as possible wherever its feasible. i havent looked at my Z since october, so i havent really done much for planning other than the idea floating in my head.

battery forward is a definite must for me, with my new (as of last season) long travel suspension my quad just HOOKS. i cant keep it down unless i try to start in 3rd, and then i am just slow for the holeshot. i was having a hard time keeping it down in the dirt starts as well. i know a lot of that is me, and i acknowledge the need to train my clutch hand a bit more for the launches. i do think the battery forward will help, and allow for a more aggressive holeshot. also, it makes all the wiring shorter, wich ultimately shaves weight.

Der2Z- have you done any lightening in the bottom end at all? hopefully something you are willing to share with the rest of us

another weight saving idea i came up with this past season, was in regards to my exhaust. i have an alba full system, and i love it. the canister is aluminum.....what if i was able to get a carbon fiber or kevlar sleeve to replace the aluminum, i wonder how much i could save. my neighbor owns a laminate company that makes plastics, kevlar, carbon fiber, fiberglass, things like that. he actually supplies Boyseen with their raw materials. i am going to talk to him and see what he may be able to make for me.

on the topic of carbon fiber, i want to replace all of the aluminum skids with CF ones. i would need to make them all from scratch, but its really easy. i think Fakie? actually just posted a stone shield he had made for the ltr out of CF.

this is an excellent thread....i hope it doesnt get ruined, and we can get some good ideas flowing

[Der2z]

I'll be honest I have not done any lightening to the bottom end. I was going to take the reverese out but then I thought it would be funny to use reverse sometimes just to w00ter the 450 guys off LOL! I have just done a ton of lightening to the frame, hubs, wheels, tires etc. She is still a pig though

[kfxguy]

well come on give em up. I'll tell you a few things I have done. I profiled the foot pegs, lightened the rear hubs, I took the heavy metal rear axle spacer out and replaced it with an aluminum one. removed all brackes from from and subframe. swisscheesed the caliper mounting brackets. I even grinded the extra welds on the fram, a-arms and subframe. If you look, most of the welds run past the brackets and is holding nothing. removed the headstay. no skid plates. lightweight front sprocket. two piece alum/steel rear sprocket. lightweight flywheel. lite rear rotor and aluminum hub. turned down the sprocket hub. led tail light, bracket chopped and swisscheesed. removed brake line brackets. carbon fiber muffler. lightened rear bearing carrier. cut front fenders. prolly a few more things i'm forgetting. I know i'm splitting hairs on a few things, but it all adds up. I weighed it with all fluids, cooland res. half full, full gas tank, it weighed 369lbs. I'm about to put lighter front tires and wheels. Any other ideas????

[Der2z]

Thats about the same from what I did, but mines alot lighter then 369!!!

[NormalZ]

Just for dragging, right? Ditch the front brakes and all associated parts - that's another 10lbs at least. Aluminum subframe, drilled and lightened, put on full cover graphics over the plastics, but hole-saw the plastics out underneath the graphics - that'll be another 2lbs throughout the plastics. Custom, small, aluminum gas tank that holds enough for a couple passes up the hill, or down the strip. Smaller diameter tubing for the a-arms, Ti-anything that you can have made or get. Chop the rear fenders right off, completely remove all lights and associated wiring - you only need enough wiring for the ignition, charging and starting systems, and that's a pretty small amount of wiring if you look at it, or have built a harness from scratch. Shave the seat pan - that's ALOT of plastic n that thick thing. Just a few ideas.

The trans gears are about as small and light as they can get now, and still maintain some strength. If you cut them down or lighten them, you'll really need to send them off for some cryo treatment, to gain back some of the strength you lose from dropping material. JMHO.