Hammerhead 150 Question
 

I just bought my family a new Hammerhead GTS 150. I have noticed the smell of burning rubber when the buggy encounters high resistance and the tires maintain traction. For example, when slowly climbing a hill on a hard surface and slowly depressing throttle more and more, the buggy eventually stops moving forward. The engine revs up, but it's clearly "bogging down" because the tires are not spinning/slipping. Because the tires aren't slipping, the burning smell can't be the tires.

After reading the manual, it appears the transmission is belt driven. I suspect the burning smell is this belt slipping on the drive pulleys. Am I right? If this is the case, can I tighten the belt and stop this, or is it inherent to the design?...Or is this a completely different problem that I haven't thought of?

I bought my buggy from a hardware store (as opposed to a cycle shop) so they aren't much help with technical issues. Also, I don't have a ton of faith in their ability to correctly assemble the buggies the sell.

Anybody have any ideas on how to correct this and keep our buggy running strong for a long time?

Thanks,
Rick

Most likely the belt is slipping on pulleys or the clutch pads are slipping on the bell. In stock form, these buggies are geared too high so that should be your first modification. Replace the axle sprocket with a larger 39-tooth and replace the weights and spring in the transmission to change your shift points.

Do you have an impact wrench? An electric or air driven model will work as long as you have at least 150 ft lbs of torque. This will be an essential tool for working on the transmission and replacing your belt.

before you go out and start spending money, open up the side cover and inspect the belt, clutch and variator to see where your problem is coming from. with the cover off, run the buggy to see what's going on in there and you will also get familiar with how the system works. follow up with your findings.:)

Generally speaking, the climbing capacity on a stock 150cc buggy from standstill is a 20-25 degree incline. That's not much of a hill, but on running starts this improves somewhat. You can improve your bottom end by doing mods to the variator and clutch. I would check your belt and avoid smoking up what's left of it. lol

Most likely a belt issue. Do as kid4life has suggested. It is good to see how your CVT works with increase and decrease of the throttle. Be carefull, the buggy will vibrate off stands. this is not good as I have done it. Nothing worse than getting run over by your own buggy and your not even in it!

If you run the buggy on stands remove the tires to eliminate the vibration. Also make sure not to put the stands under the axle as you would do on a car.
Tom