[mpkscooterboy]

I own a '08 Lance Duke Touring 250 with a little over 800 miles. Every once in awhile when I take off from a stop it will shudder/shake badly. I have a feeling the problem is in the belt drive system. Has anyone had this problem, if so how was it fixed?

[JimSLC]

Originally Posted by mpkscooterboy

I own a '08 Lance Duke Touring 250 with a little over 800 miles. Every once in awhile when I take off from a stop it will shudder/shake badly. I have a feeling the problem is in the belt drive system. Has anyone had this problem, if so how was it fixed?

I am starting to experience a similar sensation with my Lance Duke Touring 250 now that the weather has gotten cold. I am going to replace the 90 weight oil in the drive with 10W40 and see if this feels better. I'll let you know if it does the trick.

Jim

Go to Lance Powersports and email them your concern and someone will get back with you.

China manufacturers got a good thing with there defective products in the USA!

NJ Lemon Law come into effect after the dealer repairs the scooter 2x and the manufacturer 1x. In other words, while riding the scooter you will have to become seriously injured or dead! What kind of law is that?

Purchased a Tank Touring 250DE (in possession of since September '08) with a unusual dealer transaction. Just like the Lance Duke Touring 250 (almost purchased online), the start-up is crazy! It doesn't. Yes, you do have to be mechanically inclined. If not....take heed to another previous user...Yamaha!

Originally Posted by mpkscooterboy

I own a '08 Lance Duke Touring 250 with a little over 800 miles. Every once in awhile when I take off from a stop it will shudder/shake badly. I have a feeling the problem is in the belt drive system. Has anyone had this problem, if so how was it fixed?

I too bought one of these things. Mine shudder/shook after I had 10 miles on it. It managed to get another 800 miles on it prior to conking out all together. It turned out to be the clutch. I took it to Ontario, CA where these things are imported & the A-holes kept it for 3 months prior to giving it back to me. When they did give it back to me, it lasted for another 2 weeks prior to blowing up on the freeway. Had it towed via AAA to a local dealer and after they sat on it for 3.5 weeks they told me the bike never had coolant in it and the oil was black. All in all, I have owned the bike for 7 months and it has been in the repair shop for 4 months.

Lance headquarters is NOT customer friendly, they sound polite and nice on the phone, until they have your money. I am shocked at their business model.

I am not sure what kind of people sell these things but stay away from them. Unless you have access to Chinese parts easily and you are a mechanic with the proper tools to work on these things.

The time and frustration is NOT worth it

DO NOT BUY LANCE

[jmdewey60]

I bought mine (Lance Duke Touring 250) from a used car dealership with 17 miles on it.
It acted strangely from the very first, as far as the clutch operation not being very smooth. It also did not act like it wanted to release when you let up on the throttle to slow down. With 336 miles on the odometer, it locked up and will not release. I ordered a new clutch from Georgia scooters for $58 plus about $9 for shipping. I guess you just replace the whole thing.
I am going to attempt my own repair because I do not want to haul it 30 miles to a dealer. Hypothetically, it is under warranty but I am afraid of having to pay for the repair up-front and having to wait to see if Lance is going to Honor the warranty. I am a professional truck mechanic and have worked on all my previous vehicles myself so I am guessing I can do this myself.
I will let you know when I get it going and if the new clutch works any better than my old one. I am hoping that it was a defective clutch and the change-out will make it a better bike than it was.

[jmdewey60]

I used a giant pair of channel-locks to hold the drum of the centrifugal clutch while I loosened the nut holding it on the shaft. I found that the the pad material on one of the three shoes had detached. It does not look like you can replace just the shoes, which would be nice. I have to wait to see what shows up from my parts order.

[jmdewey60]

It turns out that the parts company who is on this web site does have a replacement shoe set for the centrifugal clutch. It does not look like you can replace just the shoes because the pivot pins that hold the axis end of the shoes are not removable. They are not but you replace the plates that the pins go through, as one unit, so you do not replace each shoe individually.
It looks like just to get the drive belt off, you have to at least take the outer part of the front pulley off. The rear shaft, that the centrifugal clutch is on, is so long that you can not take the clutch off without getting the belt off first. You have to take the front pulley apart to do that. I do not see a good way to hold the pulley to take the nut off. I have an impact wrench, I need to drag out, to get the nut off. It is on pretty tight. It takes a 19 mm socket.
Just for information, for anyone else who might want to attempt their own repair, the belt cover is held on by four screws . There are two in the center that take a 10 mm socket, and one on top, and one on the bottom that are allen-head and take a 5 mm wrench. The clutch shaft nut takes a 17 mm socket. The nut that holds on the shoe retaining plate on the clutch looks like it can be removed with an 1-5/8 socket. Now, there is a spring behind that plate, that holds pressure against the shoes so you do not want a dangerous situation here. My plan is to use a big C-clamp that I use for compressing brake calipers to clamp the parts together while I take the big nut off.
I just ordered the shoe set so I am not in a big hurry, plus I have to dig out the tools I need from where they are being stored.
Here is a serious problem with one of these scooters where the thing could not even be pushed. Instead of getting into an expensive and time consuming repair process, someone with some mechanical experience and access to a few tools can deal with it in a rather inexpensive way. I think this web site is a good idea and anyone who has a problem with one of their scooters can pass on information about how they fixed it. Since there are no repair manuals available (I am a truck mechanic and and am used to working on trucks without the use of manuals. You have to figure them out on your own) for these things, this may be the best alternative.
I have grown to really like my scooter in the few miles I have put on it (of course that has something to do with living in South Florida) and I hate it when I have to drive my van someplace that could be easily and cheaply done on my scooter. I really like being able to drive a hundred miles on 1-1/2 gallons of gas. The worse the economy gets the more sense scooters are for transportation.

[jmdewey60]

I got the clutch shoe set today by UPS. Looking at the part out of the box, I can see there are snap-rings on the inside end of the pivot pins for the shoes to rotate on. So, hypothetically you could replace just the shoes but it might be a difficult task to do because of the spring that is on each shoe. They look like they might be hard to get on so maybe that is why they sell it as an assembly.
As for the nut that holds the shoe assembly to the rest of the clutch unit, I thought it was a little odd that it measured slightly larger than 40 mm. It just so happens I have a box wrench and a socket that are 41 mm and that is the actual size. The reason I have them is that it is what fits the Bud-Nuts on the rear dual tires on trucks. My guess is that it is a nice size because if you are desperate, you could use a 1-5/8 wrench. I did on the Bud-Nuts until I bought a 41 mm. Anyway, That is what I found out today.
Looking at the friction material on the new shoes, I noticed they were a softer material than the hard material on the original shoes. That may possibly be a reason why the shaking is noticeable on new bikes when you take off from a stop. I will let you know how things work out with the new shoes.
As for the nut on the front pulley, I brought home an air impact wrench to try to spin it off. Before I do that, I also brought home a couple of band wrenches (for taking off the big oil filters on trucks) to see if one will fit on the pulley. I would prefer to take the nut off with a regular wrench, if possible. Impacts are a little rough on nuts and the threads. That might seem a little anal but I like to be careful and not be destructive. Plus, I am going to have to put the thing back on, so I need a strategy for holding the pulley anyway.
Kudos to partsforscooters.com for getting my shoes to me in one day!

[jmdewey60]

Do not remove the front engine pulley because you do not have to in order to get the belt off. My policy when working on vehicles is to not mess with anything that you do not have to.
The big spring behind the shoe plate has nothing to do with the shoes and is to self-adjust the belt tension. The rear belt pulley is split and the outer half slides on a thick shaft with a tight fit. The spring pushes from the shoe retaining plate against the outer pulley half and squeezes the belt tight until it is moved towards the outside edge of the pulley, to keep proper belt tension.
The important thing to keep in mind is that there is a bearing inside so make sure you keep dirt from getting in it. I used a 16 oz soft faced hammer to tap on the 41 mm wrench to get the nut off that holds the shoe plate on. Once that is off, put both hands on the shoes and keep your face out of the way while you gently wiggle it. It should pop off from the tension of the belt-adjusting spring behind it. Pull the outer half of the pulley out part way and that will loosen the belt enough to get the whole thing off the center shaft. (do not attempt to take the outer half completely off the clutch assembly) Set the center-facing flat side of the clutch assembly on a piece of cardboard on the floor or workbench and put a 1/2 or 9/16 inch piece of wood (make it long enough to pull on, later) between the halves of the pulley, so that the spacing will be wide enough to get the belt back on. Push the new shoe retaining plate down against the spring and onto the shaft and hold it while you spin the 41 mm nut onto it. Go ahead and put the assembly back onto the drive shaft on your scooter after you slip the belt into the pulley. (obviously, the piece of wood has to face towards the front pulley) Take out the wood and keep rotating the belt until it tightens up. Now, the 41mm nut is very shallow and the tube that it goes onto is very thin, so do not apply any more pressure putting it on, than you used to take it off, so as not to strip it. I tapped it on with the same hammer that I used to take it off, and did not use any more than a 4 inch wrist-action swing, and only the resistance of the engine and my other hand to hold it.

Look at it this way: think of the nut as having its own inertia and it wanting to stay where it is and the rotation of the engine and pulley working against that inertia. The pulley spins counter-clockwise so that rotation would work against the inertia of the nut with the affect of the nut tightening, since it has right-hand threads. (if this sounds like a strange concept to you, an example is nuts on tuck wheels are the opposite thread, between the right and left side, for this reason) My point is: do not get crazy about over-tightening the nuts because it is not smart. I am a truck mechanic and own a huge 1” drive air impact wrench that uses a ¾" hose, and I know what tight is. I have to have this tool because of all the idiots out there who put the wheel nuts on too tight. I regularly replace the nuts and wheel studs that are destroyed, for the same reason. None of the nuts on this scooter are big or need to be all-that tight. That 41 mm nut might seem big but it is only that size because the tube it is threaded to has to be big enough for the shaft to go through it. Don’t be stupid and think you need to get it especialy tight. Just the pressure from the spring against it will keep it from shaking loose.
Put the drum back on and the nut. Again, this is a small shaft, dispite the outside diameter of the nut, so do not over-torque it. I took that nut off with a pair of pliers on the drum and it never even slipped in the teeth of the jaws. So, you only have to put it on that tight. Do not go to any further lengths to hold the drum from turning while tightening the nut. There are two allen scews that hold the belt cover on. They are different lengths and the longer one goes in the lower spot, towards the front. Also take out the 10 mm bolt that is near the upper allen screw, to lossen the air-cleaner box. You can get the cover back on easier without that obstruction. Put that screw back in once the cover is on.
You should look at your belt periodicaly anyway, so while you have the cover off, check the nut on the drum, if you are worried about it. I'm not about mine, but I am a 54 year old mechanic for life (given a Snap-On wrench set as a child, to work on my bicycle) and have been aound this sort of thing.

[jmdewey60]

Here's what I used to replace the Clutch Shoes on a Lance Duke Touring 250:
5 mm Allen wrench
10 mm socket with 1/4" ratchet and extension
17 mm socket w/ breaker bar
17 mm long box end wrench
16 oz shot-filled soft-faced hammer
480 Channel Lock "BIG AZZ" pliers
Ken-Tool #TX50 (30620) 41 mm/1-1/2" short cap-nut wrench combo (Actually, a good adjustable wrench that opens that far (1-5/8") will do.)

Just for information, a band-wrench for taking off Caterpillar engine oil filters could be used for holding the front pulley while taking off the nut that holds it on, though I do not advise doing this because it is not necessary. I can not think of any reason to take it off unless the pulley itself went bad. I think there may be a vibration dampener built into it because you can turn it slightly without moving the engine shaft.
This could be something to look into if you do have a problem such as mentioned by the Original Poster of this Thread. If replacing the clutch shoes does not fix it, it could be the dampener in the front pulley. In my own case, I feel like my problem is fixed.

[jmdewey60]

Very smooth operation. I actualy used to think about how my bike was going to act whenever I took off. Now I can just forget it. Also, it is a lot smoother when you come to a stop. That may be the wrong term because there was a complete lack of smoothness before. Another thing was that if I wanted to back up, I would have to do it before I started my engine because the bike would fight me. Now I can back up, like if I stop for a light and decide I went too far over the line, I can easily just rool back without having to shut off my engine. I can slow down on a up-hill section and almost come to a stop and then gas it without any shaking or any unpleasentness at all.(it would have most likely ended up killing my engine, before)
If you have a scooter that exibits any of these bad behaviours, change your clutch shoes and do not wait for your wheel to lock up, like what happened to me.(at a little over 300 miles) Even if it is brand new, it is not going to get better. You can find a link on this site to partsforscooters and order a shoe set and follow the instructions above and you will have a bike you will be totaly happy with, instead of something that you do not want someone to see you taking off with. (it really was that bad)
It is too bad that these scooters could get such a bad reputation from something so simple as this. Fix your bikes, please.