The Maintenance of a Drivetrain

1

I’ve been seeing this sentiment a lot lately:

“Hub motors have lower maintenance than a belt drives”

In the prebuilt world. Which has got me wondering, is this true?

Personally I don’t believe it but the last time I had a hub motor was a V1 Meepo and those died on me.

What do you believe and why?

Lower Maintenance:

  • Hub Motors
  • Belt Drives

0 voters

Easier to Replace:

  • Hub Motors
  • Belt Drives

0 voters

Lower Failure Rate:

  • Hub Motors
  • Belt Drives

0 voters

More Expensive to Replace

  • Hub Motors
  • Belt Drives

0 voters

Less Time to Replace

  • Hub Motors
  • Belt Drives

0 voters

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2

For lower failure rate it depends massively on which hub motors

And what you consider a failure
Is a belt snap a failure?

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3

Hub motors might have less maintenance but that’s because they are pseudo disposable, where they are rather unserviceable once something fails.

Car oil filters are rather maintenance-free also, because you shitcan them and use a new one. That doesn’t imply the engine lubrication system is maintenance-free.

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4

Just my thoughts about failure rate(why which is “lower” not valid): i think failures across belt and bubs in 80% cases are different.

belt drive: belt failure, belt tightness(no, if once made in right way), belt skip(no if once made in right way), belt bearings fails(if exists), in-motor bearings fail, overheat(did not happened to me for 4 years. single 12s 45a 192kv 83mm 15:40)
hub drive(i have lower expertise): overheat(less heat dissipation), outwheel failures, in-motor bearings fail.

so in my opinion failures shared between is in most cases: in motor bearings fail (probably fail rate is similar)

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5

Easier to replace depends on what you replace on a belt drive.

If the motors is dead you need to :

remove 4 motors screws
remove pulley / pulley screws
disconnect phase wires (+ sensor if you have)
remove motor
Put everything back together and line up the motor pulley.

(lets say you have a hobbywing esc and you don’t need to do any programming for both)

With a hub motor you need to :

remove 4 motor screws
disconnect phase wires (+ sensor if you have)
remove motor
put everything back together.

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6

I think there should be a “more expensive failure rate” one at the end for balance.

If your hub motor fails, you most likely have to replace the whole motor unless you know how to tear apart a motor. Any dummy can replace a belt or pulley and it will always be cheaper than a full motor. @xsynatic has got to be a master by now. I imagine him pit crew level fast changing belts.

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7

True.

Hmm I think so, since your system technically become less than optimal if one belt breaks.

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8

then i guess belts cause belt snaps are relatively common but if you keep a spare belt on you then you can fix in 2 min

also with hubs if one bit breaks thne evrything is down the drain
with belts if one part breaks often just that parts can be replaced

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9

True, motor vs motor is more is less the same.

If we compare motor to belt obviously the belt wins cost wise, except if you are me.

For me, hubs are still cheaper. I’ve “killed” one motor so far. Not really killed, he works as he should but some moisture creeped in and now the motor is a bit louder.

I’m like this when changing a belt

giphy (2)

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10

I believe a big overlooked factor is the rider, people who want performance tend to gravitate towards the belt drives and tend to push them harder while hub drives are usually for more beginners

11

I vote “Chains”

1 Like