- ford suv's with rear disks often use a small drum brake inside the hat on the rotor as a parking brake. with those as your two rotors, if you cand find a way to keep the parking brake working, you could have automatic overspeed or manual lock down, inside the rotors.
- the 79-85 caddy eldorado, seville, olds toronado, buick riviera, and the mid 80's and up chevy s10 and s15 4x4's (pickup and blazer) front hubs can be unbolted from the spindle. it has huge bearings and a ~1 inch diameter splined hole thru it for the axle shaft. the axle and nut is part of what holds the unit together, so you would have to keep part of it (or use good althread, spacers and washers). the mounting flange is a three bolt triangle. the inner lip seal is part of the spindle, so you loose that when you remove it. The bolt flange is gm midsize (5 bolts on 4 3/4 circle).
- there are older (larger) versions of the eldo and toro, which may work the same as #2, and have 5 on 5 bolt pattern, and likely bigger disks.
- any autoparts store can sell you larger (12 inch) rotors for the gm 5 on 4 3/4 pattern- just ask for the 1LE rotor out of an 88-92 camaro.
- many full-size vans have the steering box and steering column at weird angles to one another. they also often have pretty good size (3/4 thru 1 1/8) shafts. this can be a really good place to get pillow block bearings and universal joints. some are d section with a set-screw, some are double-d with a pinch bolt, some are splined with a pinch bolt. it depends heavily upon the year and the brand. these could be useful for those doing motor conversions that have the rotor with separate bearings, and need a drive-shaft between the two. otherwise mis-alignment could cause problems. there is also a 'rag joint' in many of these units, which might be useful as a damper for smaller turbines.
- if you are doing a conversion that requires a ratio change, look into using a planetary steering speed reducer/increaser from a circle-track racing shop. low stiction, sealed, reversible, and they dont require your prop to be offset from your motor shaft (lower profile nacelle) if you thing your unit is too big for that, look at using a planetary out of any automatic trans mission. i have built one using 2 squares of 1/4 inch steel plate, with holes bored in the center. the planetary, the thrust washers, and the seals came from a gm automatic. getting the two squares laser cut was the most expensive part. a guy with a lathe could make it round instead.
- i keep thinking about getting the gen down off the tower for big motor conversions, it might enable something crazy like using a regular generator, external field excitation instead of PM's, etc. if not using a vawt, you would need a right-angle drive.
most obvious choice from the auto motive world is a differential. it also includes a gear reducer/multiplier (which may be bad). The amount of prop you would need to turn all of this might make it pointless, but some things can be done to reduce drag, like switching the gear oil for ATF.
smaller 4 cyl car with independent rear suspension (subaru) will give you a lightweight (often aluminum) case, ~4:1 gear ratio, and have mounting tabs on the housing. ford broncos and older ranger 4x4's have a TTB front diff which has an absolutely beautiful mounting flange built into the diff cover, that composes the whole suspension arm. thunderbirds and merc cougars and the lincoln mark vii have an independent diff too. the lincoln is aluminum housing. older jags have inboard disk brakes (bolted to side of diff) so you get those too.
you will have to lock the diff from differentiating, cause it will free-wheel when you pull out one of the axle shafts. you could buy a spool, reduces weight, or you could put a couple blobs of weldment on the side gears (lincoln locker).
drive the pinion with your prop and get lower speed, higher torque output. might work for a 4 or 6 pole gen. would require a serious (preferably hollow) driveshaft. would likely have trouble starting unless the prop was huge (or there were two of them)
drive the side gear at a lower rpm, get a higher one out of the pinion. use a huge prop, turning slowly for low winds, and a tiny, fast driveshaft. now you're talking!
8. a diff can be used as a CVT! it requires a variable braking member, and it would get you tossed out of the SAE, but it actually works. depending on the ratio of teeth in the side and spider gears, and the ring and pinion ratio, if you power one axle flange, and have an un-applied brake on the other, the spider gears walk the driven side gear, and turn the other sidegear. the diff carrier does not move, so the pinion does not move. geared neutral. as you apply the brake on the free side, the pinion becomes the path of least resistance, and power is applied. with the brake fully locked, the ratio goes up to something like 1:6
allan
