Hmmm, I wonder why they recalled them?? I honestly only have heard good things about them. I wouldn't want the extra weight (friggin 3fiddy is heavy enough!!) but in this case it seems to be the perfect solution for your friend.
I think I'd "cold call" anyone thats sold them in the past in hopes of finding one on a shelf, unless they all went back to GOKI??
Thats really odd what they told you.... I can only imagine it is a safety issue, maybe a fire or risk thereof??
As far as the foreman, that was my 1st thought yesterday but I've never heard one person use that setup so I assumed it wasn't a swap.
Change your usual thinking altogether... Sounds like this is a complete custom setup so run with that. Maybe you could fab up something with a one way drive that worked directly on the drive train?? Timken and other bearing manufacturers make different size one way drive bearings and that could be fit into a machined sprocket to drive the chain itself.
Just a thought for ya Barry!!
All our government does is distract us while they steal from us, misspend our tax $ and ruin our country