1st Time Off Road Kart

[Shane284]

Hey guys I've decided to take up the challenge of building a go kart, so I went and bought a welder, steel, learnt how to do some basic welding and started to weld up a frame. I have a Yamaha 175 DT engine which needs a CDI box to get it running and also a lawn mower engine in case the yamaha engine decides not to work for me.

So I'll be posting various ideas ill be considering and taking pictures to see what you guys think.

The idea at the moment is an off road go kart. I've started the frame and gotten this far. Ill be getting some more steel in a few days time and doing the steering part of the kart. Having heaps of fun

The only troubles I'm having at the moment is finding places to buy parts, I live in Australia and currently looking for wheels and it seems ebay is my only option? I was thinking of going to the wreckers for the steering wheel and odd bits and pieces.

Let me know what you think,



Shane

 

[fowler]

yay more aussies.
where in aus.
go to an agriculural supplier or even bunnigns.

EDIT that looks similar size to my kart (so far)
can i reckomend u buy a quad bike with no engine then u get brakes, suspension, wheels and other little things like lights and nuts and bolts

u can get them for nothing (mine was a slab of calton dry)

 

[theo]

Your front end needs a little adjusting. The top shock mounting bolt has to be horizontal. Not to sure on how you are going to do your front suspension but if they attach to that piece coming out they will be to short. And single a arms have to be as long as you can make them.

Otherwise the rest looks good, are you using swing arm suspension on the rear?

 

[Shane284]

I live in NSW in western sydney. Bunnings is a great place! but when it comes to wheels they have a crappy range and price :/

Dont think Ive been to an agricultural supplier, are there any names in particular I could search for?

The quad idea sounds good Ill be on the look out on ebay for em. If I can find a good enough deal id do that. (for a slab would be bloody great! lol)

Looks like ill be getting my steel tomorrow, getting some flat bar steel and round tubing.

@theo,
Im not sure what you mean, Id have to put it so its making a right angle to the steel then? I was thinking they way I have it now it has the force pushing against the piece of steel in the middle of the 2 bolts. I have a picture ill post up once I get home of how the suspension set up is going to look like (at uni atm, bout to go to an *exciting* 2 hour maths lecture...)

The rear suspension will be made from the original bikes front hydrolic suspension (the 2 long rods, ill put a picture up of em too)

Ill post back in a couple of hours,
Shane

 

[newrider3]

You really should wait until the entire suspension is fabricated and in place before deciding where to mount your shocks (ask me how I know), there is a bunch of different forces and geometry to consider when placing them. The way you have the top of the shocks bolted on right now won't work because they need to be able to pivot with the suspension. You have them bolted solid to the frame.

 

[Bill CNC]

Correct, ... The shock needs to be TWISTED 90 degrees. Think of it this way, ... When you look at the front of your cart, ... you should be LOOKING at the bolt head or the nut, ... not the side of either.

A great example can be seen here. Look at how Silvergizz has his shocks bolted.

http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showpost.php?p=111466&postcount=169

 

[Shane284]

ahhh I see what you mean, thanks for the heads up newrider. The fact that I already put a hole in my frame is a bit of a downer but if I weld up the holes it should be still strong enough to use those pieces of steel still?

This is what I have planned for the suspension, would what your saying still work in this design instead of having them bolted like i've done? (pics below)

btw I was inspired by a go kart with this suspension design from this forum. I think it was a thread called 'Viper go kart" or something. Here's a pic of the suspension I was trying to replicate.
If this is gonna be crap then Ill most defiantly change the setup to the 90 degree way suggested.

EDIT:
lol just realised how much better the 90 degree setup will be when contemplating how the go kart would maneuver over rocks and stuff, makes perfect sense! ill change it up asap!

Shane

 

[fowler]

if u read all of the thread that came off then u can see he changed the design to have usual shocky mounts and he made the suspension arms into doulbe a arms

 

[Bill CNC]

Shane,

It looks like you have a 45 degree angle on those shocks. You might want to not have the shocks laying down so much. 30-35 degree angle seems like the norm.

 

[jareeB]

ahhh I see what you mean, thanks for the heads up newrider. The fact that I already put a hole in my frame is a bit of a downer but if I weld up the holes it should be still strong enough to use those pieces of steel still?

This is what I have planned for the suspension, would what your saying still work in this design instead of having them bolted like i've done? (pics below)

btw I was inspired by a go kart with this suspension design from this forum. I think it was a thread called 'Viper go kart" or something. Here's a pic of the suspension I was trying to replicate.
If this is gonna be crap then Ill most defiantly change the setup to the 90 degree way suggested.

EDIT:
lol just realised how much better the 90 degree setup will be when contemplating how the go kart would maneuver over rocks and stuff, makes perfect sense! ill change it up asap!

Shane

dont u just love phun

 

[redsox985]

dont u just love phun

"In the quiet words of the virgin Mary, come again?"
-"Brick Top" from Snatch

Anyways. The shocks, in the current position, will create shearing forces and break free. They should be mounted on tabs. Look at any of the ah-crap-nid threads in the build log section to see how that suspension is done. Those are being built by experts.

 

[jareeB]

"In the quiet words of the virgin Mary, come again?"
-"Brick Top" from Snatch

Anyways. The shocks, in the current position, will create shearing forces and break free. They should be mounted on tabs. Look at any of the ah-crap-nid threads in the build log section to see how that suspension is done. Those are being built by experts.

thats the program he is using to test in with all the colorful objects

 

[Shane284]

At the moment it is at 45 degree and ill be changing that when I re-do mounts for the shocks. Thanks ill try to aim for 30 - 35 then

Ah I've been reading those arachnid threads but some of the jargon goes over my head, still got a fair bit of learning to do.

Yes that's "phun" lol, a little 2D physics simulation program. Good for testing small things like that.

I have some questions about parts that I'll be getting, When it comes to getting a rear axle that will be delivering power to my wheels, do I get wheels first and then buy an axle to fit the diameter of the wheels connection to the axle?
Something also confused me, the wheels I've seen have bearings in the part where they connect to an axle, since the axle would just spin the bearing and not the wheels then these are useless for the rear wheels of the kart right? If that's the case then Bunnings doesn't have any rear wheels for my kart's at all! since that's all they had :/ (they can be used for the front tho)

Had a few problems with the steel and have to wait till later to get it. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the kart soon. Thanks for your input so far guys, much appreciated

Shane

 

[redsox985]

Those hubs for an axle with bearings inside them are for 1wd. You will need 2 keyed hubs for a live axle. The 1wd is decent for road, but only road. It can be achieved with a solid axle and bearings or 2 small axles, one for each side, one on bearings and one keyed to a sprocket.

 

[Shane284]

Ah I see, Yes I'm planning to for the live axle setup. Can't seem to find keyed hub wheels. I've almost finished making the A-arms (or at least I think that's what they are) and I'll be drilling holes to bolt the suspension to it. Hopefully it all fits nicely and I can get a few pics of em.

I must warn you all, I had to make the pieces from scrap, welding and cutting steel to get it to the dimensions I was after lol. So it was pretty cheap but not the prettiest looking things, I'm just going for cheap and practical tho so I'm not bothered.

Just a question, I have a 16mm round solid piece of steel, is this diameter good for an axle?

 

[fowler]

id go for 25mm

 

[sideways]

Ah I see, Yes I'm planning to for the live axle setup. Can't seem to find keyed hub wheels. I've almost finished making the A-arms (or at least I think that's what they are) and I'll be drilling holes to bolt the suspension to it. Hopefully it all fits nicely and I can get a few pics of em.

I must warn you all, I had to make the pieces from scrap, welding and cutting steel to get it to the dimensions I was after lol. So it was pretty cheap but not the prettiest looking things, I'm just going for cheap and practical tho so I'm not bothered.

Just a question, I have a 16mm round solid piece of steel, is this diameter good for an axle?

16mm is a bit small, especially if it's just mild steel. 25mm (or 25.4) is pretty standard, I wouldn't go smaller than that. The 175 will kill anything smaller, 25mm chromoly is probably your best bet As for keyed hubs, go to your local mower shop, almost all rideons have keyed wheels with no hub ask if they've got any keyed wheels, the price with probably kill you though, if your lucky they might have some old ones they'l give you for cheap. You can make your own hubs out of old trailer hubs if you have access to a metal lathe, just need to make few parts to go where the bearing used to be. A friend of mine made his own hubs for his buggy, just a piece of round bar with a plate welded on. He drilled the axle and hub and put a bolt through it so he didn't have to make a key way.

Nice project mate . Good to see another aussie on the forum .

Thanks

Hayden

 

[Shane284]

Ah alrighty, I'll have to get me some 25mm steel then. I'll use the 16mm for the steering wheel then. As for the wheels, I do have access to a lathe actually. If I went and got these trailer hubs then I'd still need to buy the tyres tho, would it still work out cheaper? I don't have trailer hubs lying around so I'd have to buy some :/ Sounds nice and simple what your friend did, wouldn't mind doing that myself!

Thanks mate, hope to make some progress on this problem and get me some wheeeeels.
EDIT:
Found this, http://www.gokartgalaxy.com/steel_wheel_&_tire_combos.htm
Might prove to be a cheap option if I go for the first combo, that's roughly $36 each wheel but that's without shipping...
Shane

 

[r97]

http://www.bmikarts.com/ if your willing to get stuff shipped half way around the world

 

[redsox985]

BMI has high shipping and I'm only a few hours away.