2016 - My go kart rebuild

[David Ham]

Alright people!, I will have taken some advice and have built something a little bit sturdier! I have also atarted building the arms

 

[David Ham]

unfortunately, the hinge points are not exactly in the right position so now we have this happening
I thought of this before welding it but didn't think it would affect so much!
now I have to take apart 8 welds and do it again with some more care!

 

[David Ham]

got started on fixing those arms at the back this morning, and some pictures showing me measuring the distances that I needeed to fix, the distance between the pivot points need to be the same, also the length of the arms needs to be the same. Now it's working so I can start on the top arms

 

[Denny]

Ok dude you did not get the hint so I will come right out and say it. THOSE HALF SHFTS ARE NOT SAFE. They will break and you will have metal pieces flailing around trying to kill you or some one else! I'm not trying to be a downer I just don't want to see you get hurt. Go to a junk yard and buy some old half shafts or u joints and make some good ones. PLEASE!


Denny

 

[landuse]

Your ideas are good, but i am just not sure about the welds. Lets see how it works out though

 

[David Ham]

Yeah, I wasn't so sure about those either , would something like this be a better idea, since I still have the suspension? then the axle would be straight.

 

[pRoFiT]

i'm planning on doing that for mine when i get all my axle parts. live axle with back end on hinge and shocks. yours looked neat though. when you first said dogbones i thought back to my RC10 buggy days. not sure how safe the RC design would be on go karts? i think simpler then what you have though. dogbones are just straight bars with balls on end and a bar through ball. no hinge parts. just held in place by upper and lower control arms. dont think i've seen go kart like that anywhere.

but like Denny says, go find some used half shafts from a pick in pull place. take from car. or use some drive line parts maybe?

Or keep your design, so parts fly everywhere and injure people. it will be people behind you right put in some leg guards you will be fine

 

[David Ham]

Yeah the dogbone idea I got from my r/c car, but those are harder to make. half shafts or any type of thing like that would be hard to get my hands on, so I prefer to build something. If I find something soon I might still do that.

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

I think as soon as you try to push power through this set up you have, it will end badly as Denny says. Sure do like your way of thinking though.

 

[chancer]

Yes.
I like your Plan B pic above, I see alot af Karts done that way from the factory.

 

[Denny]

Yeah, I wasn't so sure about those either , would something like this be a better idea, since I still have the suspension? then the axle would be straight.

That is a much better solution! Please go that route.


Denny

 

[David Ham]

Got the angle grinders out for the second time and I also found another thing for the cut -off wheel, which made things easier. It is now the closest it has been to Poboy's idea of a fold up go kart!

 

[David Ham]

A bit of metal I found for the axle, machining it to fit the bearings.

 

[David Ham]

By now you can probably tell that this is the most least planned and thought out go kart to be built!

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

I am glad you are sharing your progress. Keep it up.

 

[David Ham]

Some progress on the suspension and the axle, I have to admit I am feeling a lot better about this...
maybe I should make/buy a smaller steering wheel...and bigger wheels
Edit:
I had to add that middle support otherwise most of the suspension would be from the pole bending

hmm...

what do yous think, if I could modify this to fit my engine, would it be better? I would prefer not having to clean the current one with oil or kero or something, and I might be able to build an exhaust. does an exhaust need to be corrosion resistant. like stainless or aluminium?

 

[chancer]

I like the big steering wheel. Yeah it may not look cool but imagine the extra leverage.

Exhaust pipe can be made out of any old mild steel. Some guys are talking about using
Metal conduit, good sizes and easy to bend.

 

[bob58o]

Man I like 6.5HP as a user name.
I want Agent Double Zero Octane!

 

[David Ham]

School is back so now I can't work on it very much, probably just weekends

 

[David Ham]

Friday night, got a tad bit a work done, the suspension needed to be stronger so I moved the anchor points using these brackets

I realise the welds here have to be really strong, so I'll take my time with them

also found more drill bits, a whole arsenal of them

This is some of the work on the new supports for the bearings:
the practice weld with the thin metal:

no holes blown here, but some ugly welds:

a bit of a nicer weld as I got the hang of it: