4X4 Kart?

[jfxwave]

Has anyone built a 4 wheel drive kart? It would be pretty cool having one. At first I said "what would one use it for" then I thought about playing in mud. With a normal kart you could just get out and pull it by hand but if it's 4 wheel drive you wont get stuck as often. I'm sure you could buy one somewhere but I'm talking about one that most can afford to build.

 

[OzFab]

The idea has been tossed around before. I think the biggest problem was tranferring power to the front wheels while still having full steering.

I'ts been done on buggies but is a bit more difficult on a small kart to source usable parts.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

The idea has been tossed around before. I think the biggest problem was tranferring power to the front wheels while still having full steering.

I'ts been done on buggies but is a bit more difficult on a small kart to source usable parts.

Bingo-

Also- Experience from the wonderful world of offroading- 4x4 does not mean you don't get stuck. It means you get stuck much worse!!!

 

[cumminsbayou4x4]

you could use a regular lawn mower transmission for the back a lawn mower motor then a 4 wheel steer lawn mower transmsion on the front and use belts to the front or you could make a monster buggy kart and use suzuki samurai axels

 

[Swabbster]

ive thought about building a 4x4 go kart before, my idea was make a solid fron axle like jeeps have, no suspension to make it simple,

 

[OzFab]

ive thought about building a 4x4 go kart before, my idea was make a solid fron axle like jeeps have, no suspension to make it simple,

... & where would you source the small cv joints needed for the front?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

ive thought about building a 4x4 go kart before, my idea was make a solid fron axle like jeeps have, no suspension to make it simple,

...Which would steer like an oceangoing freighter...

 

[fowler]

The front axle must have a diff, No way round it

There really isn't much point making a 4x4 kart in my opionion
They are so light u would find few places they would require it
The lack of parts the right size would make it very expensive

Really u are looking at a mini buggy with a 13hp up or larger bike engine so u have the power to turn the quad plus car parts u would be using


One day I'd like to make a 4x4 based loosly on the formula ford and the early formula VEE cars using a WRZ for engine and running gear

 

[cumminsbayou4x4]

yeah but a 4x4 gocart would be unstoppable and you really could make it for 10 dollars for a transmsion from a junk yard then another 10 dollars for the other one say 50 in welding and mounts and stuff then find a lawn mower for the motor you could really take the transmsion out of it to so minus 10 dollars but if you got to buy a lawn mower plus 50 so you would have about 110-130 probably in it but you would all so have the badest kart around

 

[Papa P]

yeah but a 4x4 gocart would be unstoppable and you really could make it for 10 dollars for a transmsion from a junk yard then another 10 dollars for the other one say 50 in welding and mounts and stuff then find a lawn mower for the motor you could really take the transmsion out of it to so minus 10 dollars but if you got to buy a lawn mower plus 50 so you would have about 110-130 probably in it but you would all so have the badest kart around

This would be a whole lot easier to read if it had punctuation!
Craig

 

[fowler]

U must be very lucky if can get a front wheel drive mower for $10

It would be a cool technical challenge
But really wouldnt be much use and wouldn't give u much advantage due to a few features of go karts

U won't be able to rock crawl
Or drive though deep mud
Or on clay
Or drive in deep sand

Ground Clearence tyres and frame construction limit what a kart can do

U can take a Kart and modify it and modify it to make it work And end up with a kart that looks like a mini buggy without a roll cage

Or just start with one

 

[AMMFAB]

i too have thought about a 4 wheel drive kart (or buggy should i say)..... it can happen, obviously its going to cost a bit. just look at a 4 wheel drive quad. that would be the easiest way to go about making it. if u can get ahold of the drive drain on a totaled 4wd quad then all u would have to do is lengthen some things from it and then fab a kart around it. if u use a mini diff and straight axle up front u could run a 4 link for some suspension and travel.


mike

 

[machinist@large]

yeah but a 4x4 gocart would be unstoppable and you really could make it for 10 dollars for a transmsion from a junk yard then another 10 dollars for the other one say 50 in welding and mounts and stuff then find a lawn mower for the motor you could really take the transmsion out of it to so minus 10 dollars but if you got to buy a lawn mower plus 50 so you would have about 110-130 probably in it but you would all so have the badest kart around

:toetap05:Punctuation, punctuation, punct.....OOh,never mind. Those numbers are awfully low; with the price of scrap metals being what they are. And $50.00 for the welding?!? Get real. A rough average hourly rate for welding in my part of the country (Grand Rapids, Michigan area) is $60.00~$75.00. Again, that's PER HOUR. I can just about guarantee that it'll take way more than an hour to fabricate/ weld up what you seem to be describing. Have you ever actually built anything yourself?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

What would be really entertaining would be to mistakenly have one tranny in (say) 4th, and the other one in 3rd. Bang!

And that still doesn't address the cv joints required in the frontend... If you want to steer...

 

[cumminsbayou4x4]

if you use a all wheel steer lawn mower transmission it would have steering and you wouldnt have it in 4wd all the time only when you was in mud or something

 

[Doc Sprocket]

And you're going to find these for $10? Not on THIS side of the Mason-Dixon line!!!

 

[cumminsbayou4x4]

at a junk yard you can if you take it off of the lawn mower

 

[fowler]

Iv never even seen an all wheel drive ride on except those big ones the shire uses
But they use the motor to run a piston pump and use valves and hoses down to a vane motor (usually)

That is not cheap and u would have to remake your own hoses up

By any means u can't buy those parts for that price
Please go to your magic scrap yard and get a quote to prove this

 

[machinist@large]

Iv never even seen an all wheel drive ride on except those big ones the shire uses
But they use the motor to run a piston pump and use valves and hoses down to a vane motor (usually)

That is not cheap and u would have to remake your own hoses up

By any means u can't buy those parts for that price
Please go to your magic scrap yard and get a quote to prove this

Any of these commercial rigs cost BIG money; and they don't send them to the scrap yard until there's nothin' left. Plus you have a whole network of salvage company's who's stock & trade is buying them up, part out what they can, and then scrapping the rest. The odds of finding one whole at a U-Pick-Um yard in one piece is pretty slim.

 

[qtband]

OK. I've held up long enough. Now this is way out there, and I don't know how useful it really would be...how about articulated steering. One motor up front independent of the second motor in the rear. Might be fun to try. Maybe my summer project. Look here:
http://youtu.be/OPsQkMVNtdc