First post, first project!

[father87]

Oh which reminds me. My clutch is 10 tooth. I often hear gear ratios have a lot to do with speed. What does this mean for me?

 

[chancer]

Did you figure out the pitch?
10 tooth clutch on a 60 tooth Axle gear is good. (Perfect on the general forum concensus)

 

[father87]

Pitch is teeth on the axle? It was 54 unless I miscounted.

 

[chancer]

No Teeth on the Axle divided by teeth on the clutch gets you the "Gear ratio"
54/10=5.4 so 5.4 to 1 is your gear ratio.

Pitch is the #. Like #35 chain or #40 chain.
Measure tip to tip between any 2 the Sprocket teeth. 3/8" is #35 and 1/2" is #40.

 

[father87]

If you can't get perfect 6 to 1, is it better to be over or under?
Ok I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[chancer]

Depends on the tire size and Kart total weigh with driver, and HP and and and ...
I would definitely try what you have, It is close enough.
Plus 5.4:1 will get you a higher top speed than say 6.4:1
But a 6.4:1 would have more Torque from a dead stop and less top speed.

 

[father87]

I wasn't going to change, definitely running with what I have, was just curious. Lol, and and and. You're right about that. You're already losing me with last sentence lol.

 

[chancer]

It is hard to pick up on everything all at once. I have been at this for 3 yrs.

Remember a Kart has only 1 gear. So if you had a Ratio of Like 3:1 it is like trying to drive a stick shift car and starting in 4th gear from a stop.
on the other hand 11:1 is like being stuck in First gear. You can smoke the tires but only go like 15MPH.
That is what I was getting at.

 

[Kartorbust]

It is hard to pick up on everything all at once. I have been at this for 3 yrs.

Remember a Kart has only 1 gear. So if you had a Ratio of Like 3:1 it is like trying to drive a stick shift car and starting in 4th gear from a stop.
on the other hand 11:1 is like being stuck in First gear. You can smoke the tires but only go like 15MPH.
That is what I was getting at.

Well one could run multiple gears, but it's very complicated, parts are limited/scarce and kind of expensive.

Like already mentioned, the chain pitch is found by measuring the distance of two teeth on the sprocket/gears.

Gear ratio is found by taking the axle/wheel sprocket tooth count divide by the tooth count on the clutch, this will give you your gear ratio. 6:1 is the starting point for most go karts. If you have a 10 tooth clutch and a 60 tooth wheel sprocket, then you already have the 6:1. Same goes for a 12 tooth clutch and a 72 tooth sprocket.

They recommend a 6:1 or lower, so you won't burn out your clutch. What your rear tire size is and power of your engine, as well weight of kart and driver, will determine what gear ratio will be best.

 

[father87]

Cool thanks. My cart has 2 slicks and 2 tread tires, so I'm gonna have to figure out what sizes they are so they can all match. I think I'm gonna go with slicks for mine.

Is it common to just buy the tubes and tires and keep using the same rims? It seems they're almost always sold as a package with the rims on. I plan to paint my rims and don't want to keep having other ones.

 

[chancer]

You can just buy tires.
MFG Supply
Walmart
Lots of places

 

[father87]

I put the new levers and springs as the picture shows. But I don't get it, the throttle can't grab it when set up like this. Help.

https://streamable.com/pixa

---------- Post added at 07:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:16 PM ----------

 

[Poboy kartman]

Did you try starting it?

 

[chancer]

they seem to do nothing at all, until the engine is running.

 

[father87]

What do you guys mean? I put a video, I'm pushing throttle but it can't engage those levers.

Even with the engine running, pushing the pedal all the way down does nothing.

 

[Poboy kartman]

What do you guys mean? I put a video, I'm pushing throttle but it can't engage those levers.

Even with the engine running, pushing the pedal all the way down does nothing.

Sorry...we didn't get that video...just you moving the throttle lever back and forth for 7 seconds.

What I mean is no video of the engine running!

 

[father87]

Oh I see. But it does the exact same thing when running. Not sure why that matters. I can't make another video at the moment. I'll post tomorrow.

 

[Poboy kartman]

Ok...that lever with all the holes in it....what happens if you move it with the engine running? Because your linkage (that I can see) looks correct.

 

[chancer]

I did not know you had also tried with the engine running. Because the internal Governor gears make a difference with the engine running or not.
But I digress I do not know how to rehookup a governor linkage.
I only remove my Governors.

 

[father87]

The one that has holes 1-5? That's the one that makes the kart go. I can move it with my hand and make kart go, but as you can see in video, pushing pedal does nothing to springs or levers and doesn't move it.

---------- Post added at 09:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 PM ----------

Google images and several YouTube videos show that's the right setup. I think maybe my throttle cable can be tightened up so that it pulls up even more of the throttle lever.