Go kart bearing

[Revlimiter]

look what happened to the bearing. anyone know why this happened? Im going to ace hardware tommorow and i wanna know if i should get flange bearing or ball bearing

 

[mckutzy]

Well they are both ball bearing, its the housing that are different.

With out knowing what the machine is, I cant really say what to recommend. How about
some more pics of the machine

As to why the bearing failed, could be many reasons. One I think is the main reason, is they were perhaps crap pressed steel outer race type. Either way, bady abused none the less.

 

[Poboy kartman]

If I'm interpreting the pictures correctly, looks more like the axle snapped due to shoddy welding and design. Hard to say whether bearing failure caused it or was a consequence but maybe you should post some pictures of the bearing/race? Just saying-

 

[fowler]

Was there a lot of shudder before the axle snapped?

Ball bearings are not designed for this type of use
A go kart puts too much side load on it

To combat this some put a spacer made of thin pipe over the axle between the bearings

That would be the way to go

Anougther good thing to do is to pack the bearing before u install them
Pick out the seal and force a bit of good grease in
They come packed but they do a half assed job of it
Really they just smear a bit of grease in a smash a seal on


U are going to have to fix the axle before u do anything

 

[Revlimiter]

im not talking about the flange bearings that are mountable, im talking like the ones that are the bronze flange bearing but not made of bronze.

heres some images

the cart itself

the axle (note this is a one wheel drive. the axle was made out of a really long threaded rod. its welded across the back. it was never bent or snapped.

heres the bearing cleaned off

this is what the inside of the tire hub looks like

 

[fowler]

the bronze ones that arnt bronze
get some pics of these contradiction bearings

or are u talking of bushings?

u want these

EDIT
third pic down
it that what the bearing is riding on?
that is likely rubbing on the bearing seal, maybe even the outer race
that will cause rapid failure

also haveing the bearing ride on threaded rod is not good for it

its bugging be as to want is holding that axle on?
it looks like a large amount of the weld has been ground off

 

[Revlimiter]

i went to the store and picked up some ohio made bearings. they have a metal seal. i paid 4.50 per bearing. I also picked up a strong spring for the throttle pedal. no welds were ground down or anything. the thing that the bearing is being pushed on is a large 3/4 flange nut. it is locktited on the threaded rod.

 

[fowler]

Don't be too surprised if it fails again

 

[Revlimiter]

can i stick a washer between the wall of the nut and the bearing?
will that decrease some rubbing with the bearing

 

[fowler]

No that'll make it worse

The bearing should only have contact on the inner race

So u will need to make some sort of thin spacer so u can space it out a bit

Also havering the bearing ridding on threaded rod isn't good for it

It should be on solid axle of a preceise size

 

[Revlimiter]

in the new bearings, the inner race has contact with the side

 

[mckutzy]

It looks like you just need to replace the whole axle assembly. I say this for a few reasons.

The whole rear end looks like there is more bird sh!te welding there than kart, with whats looks like pipe and other bits just stuck together. Its kind of a disaster waiting to happen.

The axle is a threaded rod or a piece of ready rod(all thread, ect), a good bump may just bend/snap it quickly off. and if the brake is there....... problems... to say the least...

There might be more but I cant really make out the steering just yet.....

I would say convert this to live axle, and then have a good bearing setup that you wont need to replace for a long while. By the looks of things with a little finesse, you most likely can reuse the drum brake(need a hub to mate with the axle) and reuse the wheels by just changing the hubs out for ones that except say an 1" axle.

 

[Revlimiter]

That is what i wanted to do before, except i dont have much money and it costs with all the parts and stuff around 100-150 dollars to convert to live axle. and i dont know if the sprocket might fit through the bars. i wanted to convert it into a live axle because i wanted a jackshaft or a cvt on it.
I also was thinking about just completely selling the cart how it is and just starting a new build, but only a one seater.