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[firemanjim]

If you had $500 to burn, and wanted to "stock" up on kart supplies for your hobby/business of karting, what would you buy? Tires? Bulk chain? I'm wanting to buy stuff that gets replaced often, so when I have a "customer" , I'll have it.... This weekend, I worked on some karts for an out of town customer. I had everything I needed to repair all 4 karts, except a new spark plug, so those are on my list......
BUT, how bout oil,starting fluid,air filters? What size tires? I was thinking 6-8 of the three most popular size. What do you guys think? I have more $ to spend (sold a play toy) but thought maybe $500 was a decent investment........ If I don't have to spend $500 to get needed stuff, I can buy 2-3 hf212's.......

 

[KartFab]

Valve stems, throttle cables, brake bands, inner tubes, 10w30 oil, carb cleaner, make your own gasket material, cabinet runner (for floor pans), black paint, red paint, tires that fit 6" rims, 1" bearings, 5/8" bearings, grease gun, dry moly spray, wire for requiring kill switches, heat shrink, a few kill switches, goop/fix a flat if you are lazy, an extra 30 series drive unit, assorted 1/4" and 5/15 bolts/nuts/washers. 1 spare axle, 1 spare jackshaft, 420p chain, #35 chain, 1 #35 centrifugal clutch.

It's probably best to just buy what you need though. I have a bunch of crap in my garage that I thought I would need, but it's just taking up space. I use a few things now and then, but mostly think.... I'll use that, someday.... Slippery slope.

 

[machinist@large]

I can't speak from a go kart perspective, but here on the family farm we have several shelving units loaded with $4000~$5000 in the one off special drive belts, bearings, PTO components, hydraulic components, etc needed to keep us running during harvest time, because it never seems like anything breaks during business hour's. It also doesn't help that many of the parts special order only these days.......

 

[ML-TOYS]

The one thing i always try to have enough on hand is a variety of sizes and colors of fuel line and also fuel filters. Like you said already is different types of spark plugs.

 

[firemanjim]

Pat, if it don't break,at the worst possible time, it wouldn't be a "life" like ours..... LoL we do the same thing here at work.
GranPann, that is an excellent list, most of which I keep on hand. Black tape, wire ties, solder gun,elect.connectors, and some of them glass fuses and the mini fuses with sealed pig tails. (fusible links)
The tires is what I was really questioning. 4.10x3.5x5 's and then what's the most popular size in the 6's? 13-6 and 15-6?
I only ask all this because in the past 3 weeks, I've made almost $600 working on karts, not including the atv I took as payment. It will run, once I figure out where the electrical problem is, but later. (engine seems to be SOLID,compared to the one I worked on.... It has way more compression, when turning by hand....... ) Dam safety switches.....
My friends keep telling me to open a part time shop, cause I fix all their stuff. I guess my garage is just as good as any. My idea, is to take in 1 kart at a time (by appointment ) and have a 24 hour turnaround,in most cases. This is how I've been doing it ,informally, so my wife said "just do it, and quit draggin @$$! Make me some more money..... "

This weekend's job included..... Carb clean,chain adjust, new oil, add fuel filter, and some minor welds,....... Times 4 karts.... In 3 hours...... Only one would start,barely, when dropped off.....

 

[machinist@large]

Pat, if it don't break,at the worst possible time, it wouldn't be a "life" like ours..... LoL we do the same thing here at work.

Yeah, you should see the stuff we stock here at work for the foundry alone. We're in the process of starting to update/upgrade a lot of stuff just because we can't get parts for the old machines anymore....

 

[lilg111111]

I would go on Ebay and look at the complete sold items for go karts. That way you can see what people are buying online and how much they are paying for it. Im guessing you can do the same for Amazon. I would also keep the stuff in stock that breaks or needs to be repaired the most often.

 

[OzFab]

Of all the mechanics shops I've bee in over the past 25 years, about the only thing they all keep in stock is fluids; reason being that there are soo many different parts for soo many different karts that you can't possibly have them all &, as Pat & Grant pointed out, you may end up having parts sitting around, unused, for years...

Even something as simple as spark plugs can get out of hand; eg: at one point I had 3 5hp B&S engines, all the same architecture but spanning 25 years & they all had different spark plugs!

Having a 24 hour turn-around is great but, sometimes, it's simply unrealistic, unless you view & quote the job, the owner takes the kart home, you order the necessary parts & the owner returns the kart to you once the parts arrive; for a simple service, yes but, anything more major than that & time depends on parts availability & delivery time:

Case in point: My car has currently been with my mechanic for 3 days; not a big job but, not a quick job either (6 hours labour) most of that time has been in waiting for parts...

 

[Poboy kartman]

This is an easy one.....rent a U-Haul.....drive north and buy all the extra crap Poboy has laying around. .....good stuff.....

For $500 and the price of the U-Haul rental .....you probably wouldn't go in the hole more than $700.... for $200 worth of good stuff. .

Tell ya what. ...save the time and trouble....and just mail me the $500!!!!!

 

[jslider]

I have been in the automotive business for years, and granted i have access to parts houses that deliver but will say stocking parts i would think would be hard, i could see maybe the general stuff clutches fuel line wiring etc, but one way you could do it is if you have to get a part more than 2 to 3 times might be worth keeping an extra on hand or looking for a place where you can get 3 for the price of one and than have a few. I have not been in karting as long as most but can say there are probably as many different styles of karts, motors, tires, chains etc that keeping a good supply would be hard.

Another thought is if you want to use the predators or a particular line of motors keep a complete spare as well as one that you can build up and offer as a hopped up replacement that will leave you with spare parts and something that you can use to demonstrate what the possibilities are of the base motor you are selling as well.

At this point i have rambled enouph -- i agree with the wife make her more money and enjoy yourself while doing it!!!

 

[gallagher19]

Here's what I keep in my shop for karting nights. Tires, rims, of course tires mounted on rims, tubes, valve stems, chains, oil, throttle cables, brake fluid, filter spray, extra fuel and air filters, fluid film, brake cleaner, kill switches, spark plugs, gasket material, misc. nuts, bolts, sprockets, #35 clutch, gears, washers and a spare motor at all times. Seems that takes care of most items over the past two years for our crew.

 

[firemanjim]

Man the first response and last response really cover it all.... Thank you gentlemen......

 

[Poboy kartman]

Man the first response and last response really cover it all.... Thank you gentlemen......

I agree.......but you could still send me money.....

 

[machinist@large]

I agree.......but you could still send me money.....

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