Does anyone have any ways to do this or have you done it? Do you have photos of your set up? I saw on the roketa site that they have an interesting setup. It looks like each rear tire is driven from a jack shaft and has its own swing arm style set up. It looks like narrow swing arms could be made and then short axles used running through bearing hangers with a wheel on one side and sprocket on the other. Brakes would have to be on the jack shaft. I'm not building a kart with rear independent suspension ATM but I love crafting ideas in my head.
Independent Rear Suspension
- Thread starter redsox985
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r97
Measure twice cut once
wht they have there is basicaly a swing arm bolt/ jackshaft, are thinking of doing this ? check this out it has a couple helpful pics http://hubpages.com/hub/Build-Your-Own-Go-Kart---A-Step-by-Step-Guide your other option which you probably turned away from because of its price is cv axles http://www.desertkarts.com/item105555.ctlg
If you looked at the image that I linked, the kart does not use a differential or solid axle of any type it looks like there would be one main jack shaft with sprockets on each end and then very short jack shaft style axles for each wheel giving 100% independent suspension because the wheels are in no ways linked.
Raywelder
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It also looks like it would be easier and cheaper to do. Cv axles aren't cheap. Either are U-joints. I like it.
T-man
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red, I have seen set-ups like the one in that link, the ones Iv'e seen had a small diff. in front of the engine to aid in independent tire rotation. I have also seen home brew things with a solid (longer jackshaft thingy) also, but without a larger chain it does put alot of stress on the parts.
r97
Measure twice cut once
my first link went to something like what you were thinking of(go down he page until you see the words Steps on How to Build the Drive Axle Setup Assembly then look to the right those pics are what i was trying to show you but there stuck in some slide show thing), then the second link and the pic were of a second option which is more expensive but ive heard works much better
The_Machine
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when you add up all the sprockets and chain, you may as well go with double a arms with u-joints or CV. Looks way better, can keep the sprockets out of harm's way, too.
r97
Measure twice cut once
if you do the chain set up you would either need a diff ($250?) and two sprockets and hubs ($80)two small sprckets ($14) and like 10 ft of chain ($20) this setup would work fine, the other option is to do the chain with a realy heavy duty and redundent system that would still probably brake often because therer was no diff so when one wheel goes up and the other stays down the wheels will want to go different speeds, you would need 4 sprockets and hubs ($160) 4 small sprockets ($28) and 20ft of expensive heavy duty chain ($80)this setup is the worst. finnaly you could get 2 cv axles ($300) his setup preforms the best. in short this s what your looking at
option 1: $264 good reliability, pretty good preformance
option 2: $268 not so reliable, not very good performance(looks cool though)
option 3: $300 very reliable, best preformance
its your descision all of these options will work to some degree, so choose which you think is best! good luck!
option 1: $264 good reliability, pretty good preformance
option 2: $268 not so reliable, not very good performance(looks cool though)
option 3: $300 very reliable, best preformance
its your descision all of these options will work to some degree, so choose which you think is best! good luck!
fowler
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why do u think every one uses cvs and wishbones
CAUSE IT IS TRYED AND TESTED TO WORK BEST
CAUSE IT IS TRYED AND TESTED TO WORK BEST
r97
Measure twice cut once
thank you
I was only tossing an idea onto the fire because I saw one of these karts, the one I originally linked to, on my local CL and thought it had unique suspension. It would need a jack shaft, or short axle, with a small driven sprocket in the center, two drive sprockets on the ends, and a sprocket on the wheel. I don't think it would be super expensive. Solid steel axles aren't too expensive. "Bulletproof" steel 40 chain sprockets are cheap as well as steel hubs.
EDIT: The reliability would not be superb but I don't think it would be as bad as you are saying. A differential could be recycled from a quad. Use the axle as your jack shaft. Even with out a differential it would handle not differently than a fixed axle. If one wheel goes up it's still on the ground pushing forward. The wheel going upwards would pivot the chain around the sprocket so it wouldn't be touching teeth 1-5 but say 2-7 (just an example on 10 tooth sprocket). As long as you use equal sized tires, it would function no differently than a solid axle.
EDIT: The reliability would not be superb but I don't think it would be as bad as you are saying. A differential could be recycled from a quad. Use the axle as your jack shaft. Even with out a differential it would handle not differently than a fixed axle. If one wheel goes up it's still on the ground pushing forward. The wheel going upwards would pivot the chain around the sprocket so it wouldn't be touching teeth 1-5 but say 2-7 (just an example on 10 tooth sprocket). As long as you use equal sized tires, it would function no differently than a solid axle.
r97
Measure twice cut once
like i said you can do it but you may endup going through chains and sprockets more often than normal
The_Machine
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nothing all tha wrong with trailing arm. just seems more difficult to get all the sprockets lined up with the pivot points with limited amount of space. why would you need a differential?
r97
Measure twice cut once
read t-mans post 
Raywelder
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The Trailing arms would be simpler I would think because the camber won't change with arm travel. You have two arms instead of four. The trailing arm only has to pivot in one spot. While a set of A-arms has 4 points where the pivot.
I don't see how a differential would be necessary, I see how it would be nice, but you could get away without it. A go cart is light enough that the inside tire will just slide on whatever surface is on without much trouble. If you had a ton of weight and traction on the rear and You were trying to pull a donut, then I can see you having some trouble with the chains and things binding.
R97, Theres no way those prices can be accurate. You include the price of the Cv Axles, But not hubs, bearings and A-arms (whether they are home made, recycled or bought) Also, whatever mates the Two CV joints together cant be cheap, Either a Differential or a splined hub on a sprocket?
NOW, I'm not saying the chain set up is better. Cv-axles would be the best setup. But I think that the chain setup could be done and still be fairly reliable.
I don't see how a differential would be necessary, I see how it would be nice, but you could get away without it. A go cart is light enough that the inside tire will just slide on whatever surface is on without much trouble. If you had a ton of weight and traction on the rear and You were trying to pull a donut, then I can see you having some trouble with the chains and things binding.
R97, Theres no way those prices can be accurate. You include the price of the Cv Axles, But not hubs, bearings and A-arms (whether they are home made, recycled or bought) Also, whatever mates the Two CV joints together cant be cheap, Either a Differential or a splined hub on a sprocket?
NOW, I'm not saying the chain set up is better. Cv-axles would be the best setup. But I think that the chain setup could be done and still be fairly reliable.
r97
Measure twice cut once
i agree with you on the first two paragraphs. in the last one im not showing the prices for all the compnents needed in the system, just the "specialized" if you will, componetns that are needed to setup one way or another. and yes isuppose the cv axles would need to be connected, jack shaft. and i was just guessing prices basedd on memory so there not exact.
The_Machine
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camber change during travel is a good thing! during body roll you want the wheel to camber out so that the wheel patch stays level with the road. Can you visualize it? It's difficult to figure what is best without putting it on the road, but that's what's so great about heim joints, you can adjust the length of the arms to get it just right. The reason why they build double a arms with unequal length arms is so that the arc of the travel does not shorten then widen the wheel track arc, and the reason for unparralell upper and lowers is so that they camber during body roll.
I don't worry so much about the costs of building so much, unless it's excessively priced. You can make your own bearing plates for the ends of the arms for the price of metal and all you need then is
Keyed Axle 40$
CV $? (junk yard?)or 4 universal joints 200$
4 flange bearings 30$
2 pillow blocks 15$
Sprocket 15$
Good prices if you ask me. The time you spend working on your project is time spent not wasting your money on less entertaining things.
I don't worry so much about the costs of building so much, unless it's excessively priced. You can make your own bearing plates for the ends of the arms for the price of metal and all you need then is
Keyed Axle 40$
CV $? (junk yard?)or 4 universal joints 200$
4 flange bearings 30$
2 pillow blocks 15$
Sprocket 15$
Good prices if you ask me. The time you spend working on your project is time spent not wasting your money on less entertaining things.
r97
Measure twice cut once
ok im officialy confused, redsox choose what you want and good luck
Read my first post. This was purely an idea I decided to toss onto the fire when I saw a kart on my CL and looked into it online. I found it had interesting suspension, the one I've been backing. I figured that Roketa is a decent company being that I've seen a good bit about them. It's the GK-29 if anyone is interested.
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