My first kart/buggy build Ninja 250R motor

[brandongeiger2]

Are those the stock tie rods? How long are they? because I may be able to use some Ody tie rods instead of building my own for my kart.
Thanks

 

[Timtreo]

They are the stock ones. They are 16-1/2" hole to hole, but can be adjusted a little.

 

[brandongeiger2]

Alright a little short but doesn't hurt to ask. I appreciate it man! I need like 22'' haha

 

[Timtreo]

No problem, I checked out your build, it came out real nice. Nice job.

 

[Timtreo]

Ok I got the front end mostly done today, well put together mock up style anyway.
I put the rear wheels on just to see how level the frame is with the Oddyssey front end and it's not to bad. I just set the seat in to see, it will have to come up a tiny bit from where it is in the picture but like bighead said it feels cool being down inside the frame and the leg room problem with the steering wheel is solved. The tie rod lengths need to be adjusted so pay no attention to the angle of the wheels. I had the tie rod ends off to check the threads and just loosely put them back on. I'll have to go back and clean up my horrible looking welds also. They are strong though, I got plenty of penetration, just went a little crazy with the amount. I would rather over build this thing now then have problems later.
Picture shows what I came up with for the shock top bracket, look strong enough? I have headlights going on top of those.
I still have to add some real support braces from the bottom frame bar up to where that Oddy main J arm bar is, but I have to figure out my pedals first.

 

[bighead]

It's gonna be sweet. With that front end and tires your going to be able to do moshing for sure. If you build some skidpans you could go anywhere.

The reason I would like to see the seat below the frame in center of gravity. If you COG is high it will roll in turns easy. Being you do not know now low the engine will be I would put that seat below the frame for sure.

Your shocks mounts look good. You can put your lights on top of each mount.

Can you add the ody skidpan to protect the tie rods? Or build a whole pan under the whole kart. Or even extend the ody pan to go all the way to the seat bracket bottom. This letting you slide of anything you hit. Baja style.

Also found a cool pic of a motor mount on another site. also this thread.

http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9781&page=13

 

[Timtreo]

Hey bighead, I think I might just make a whole new skid pan (maybe some diamond plate), the stock Oddy one looks kind of funky on my Kart and doesn't go back far enough to cover the tie rods and all. I also still have the whole floor still connected to the front, just bent back under the kart. I think after I make the seat mounting bars I can bend that floor back under the seat and that will make a good skid plate there. I'm checking out your youtube vids as I type this. Nice, I really like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y3Ti04sack&feature=autoplay&list=UUOaK5qIDIQhwI3NkQI8iX1w&playnext=1

Any chance you got that stuff in the mail yet? Thanks, Tim

 

[Timtreo]

Well I got my axle off today to take all the stuff I'm not going to need off of it and... I guess you guys were right, it is a differential axle. It had a brake band on top of the differential so I thought it was just a live axle with the brake band drum. But nope, so I guess I need to get a whole new axle now??? I want a live axel because it going to be an off-road buggy. I guess I could weld the diff together but It would be nice to loose the weight also.
Maybe you guys can tell me if this seems right for a diff. axle - It turns at the white arrow then the diff. with the whole left side of the axle turns at the pink arrow (while I have the right side of the axle in the vise).

Bighead if you still want to buy this axle let me know because I guess Ill have to get a whole new one. I just have to figure out how to get my hubs off. There is a hole for a keyway but nothing in there that I can see. I couldn't pull them off and it was getting late so I couldn't really wack on it with a hammer. Threaded on maybe???

 

[OzFab]

If you put the centre in the vice (if it fits) & turn one axle, the other axle should turn in the opposite direction.

I doub't your hubs are threaded onto the axle:
1. How would you turn it with a keystock in the way?
2. At least one of them would unscrew while driving.

There will be either a nut or some type of clip at the end of the axle. Apart from that, they're probably frozen/rusted on

 

[Timtreo]

Yep your right Fabroman, I got it in the vise and one turns one way and the the other the other way (not easily but I can turn it by hand). So I would like to order a live axle today. I can get one for a reasonable price long enough so that the tires would be 6 inches wider on each side than the front wheels. I think this would look cool but is there any down side to that as far as stearing and handling of the buggy? Thanks all.

 

[fowler]

Yes u will get a lot of understeer

But it won't be too bad on dirt
As long as u have the power to spin the rear wheels

Make sure u support the alxe best u can
4 or more bearings

 

[Timtreo]

Ok thanks fowler, maybe I'll get a little shorter one because I hear the Oddyssey front end I have on it has pretty bad turning radius to begin with. Or wait does understeer mean Ide have better turning radius?

 

[fowler]

No worse steering

To turn sharp basically involed u finding some dirt going full lick and putting your foot down
It'll spin round pretty quick
That's called oversteer

 

[Timtreo]

Ok thanks again fowler. I'll just stick with an axle length that makes the front and rear tires even.

 

[Timtreo]

Well I figured out why I couldn't get my hubs off that axle. Either someone used the wrong size key stock or a crappy grade metal key. They twisted into the threads on the axle and are now locked solid on there, that's why I didn't see them in the key holes.
I just ordered a whole new setup. I had to stick with the 1" axle because the company that's making my sprocket already started making it for the 1" hub I had sent to them. But I'm going to use 6 bearings so it should be fine. If anyone needs the differential axle setup in the picture above it's for sale. It's 1" x 40" overall length. The hubs are 4" bolt circle (4 bolts in a square pattern) there are 4 bearings on it with 2 hole flanges the differential has a band break on it (I have the band not in the pic) and the sprocket is a 45T (not sure what size chain but I can find out if someone can tell me how to size it)

Bigheads got first dibs because he asked me about it a while ago. If he doesn't want it I'll put it in the classifieds on here. Thanks, Tim

 

[Timtreo]

Got my seat with sliders situated this weekend. Works great now but had to do a lot of melting and reforming of the plastic seat to get it down in the frame and slide forward and backwards the whole way. It must be made with some kind of fire retardant because it would not catch on fire, just softened up nicely and then I put some shims in where needed and when it cooled it went back to a nice solid hard form. I bent the original steel floor back over the seat as a skid plate, just have to extend it and weld some brackets on top of it. And patch the whole I cut out for the Oddy steering wheel support which is now gone to make the seat sliders work. Glad I left the original one the kart had, now I can just put a brace from the steering column to that.

 

[bighead]

Love the seat mount. You will see what I taling about when you ride it. It's like your in the kart and not on it.

Just got back from fishing trip. Will sleep hard Monday and get the parts to you. Sorry man got busy and jumped on the fishing trip at last minute.

 

[Timtreo]

No problem man, glad you got to go. Those seat brackets had me busy, and now I have to figure out how I'm going to do the rear swing arm. My whole new axle setup should be here today and shocks on Wed. and sprocket and hub later this week. I'll really only need those parts to finish the thing up but do send them when you can. Cheers

 

[Timtreo]

I got my pedals sorted out this weekend and made a floor pan to cover all the irregular heights with the steering crossmember and all. I can also hide my throttle and clutch cables under there. I drilled and tapped two holes for cable end adjusters for the pedal cables and made some brackets for the Ninja rear brake assembly (which also acts as another frame brace on that side), just have to get a longer hose made up for the caliper. I put some real frame supports in up front too.

The floor is just rough cut, still need to trim it and hammer some more but I think I was pushing my luck with the neighbors pounding away at 6 PM on a Sunday evening The pedals look weird now where they are but the roll cage extends out in front of them a good 8" so I think they will look ok. They feel pretty comfy where they are.

 

[OzFab]

Nice sheetmetal work You're doing a great job

Just a thought: Is it possible to run a steel rod down the side to act as a brake linkage, then mount the master near the back. There's a few reasons I mention this:
1. You may have trouble getting a hose that long & having one made could prove expensive
2. Rubber hoses are not impervious; flying debris from driving could damage/pierce the brake hose.
3. Long hoses tend to lose pressure