Need help Choosing Axles

[Dantej]

I Need help Choosing Axles Immedietly!

Ok, first of all i wanted to know if a 1inch solid axle would be stronger than a tubular 1 1-4 inch axle????? My second question is, will the stronger axle hold a street bike motorcycle engine and if it wont how big of an engine will it hold????? THanks for all your input

 

[OzFab]

Apples & oranges; a solid axle is only mild steel, a hollow axle is hardened & come in many gades of hardness

I don't think either will be strong enough to handle the torque of a street bike

 

[addision87]

A soild 1 inch will hold ive done it with an old cbr its will hold and usualy when you buy them they are keyed all the way across so its easy to change out sprockets all you have to do os buy a weld on sprocket and hub.here it will only bust you 10 bucks

 

[OzFab]

What size CBR?

 

[Dantej]

so does it matter which one i use or which one would you prefer?

 

[addision87]

It was a 500 i think bought it off an insurance company because it was a write off. 1 inch will work so long as you use real kart rims and tires none of that 13 inch honda civic rim cobble if your using an engine bigger than this id pefer at least 1 1/4 solid live axle

 

[KartFab]

You may need to look into a more heavy duty, larger diameter, treated axle with splines for the hubs, sprocket, and disc brake(s). I bent a 7/8ths solid hex axle going 40 mph, but that's just because I was jumping it.... accidentally.

Anyway, just in case you go on the cheap and still want to risk it, they do make a type (brand?) of solid 1" axle called a flexpruf axle. I put that on the kart as a replacement and put an even bigger engine on it (8 hp swapped to 13hp). No problems yet, and I have jumped it on purposed with great success.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

If the axle is well-supported and you're not offroading it, 1" should be fine. Many, MANY fullsize motor vehicles use solid axleshafts 1" and smaller.

 

[modelengineer]

I'm using a 1 1/4" solid mild steel axle for my 500cc twin seater bike engine powered kart. I don't foresee any problems.

You can't really compare full size axles to gokarts because the axles in cars only transfer torque, they don't support the entire weight of the car.

 

[OzFab]

so does it matter which one i use or which one would you prefer?

Hollow axles are usually used on racing karts because they're much lighter than their solid counterpart. In racing, weight is everything

 

[Dantej]

ok is your 1 1-4 axle a tube if not where do you get one thats not

 

[OzFab]

No, my axle is solid...

 

[firemanjim]

You can use the standard 1" kart axle, but you're gonna need to use bearings on both sides of the sprocket, i would use quality pillow block bearings. And then more bearings at the standard position for the kart-to-axle spot. Look at the contest winners threads. Last winner used 600cc CBR IIRC and used all pillow block bearings... worked great....

 

[Doc Sprocket]

You can't really compare full size axles to gokarts because the axles in cars only transfer torque, they don't support the entire weight of the car.

Indeed, some do!

You can use the standard 1" kart axle, but you're gonna need to use bearings on both sides of the sprocket, i would use quality pillow block bearings. And then more bearings at the standard position for the kart-to-axle spot.

Yes- Plenty of support. Think "leverage".

 

[addision87]

Yeah have a couple your usual outer pillow blocks as well as two spaced evenly along the centre.