Need some brakes for the parade !

[Athenryeng]

Hi Guys ,
My kids have decided to put the kart into the St Patricks day parade here next week ! Its all tractors and marching bands so a go kart would fit in great ! Anyway they drive around a field full speed never using the brakes cause they are useless . They are cheap calipers mounted on a 6 inch disc with a cable to a hand operated brake lever . Took it out on road today for a practice parade and discovered we will kill half of Ireland the way it is . Is there any way of inproving set up real quick as parade is in 5 days ?

 

[souperman000]

what happens when you pull the lever?

 

[Athenryeng]

They work , but its like the kids cant squeeze lever hard enough , it works ok for me to stop kart from rolling down a hill , but wont lock up wheels or even close .

 

[souperman000]

i am thinking that it could be the pads, but thats just a guess. Have you checked them?

 

[Athenryeng]

Well the brake calipers are new , well new on the kart which has had about 10 hours of driving and pulled the brake lever twice ! 2nd time whilst showing off and heading for a main road ! and whole caliper had fallen off ! So pads should be new , but kart is absolutely covered in mud , never thought it could be that simple , i was thinking i would need some kind of hydraulics to get a good stop.

 

[souperman000]

Well, hydraulics ar ealways better, but they are very expensive, The caliper is mechanical I am guessing? How is it mounted?

 

[Athenryeng]

Am uploading a picture of it onto my album right now , just checked its on my album now called " brakes" not quite sure how to put photo into this reply sorry

 

[bighead]

Make a bell crank to apply more force on the caliper. Or move it to the foot where you have more force to apply. You can make the caliper arm longer to apply more leverage as well.

How big are your wheels?

 

[Athenryeng]

Wheels are about 15 inch dia , but yeah think im going to change to foot pedal to get more leverage , anyone have any good links to a simple set up to do this ? Thanks in advance.

 

[r_chez_08]

make a pedal, run a cable to it. Adjust the caliper until the pads are nearly touching the disc, then try it. If it doesnt work then, you must have another issue. Try dissasembling the caliper and look for wear.

 

[mckutzy]

Lets see a pic of the brake setup or post the link of you album.

 

[Athenryeng]

http://http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=293&pictureid=1741

Thanks guys , think i have inserted picture of brake set up , not sure though , its my first time ! Am going to make a brake pedal tomorrow , just wish the parade wasnt on the 17th though !!!

 

[Athenryeng]

http://http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=293&pictureid=1741

Am going to make brake pedal tommorow , will let you know if better