New to Go-Kart building and have a question

[speed1]

My son and I are building a go-kart for my grandson...Need advise on how to do a live rear axle, we are using a 212 cc engine and would like to fimish it this week-end...Or what is the best way to hook up the engine to the rear wheel...I hope this is not a stupiid question and any and all advise would be appreciated...Thank you

 

[mysteryboy28]

welcome to the forum!

there are instructions on how to build a kart from scratch 100 times over in this forum. just takes a little searching and some reading. youtube is also a great place to search for "how to build a go-kart", and other popular search phrases.

the basics for attaching the engine to the wheel is: wheels must be connected solid to the axle (1" solid axle with 1/4" keyway running the length of the axle, as well as threaded ends for locking nuts) via 1/4" key and locking nut (to keep the wheels from falling off), as well as a large sprocket (60+ tooth) on the axle for the chain. axle will be mounted via bearings and bearing hangers to the go-kart frame. engine will be mounted to the frame, with a clutch of some sort on it (TAV2 is a popular clutch for 8 hp and under. for a small kid kart you can use a centrifugal clutch, but a torque converter clutch like the TAV2 is always better). chain runs from the clutch to the sprocket on the axle. chain turns sprocket, sprocket turns axle, axle turns wheel. yee-haw!

use the speed calculator to determine what your top speed is going to be, here:

http://www.diygokarts.com/speed-calculator.html

more speed = less torque. a good balance for the 212cc motors is 18" tires with a 72 tooth axle sprocket and 12 tooth clutch sprocket, in my opinion. use 41 chain and 41 sprockets, not 40 or 35.

 

[speed1]

Thank you for such a quick reply, I will pass thhis information on to my son as I am legally blind and have a difficult time reading , you gave me good information and I appreciate it...Bob

 

[mysteryboy28]

always happy to help! come back often, and be sure to start a new thread in the projects section and post lots of pics of your progress on it! we love to see all karts, simple and complex.

here's the 2 that i've built so far:

I used the Harbor Freight 212cc motor on the little one, and I wish that I had a smaller axle sprocket for more torque (has a 60 tooth and a 12 tooth centrifugal clutch, which gets me 40 mph, but it takes a while to get there and doesn't like to haul grown-ups on grass without a running start).

 

[speed1]

Those are impressive...We are going to a go kart shop tommorrow to get the rest of the parts we need , hopefully we'll have it running by saturday afternoon and post pictures at that time, with the info. you gave me on the sprocket will help us chose thhe correct one for torque....Bob

 

[mysteryboy28]

good luck, and don't forget to post pics!