Rear rims and axle

[mohrt]

Noob, excuse my terminology I bought a used go cart and the rear wheel holes are slightly larger than the axle diameter, resulting in a slightly loose/wobbly wheel. If I jam a square key stock into the axle/wheel, it becomes off-center, No good! Is it possible to shim this wheel, or must I buy new wheels with a hole that matches the diameter of the axle?

TIA!

 

[frostyflammable]

Pics will help here, please post up some... a couple of up close and a couple further away. The wheel and or axle may be worn as well, with pics it will be easier to tell what is going on.

Thanks,
--Dan

 

[Tpdingo]

Junk the rims. The oversized holes means that they were probably rotating on the axle at some point. Not sure if you need to junk the axle, somebody else knows that better.

 

[mohrt]

some photos posted. you guys respond quick! I think the axle itself is OK.

https://imgur.com/a/8pZItfG

[edit] These are pics from the person I purchased from. I don't have direct access to kart atm, I can post more details later.

 

[frostyflammable]

Wild guess, could the axle be metric and the wheels be imperial... or the other way around? Seems to remember reading some posts on here where that was the case. I think these Manco Dingos came with a hex axle originally so this may be an replacement one.

--Dan

 

[mohrt]

This could very well be. I need to measure the axle with calipers. These are probably lawn mower rims/tires on the back? I'm thinking of putting same size tires on back that are on front. That will help with the tall gearing ratio too.

---------- Post added at 10:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 AM ----------

I did have one other good close up of the rear tire, I added it to the photo group.

https://imgur.com/a/8pZItfG

Previous owner had welded the nut to the rim, then weld broke (smh)

 

[mckutzy]

Alot of us don't like third party hosting much anymore... Can you direct upload the pics instead... Much easier to see...

 

[KartFab]

mine was ran without a key and it ruined both the axle and the rim. Instead of throwing it away i just welded them up together. Luckily only one side was affected. https://youtu.be/EqItZVXWxFQ

 

[anderkart]

mohrt, I checked out your pics.

Something easy you could try is taking one of your lug nuts along to an Ace hardware store as a sample, and see if they have any nuts with a tapered end simalar to the Lug Nuts that cars use.

As long as the lug-holes in your rims are slightly larger than the wheel studs, any type of nuts with a tapered-end should help hold your rims in the centered position.

They probably wont stock any tapered lug nuts in your thread size, but you could try installing tapered lock nuts with the tapered end facing the rim. (and no washers)

And if required, you could always drill and/or just Bevel the rims bolt holes out slightly larger, so the tapered nuts could hold the rims perfectly centered...

 

[mohrt]

Alot of us don't like third party hosting much anymore... Can you direct upload the pics instead... Much easier to see...

I tried clicking on "add image" and all it gave me was a place to insert a link. I'll have to figure out how to upload directly.

 

[mckutzy]

Here is an explanation thread...

http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=737

 

[Kansaskart]

Nothing wrong with your wheels, it's sloppy hubs. Wont do any good to get different wheels. Make sure axle nut is tight. If those hubs go off center from putting a key in they are probably worn out from that massive gx390 lol. Order new 1" 4 bolt hubs from some place like bmi there around 50. If that don't do it need a new axle, too. My guess is cheap keys combined with a gx390 wore stuff out. You need stout steel keys, not 1/4" galvanized stock from the farm store.

---------- Post added at 11:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 PM ----------

You also mite be able to drill a hole in those hubs on the KEYWAY with say 3/16 and tap it with a 1/4-20 and use a bolt to tighten the hub down to the axle. Not a lot of meat there, could try. 2nd option is drilling the hole 1/4 and welding a 1/4" nut on top. Either use a nut on the bolt to keep it from backing out or blue loktite. This will probably give a little out of round also, it's just a fun kart not a huge deal.