Twin Arachnids Build

[ArachnidBrosMN]

Hey!

New pics new pics!

Ok... apologies for not keeping up... as every project seems to go, after about 5 1/2 months of work, it's a race for the finish. The last two weeks, Hank and I have been preparing for a Memorial Day Family Fishing trip in Norther Minnesota that we are in charge of (27 total men going). I took our boat to the Mississippi River in Wabasha on Tuesday (you can probably see that boat in previous posts). It has a shorted live-well pump, loose throttle cable, trailer bearings to be packed with grease, and other "go-kart work stoppers". So... Here's all I was able to do last week. I completely finished one kart's front-end and slid the king-pings in... it looks KICK A$$!!

EDIT: sorry for the dumb picture of the boat... putting it in there seemed to offer verification that yes, I would have loved to work on the karts... but my precious work time was needed elsewhere

 

[landuse]

That is looking killer!! Soon you are going to have a rolling chassis.

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

More progress

So much labor involved in trying to get two of these done without the other brother... but we're making progress! Got the second kart's front end totally done, and the spindles all ready to go. FINALLY!!
Picture 1: new threaded-rod for tie-rods

 

[landuse]

Looking good.

 

[jwheels14]

I had a very hard time getting the A-arms to be the same. I only have a wood work bench in my shed, I used angle iron screwed to the bench as a jig for tacking, but I still had a hard time. But those look real good. Part of the reason I used the heim joints for the front is I could get a lot more adjustment and it worked pretty good. I hope you guys get those done pretty soon so you can ride this summer.

 

[OzFab]

Did you say "threaded rod for tie rods"? Not sure that's a good idea. Threaded rod tends to bend really easy because it has so many weak points (every point of every thread). You would do much better with round bar & cut the threads yourself to the point you need it. Even round bar with bolts welded to the ends is a better idea.

Otherwise, you guys are doing a great job.

 

[blackleg miner]

looks awesome. Thanks for posting all the info.

My boys and I are going to get the axle hangers in tonight, the spindle brackets on the 2 halves (should have been done at the beginning but didn't have the parts), the steering gear bracket, and maybe get started on the A-arms. I think we're going to have to be super careful when tacking them up.

We have all the parts except a motor, torque convertor, wheels and tires, and a seat. Yeah, we're missing some of the really expensive parts, dang.

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

I had a very hard time getting the A-arms to be the same. I only have a wood work bench in my shed, I used angle iron screwed to the bench as a jig for tacking, but I still had a hard time. But those look real good. Part of the reason I used the heim joints for the front is I could get a lot more adjustment and it worked pretty good. I hope you guys get those done pretty soon so you can ride this summer.

YES... I hope they are done soon also.. it's like I'm building a new house, and not being able to move in yet. Can...not....wait.

ALSO: (sorry I don't know how to double-qoute another member in the same reply). About the threaded rod linkage: I did not use 1/4 rod, rather 3/8" rod. I don't have a tap-and-die set good enough to make my own tie rods, and I'm to the point where I'm ready to just get these things moving, and if I bend the 3/8 rod... well, it will be a later upgrade... but thanks for the suggestion... i agree.

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

BTW, Blackleg Miner... nice work!!!!! I think the platform of the Arachnid is a great place to start.. keep 'er going!

 

[SCK]

Their coming along good keep working!

 

[blackleg miner]

Are those 5/8" axles on your spindles? Also are those 1/2" heim joints for the A arm ends with bushings in the spindle housing? The plans call for 5/8" but with 2 on each side it seems like 1/2" would be beefy enough.

BTW - nice notebook on the seat. That's how I roll and my coworkers like to harass me for binderizing all of me projects.

 

[CAPTAINCAVEMAN]

I noticed the notebook too I have the same thing also

 

[landuse]

ALSO: (sorry I don't know how to double-qoute another member in the same reply

It took me a while to figure this out as well. Say you want to quote 4 people in the same post. What you do is click on the button that you see below (the page with a plus) for the first three posts you want to quote, and then on the 4th one you click the quote button. You then get all the posts that you wanted to quote

I hope I explained that well enough.

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

Are those 5/8" axles on your spindles? Also are those 1/2" heim joints for the A arm ends with bushings in the spindle housing? The plans call for 5/8" but with 2 on each side it seems like 1/2" would be beefy enough.

BTW - nice notebook on the seat. That's how I roll and my coworkers like to harass me for binderizing all of me projects.

Thanks! I love binders... 3 hole punch all the way! So, the axles on my spindles are actually 3/4" thick. (I got the heavy duty ones) and the heim joints are 5/8" dia (pretty big I will say). I guess 1/2" heims would work... but I can't guarantee it. Greased my front spindle bearings today!!!!

 

[blackleg miner]

Awesome, I have the same size spindles, what type pf bearing did you use? I'm having a hard time finding the roller bearing in a set that is 1 3/8" OD by 3/4" hole. Seems' like a tapered bearing would be nice, but not sure if that would work.

 

[r_chez_08]

Looking great guys! If you don't mind, how much have they cost you so far?

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

Looking great guys! If you don't mind, how much have they cost you so far?

Just ordered 8 shocks

12" Length for the fronts:http://www.ebay.com/itm/140738933253?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trks...

and 16" length for the rears: http://www.ebay.com/itm/150445787082?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Total came to about 110 bucks per go-kart.... (and I didn't go with the super cheap $12.95 shocks)

Henry ordered 4 rear tires (25") and 4 rear rims (4-bolt pattern) for over 400 bucks today:http://www.ebay.com/itm/270862677757?item=270862677757&viewitem=&vxp=mtr

Totally... so far, we have honestly probably spent $2,700.00 per kart...but thats' EVERYTHING... all the way down to the grease, nuts, bolts, keystock, welding wire etc (I have a spreadsheet with EVERYTHING on it) it's way more than we wanted to spend from the start. BUT, this has been the funnest building project we have ever taken on and we've learned so much so far. And, when we're done they will be high quality machines that will last a long time. I suppose we could always sell them and get our money out if we really needed. We are probably two weeks or so from driving them!!!!! I'll hopefully post more pictures after this coming weekend.

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

Rock and Roll!!!

A good weekend of work... brother 2:Henry was out of town, but I kicked some butt!! -Pete
Edit: the piece of pipe I bought is for the "steering brackets" to hold the steering wheel up between our legs. Also... tires were WAY MORE beefy than I thought!!!

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

More...

More...

 

[ArachnidBrosMN]

More...

More...