Hello. I've been working on an Arachnid build from Spiderkarts for the last few months, and I only recently discovered this Forum. I thought I'd post up a few pics of the build so far, as I'm sure I will have lots of questions for you in the coming months.
The project is going quite well so far, and I am pleased with the progress. As I'm in the UK, I have had quite a few problems in sorting some of the more specialist parts, and a lot of the items listed in the plans are only available from the US. However, with lots of time racked up in Google, I think I have found all the bits I need.
The first part sourced was the motor. It's a clone of the Honda GX390 with a manual pull start. I did consider buying an engine with an electric start, but as this is my first project, I wanted to keep things simple. The engine is mated to a Honda 2:1 reduction wet gearbox, as I couldn't source a torque converter for less than £300 in the UK. This was the first major problem I encountered as the engine has a 1" diameter driveshaft and the gearbox, a 25mm input. I was able to get the input machined to accept the driveshaft, and the 2 fit together nicely. I won't know for sure if it will work until I can get the engine mounted and put some load onto it. Fingers crossed.
With the engine sorted, I started on the chassis. To make things a little harder for myself, I had to learn to MIG weld from scratch. The main chassis went together quite quickly, but I soon realised that it was going to be too short for me. Luckily at this stage it was only a small amount of extra work to stretch the frame by 5". The steering rack I have sourced is also wider than the one specified in the plans, and as a result I had to make the front suspension frame 2" wider. I can compensate for the extra width by reducing each wishbone by 1". You can see how wide the steering rack is in this pic, the seat is not fixed down yet.
Some more progress on the front end.
I had to finalise the front hubs before I could weld up the front end, as the height of the hubs dictates the height of the frame. I sourced some hubs that were designed for a buggy with no front supension, so I had to make my own king pin assembleys. I had to reduce the length of the front hubs to fit inside the wheel.
Then I had to design my own kingpin assemblies.
The plans use rose joints top and bottom for the articulation, but I decided against this as I couldn't find any with enough movement. In the end I used some male and female clevis ends, and by a lucky coincidence, they are a perfect size to fit inside the 25mm box section the makes up the wishbones.
In this pic, the threaded end I am holding will interface with the end of the wishbone.
Thats all for now, next job is too make the wishbones and mount them to the front suspension block. I'll keep you posted.
The project is going quite well so far, and I am pleased with the progress. As I'm in the UK, I have had quite a few problems in sorting some of the more specialist parts, and a lot of the items listed in the plans are only available from the US. However, with lots of time racked up in Google, I think I have found all the bits I need.
The first part sourced was the motor. It's a clone of the Honda GX390 with a manual pull start. I did consider buying an engine with an electric start, but as this is my first project, I wanted to keep things simple. The engine is mated to a Honda 2:1 reduction wet gearbox, as I couldn't source a torque converter for less than £300 in the UK. This was the first major problem I encountered as the engine has a 1" diameter driveshaft and the gearbox, a 25mm input. I was able to get the input machined to accept the driveshaft, and the 2 fit together nicely. I won't know for sure if it will work until I can get the engine mounted and put some load onto it. Fingers crossed.
With the engine sorted, I started on the chassis. To make things a little harder for myself, I had to learn to MIG weld from scratch. The main chassis went together quite quickly, but I soon realised that it was going to be too short for me. Luckily at this stage it was only a small amount of extra work to stretch the frame by 5". The steering rack I have sourced is also wider than the one specified in the plans, and as a result I had to make the front suspension frame 2" wider. I can compensate for the extra width by reducing each wishbone by 1". You can see how wide the steering rack is in this pic, the seat is not fixed down yet.
Some more progress on the front end.
I had to finalise the front hubs before I could weld up the front end, as the height of the hubs dictates the height of the frame. I sourced some hubs that were designed for a buggy with no front supension, so I had to make my own king pin assembleys. I had to reduce the length of the front hubs to fit inside the wheel.
Then I had to design my own kingpin assemblies.
The plans use rose joints top and bottom for the articulation, but I decided against this as I couldn't find any with enough movement. In the end I used some male and female clevis ends, and by a lucky coincidence, they are a perfect size to fit inside the 25mm box section the makes up the wishbones.
In this pic, the threaded end I am holding will interface with the end of the wishbone.
Thats all for now, next job is too make the wishbones and mount them to the front suspension block. I'll keep you posted.
