Vertical shaft motor driven kart

[redsox985]

Before the community here rips me to bits with your knowledge of the english language i want to say that this is just a proposed idea. As i was looking at my snowblower in my shed i noticed a piece coming from the drive shaft that turns 90 degrees. It takes the horizontal shaft coming straight at you and turns it so that it can drive the auger. I dont know how much load these things can take but i'd assume that if one was harvested from a big enough blower it could be welded to the vertical shaft of the motor and mounted so that it is parallel to the axle and a centrifugal clutch attached. has this ever been proposed or thought about? your knowledge would be great.
TY

 

[redsox985]

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz130/redsox985/diagzu7.jpg?t=1277156135

This is what im talking about does anyone know its name? is it just a RAGB?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

It is a RAGB.
I have a similar device, also from a snowblower. I've looked it over and it's certainly stout enough for the job. The ratio is 1.2:1, so it's certainly useable. Whether yours is up to the task, you'll have to make an educated guess. You'll have to adapt it to your use, too. Mine is a fairly large, heavy unit, so it'd have to be well worth it for the extra weight and engineering. If you laid hands on a killer vertical twin, go for it. Push mower engine? Make other plans...

EDIT- You wouldn't weld it on. Buy/fab an appropriate coupler.

 

[redsox985]

So how many hp would you recommend as a minimum for a RAGB like that? And how large of a snowblower was yours from?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Mine came from a snowblower attachment for a garden tractor. Somewhere in the 15-16 hp range, not sure because someone swapped in an 18hp Vanguard... The gearbox is cast Iron with steel gears. I have no fear about feeding it horsepower, although I'm not sure if I'm going to use it, I'm still figuring out my driveline. If I decide to mount my engine sideways, I'll use it. My engine's rated for 22hp.
Again, a lot of things will depend on the size/quality of whatever unit you find.

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

I wouldnt bother with a vert engine under 12hp. just not worth the trouble IMO. Unless its a sweet two stroke, but then you wont need the RAGB anyways.

 

[Brockkart]

I'm new here and new to go karts, but familiar with lawnmowers, and i have a gearbox off of a garden tractor snowblower like your talking about and it is a good setup, but its not that much lighter than a lawnmower transmission. So in my opinion if your going to use a lawnmower engine than use a rearend and get reverse on the deal too. I know alot of people say they wont hold up but i made a couple mowers that went 40-45mph and have a monster mower that puts alot of weight on the transmission. To make it easier on the tranny tho imo I would hook it up to the engine like it should, but not use it as the axle for the kart, and mount pulleys or sprockets on each axle on the tranny and run them back to a regular go kart axle that your wheels be on. That way you can change your ratio from tranny to axle without working the tranny over its stock ratings. Hope this makes sense and sorry for the long post.
By the way AMAZING SITE HERE GUYS!!!!

 

[Bluethunder3320]

welcome Brockkart, glad youre enthusiastic about the forums

some people take the reverse out of riding mower trannys i heard because when the chain breaks you can wreck the whole thing.

sounds like you need bevel gears. i dont know if a snowblower gearbox will be strong enough, maybe belt drive will help go easy on the gears.

 

[redsox985]

Thank you for the enthusiasm and input. This thread is decently old and I have since solved the issue by picking up a HF 6.5hp motor.

 

[dave1701]

You could use it but its alot easyer to go and find a cheap Horizontal one

 

[r97]

my blower has one of those, its small, light weight, sturdy, and a 6to1 worm gear, so it would be perfect, but if i get my hands on that blower ill go right past the ragb and strait to the 7hp horizontal flat head!

 

[devino246]

Brockkart, first, dont resurrect threads older than a month. Second, what type/brand of mower trans was this? If I remember correctly, Kap'n said in a thread a while back that there were a few Peerless models that could hold up to the abuse.

 

[Brockkart]

Sorry bout resurectin the thread and i use peerless trannys usually, i usually leave the reverse in it and beat the heck out of em and they held up so far, but i have heard the same things so idk. I am going to try to do this setup when i get back from boot camp and make a 4wheel drive setup maybe using an automatic rearend from a lawnboy. I think that it will hold up bc i will keep the tranny at stock speeds but set my wheel speed from the sprockets on the axle itself. so essentially the axle will turn at lets say 25rpms and after i put the 2:1 gear setup to the drive axle it will turn at 50rpms, does this make sense?