yerf dog 3203 help....

[jrolsen521]

hi everyone, got a 3203 on a trade. Has a briggs 16hp vtwin on it. i havent dealt with go karts since i was a kid but this thing is awesome. anyone got leads on suspension up grades to handle desert roads better. thanks in advance

 

[Denny]

Pictures would be good!

 

[jrolsen521]

Pictures would be good!

View attachment 138171

 

[BaconBitRacing]

@Sandrion is upgrading a ‘dog, he could help. The very first thing to know is no jumps. These things aren’t SXSs and don’t like that. Sandrion is improving the suspension by adding bearings and things like that. Good luck!

 

[madprofessor]

Thank goodness it has some suspension. Don't know what your desert roads are like, but Baconbit is correct, no (serious) jumps. You've got a motor-bouncing machine on that rear swingarm there, and most motors don't like being jounced around like that. Messes up the gravity gas supply, and the "oil level" isn't exactly "level" under that abuse either. Does the V-twin have an oil pump? Or a fuel pump?
A little extreme difference when looking at a ready-built machine, but I'll attach some pictures of a type of rear swingarm that separates the motor from the suspension via inline hinge points of the swingarm and the final drive chain......... Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the horses are all glad they're not getting jangled up on a standard swingarm setup out in the desert.

 

[BaconBitRacing]

Thank goodness it has some suspension. Don't know what your desert roads are like, but Baconbit is correct, no (serious) jumps. You've got a motor-bouncing machine on that rear swingarm there, and most motors don't like being jounced around like that. Messes up the gravity gas supply, and the "oil level" isn't exactly "level" under that abuse either. Does the V-twin have an oil pump? Or a fuel pump?
A little extreme difference when looking at a ready-built machine, but I'll attach some pictures of a type of rear swingarm that separates the motor from the suspension via inline hinge points of the swingarm and the final drive chain......... Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the horses are all glad they're not getting jangled up on a standard swingarm setup out in the desert.

I’ve always wondered… why such tiny tires? Just for transportation purposes?

 

[Sandrion]

Something to remember on the Yerf-Dogs, they have no bushings. Anywhere. At all.
These things were designed to last for about as long as the child they were bought for would use them. After the kid outgrew or grew out of the machine, it would be pretty much worn out anyway and ready for the scrap yard. They have no provisions for replaceable bushings or wear items. It is all metal on metal on metal. No grease points because there isn't a way to keep the grease in.
I have been adding bushings and washers for the front steering to tighten it up. I used larger bolts in the "shocks" so they are rigidly mounted instead of flopping around on a too small bolt.
The next stage is replacing the stock "shocks" to an actual hydraulic dampening shock instead of the fully mechanical (they are just a tube with a spring, no dampening at all). I also have plans to cut the rear swing arm pivots off and replace with heavy duty grease-able dump truck pin hinge on each side so it doesn't have 10 yards of play, and I also am going to look into relocating the rear shock mount points so it can actually work, as the stock mounting points don't seem to be compressing like they should.
After that I am looking into adding bushings to the front swing arms at the main pivot point, so they don't just rattle around and beat the frame and bolts to death.

Remember that the rear suspension on these carts are tied together. One side cannot pivot independently of the other.
The front suspension uses a single A-Arm for each side, and CAN pivot independently of each other.
This results in a fairly decent ride on the front, and an absolute terrible ride on the back, at least with the stock shocks and swingarm pivot.
I rode mine pretty hard the other weekend and ended up lowering my tire pressure to somewhere in the 2psi range just to get some give in the tires to help the bumps.

I will take some pictures soon and post them up.

 

[BaconBitRacing]

Something to remember on the Yerf-Dogs, they have no bushings. Anywhere. At all.
These things were designed to last for about as long as the child they were bought for would use them. After the kid outgrew or grew out of the machine, it would be pretty much worn out anyway and ready for the scrap yard. They have no provisions for replaceable bushings or wear items. It is all metal on metal on metal. No grease points because there isn't a way to keep the grease in.
I have been adding bushings and washers for the front steering to tighten it up. I used larger bolts in the "shocks" so they are rigidly mounted instead of flopping around on a too small bolt.
The next stage is replacing the stock "shocks" to an actual hydraulic dampening shock instead of the fully mechanical (they are just a tube with a spring, no dampening at all). I also have plans to cut the rear swing arm pivots off and replace with heavy duty grease-able dump truck pin hinge on each side so it doesn't have 10 yards of play, and I also am going to look into relocating the rear shock mount points so it can actually work, as the stock mounting points don't seem to be compressing like they should.
After that I am looking into adding bushings to the front swing arms at the main pivot point, so they don't just rattle around and beat the frame and bolts to death.

Remember that the rear suspension on these carts are tied together. One side cannot pivot independently of the other.
The front suspension uses a single A-Arm for each side, and CAN pivot independently of each other.
This results in a fairly decent ride on the front, and an absolute terrible ride on the back, at least with the stock shocks and swingarm pivot.
I rode mine pretty hard the other weekend and ended up lowering my tire pressure to somewhere in the 2psi range just to get some give in the tires to help the bumps.

I will take some pictures soon and post them up.

This is gonna be about the nicest ‘Dog ever built. Be careful running them tires low, don’t want to lose a bead.

 

[jrolsen521]

Something to remember on the Yerf-Dogs, they have no bushings. Anywhere. At all.
These things were designed to last for about as long as the child they were bought for would use them. After the kid outgrew or grew out of the machine, it would be pretty much worn out anyway and ready for the scrap yard. They have no provisions for replaceable bushings or wear items. It is all metal on metal on metal. No grease points because there isn't a way to keep the grease in.
I have been adding bushings and washers for the front steering to tighten it up. I used larger bolts in the "shocks" so they are rigidly mounted instead of flopping around on a too small bolt.
The next stage is replacing the stock "shocks" to an actual hydraulic dampening shock instead of the fully mechanical (they are just a tube with a spring, no dampening at all). I also have plans to cut the rear swing arm pivots off and replace with heavy duty grease-able dump truck pin hinge on each side so it doesn't have 10 yards of play, and I also am going to look into relocating the rear shock mount points so it can actually work, as the stock mounting points don't seem to be compressing like they should.
After that I am looking into adding bushings to the front swing arms at the main pivot point, so they don't just rattle around and beat the frame and bolts to death.

Remember that the rear suspension on these carts are tied together. One side cannot pivot independently of the other.
The front suspension uses a single A-Arm for each side, and CAN pivot independently of each other.
This results in a fairly decent ride on the front, and an absolute terrible ride on the back, at least with the stock shocks and swingarm pivot.
I rode mine pretty hard the other weekend and ended up lowering my tire pressure to somewhere in the 2psi range just to get some give in the tires to help the bumps.

I will take some pictures soon and post them up.

Appreciate it thank you