Yet another "budget build" Manco kart

[raccoonjoe]

Hiya interwebs!!


This is the rough draft of the build thread i mentioned in my welcome post! With a little one on the way, this will be a long-term, no money kind of project. Without further ado, let us begin!!

I picked up a Fox Vortex rolling chassis, probably overpaid for it, but oh well. Seller said it had a 25 HP with converter on it at one time, until the crash bar came in contact with the motor.

I bought a chassis, with "upgraded" rear axle, 22" rear tires, and flat fronts. lol I also have in my possession a spare garden tractor.....the idea is to mate the two.


Kart is a Fox Vortex, chassis only. Donor is a Ford GT85 garden tractor, with 18HP Kohler Magnum and 2 speed hydrostatic transmission. My plan is to use the hydro tranny as a jackshaft, giving me an additional gear reduction, hi/lo speed, *and* reverse, all in a reasonably user friendly little buggy. If my math is correct, I should be able to get close to 50 mph out of this critter without too much trouble.

 

[itsid]

Nope!

the vertical Kohler is not good for a buggy like yours
and the transaxle is surely NOT an option to make it fit..

keep in mind that mowers are meant to crawl at slow speeds,
and mot transaxles can't even transmit that much of torque either.
50mph and the axle bushings (yes, bushings I bet) will scream at you,
the transaxle will be spitting metal pieces and essentially fling
dark brown'ish stinky goo your way like a bored chimp at the zoo

IMHO: Don't even try; you will be wasting time and money lots thereof,
just to have everything installed and afer a 5min 15mph testride feel confident it worked,
until the week after: when it no longer does (@ around 18mph)
and you start fixing the transaxle five times, maybe ten, beefing it up,
buying a bigger one,
fix that twice, beef that up and "race prep" it
change every other bit as well

And all that because you took the wrong engine to start with.

get the manual, and rebuild everything to spec,
that's guaranteed to work reliably!

you can add a slightly more powerfull engine if you want slightly bigger wheels,
all within reasonable amounts of course.

but the no money part of your initial post makes me think you aren't exactly willing to buy a 500 dollar engine


'sid

 

[raccoonjoe]

Thanks for the input! And while these are valid concerns, I'm not sure they are all applicable here.

I have been patient with this concept..... Ford (New Holland) used a horizontal shaft motor in this tractor. That should help out with some of the issues. (And if the transaxle fails, I could always just switch it to a standard converter system....). I will have to investigate the bushing/bearing issue, though

I'm not sure why you think the transaxle won't hold up? I'm not planning to over-speed it, or do much in the way of "race prep". If I use it to drive the chain to the axle, it shouldn't be over stressed, and shouldn't want to grenade on me. I could be wrong, though, I am married......lol

 

[itsid]

horizontal shaft engine.. NICE!

transaxle: still going to cause a crapton of problems!
NO mower transaxle is actually meant to get anywhere near 50mph,
much less is capable of "on the fly" shifting (non synced gears)
and while you can force a gear change it'll chew the teeth off the cogwheels

If you INSIST on a transaxle, check golf carts (IDK any had a shifting transaxle tbh.. but maybe there is such a thing)

But frankly: if it would work that way, just ask why no manufacturer uses such setup
but instead use TCs paired with F'nR gearboxes and diffs;
-just sayin'-

Anyways, best thing to do is find the make and model of your transaxle
(you usually find a label on it's case helping you with that)
and then check the documentation for it on the manufacturers website.

More often than not you find the limitations rather upsetting for kart -or in your case- buggy use.
(max torque, max input speed, internal ratios etc...)
the last one we saw around was limited to a whopping 8mph speed considering the max input rpms and internal ratio

Yours may be different, but not by much I'd assume considering the things we've seen around

'sid