Off Road Go Kart

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:05 am

Well..

The snow is gone and I had the urge to tinker on something. Then it hit me. I should build an off road go-kart for the cottage. All the neighbors have ATV and Gators and since I can?t afford either then this would be a good substitute. I had given some thought to building a mini bike from the kits at MFGSupply but decided on the Kart as my youngest son could ride with me and bond on an internal combustion level.

I don?t know what the interest level would be for such a thing but I?m rather proud of myself as I actually finished a project and it turned out better then I had planned.

My dad had given me a light duty Arch Welding box a few years ago and what a great way to break it in. Now the last time I welded was highschool and I figured it?s like riding a bike. Wrong.. My welds got better with time but even at the end I don?t think my beads where as good as I remember making 20 years ago.

The engine I used is an 8HP Honda clone with an electric start that I found on Ebay. I picked it up for about $170.00 US plus 40 to ship. The vendor was in Canada so for a change I didn?t get greased on duty and import fees.

Most of the fittings and parts I bought from either MFG Supply or Northern Tools. If you are a Canadian like myself make sure when ordering parts that they ship via the US postal service. This is because in most cases US vendors like to use UPS who charge a minium $45.00 brokerage fee to ship to Canada. US postal service charges nothing. I?ve had a few $20.00 orders arrive with a COD charge from UPS tripling the order cost. Total costs on fittings I figure was about $350.00

The frame plan was purchased on line from http://www.gokartplans.com/plans/offroad/index.htm . I used the basic layout of the Viper Off Road model and changed as needed for my setup.. Total costs was about $60.00

All the metal work I purchased from a local scrap yard. The basic frame was old Sasco strutt which I doubled up for strength. It?s a basic U shape so when welded together it gave me a nice rectangular tube to work with. I cheated with the round tubing as for most part I should have been using pipe, bent to shape. As I could not find or get access to a bender I purchased EMT conduit in straight lengths as well as 90 degree elbows and cut and welded to size. The EMT is light so welding was a challenge as burn through was always an issue. EMT is thinned walled so I only used it where it was utilized as a guard as it has very little structural strength. The front axle assembly is heavy gauge square tubing

I couldn?t decide on a basic clutch or to go with a Comet Torque Converter. In the end I spent the extra and went with the Comet. It was money well spent as the performance hit made the cost all the worth while. The only problem was it ended up being mounted upside down as it was the only way to attach to the Honda clone . The mounting plate needed to be modified a tad. Cost of the converter was about $210.00 with exchange rates and shipping.

I decided on a one piece rear live axle as I wanted the extra traction to tow a small utility trailer and , as it will be used on dirt roads and fields there will be enough rear wheel slip to be able to steer without issue.

Brakes are a straight forward disk setup attached to the rear axile. I also attached a 48 tooth drive sprocket to the axile with a C40 chain to the torque converter which has a 10 toothed drive. This setup allows almost to much speed as the kart tops out at about 32 MPH . So I plan on gearing down (or is it up) to a 60 tooth sprocket on the rear as it will give me more pulling power and slow the old girl down a tad.

I will apologize in advance for the pictures. I had planned on taking some nice shots to document the build process but never remembered to take any when the time came. In the end my wife took most of them and they do not reflect for the most part the important guy things we all like to see in these projects.

In the end the Kart handles very nicely but I goofed on a few points. With the torque converter being installed upside down the engine needed to be moved further to the rear then I liked with most of it?s weight past the axle itself. This means I don?t have as much weight on the front tires as I?d like. I should have also installed the same sized tires on the front as I had on the rear. New tires and rims on order to resolve this issue.

The other problem I ran into involved the front spindles. The plans called for a 10 degree toe out angle which I did by cutting the front assembly to the desired angle. What I didn?t know was the spindle assembly already had the desired angle so when I welded it all together I ended up with 20 degrees. You can see this goof in one of the first pictures. It took a few hours to resolve.

So what?s next ???

Time to pull the engine from my JD 300 as I finally have enough parts to rebuild. But I?m sure that will be a story for another time...

Cheers

Mike

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:07 am

Way to much toe out...

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:08 am

Basic Frame Finished

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:09 am

Ready for the Cottage

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:10 am

Another Angle

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:13 am

The fun part

Maj_hazard · Post by **Maj_hazard** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:14 am

And away we go

Deere Daze · Post by **Deere Daze** » Thu May 17, 2007 2:04 pm

Mike, great job on the cart ! Im sure this will be one thing your kids will remember as they grow older and will want to do the same thing with their kids.

The S Man · Post by **The S Man** » Mon May 21, 2007 12:24 am

Nice Job Mike,
Your children will never forget this, I have some fond memories of my dad and I doing the very same thing!

Ron

jrbsnow · Post by **jrbsnow** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:12 pm

Nice job, I like it!