In reply to P3PPY :
We used a snowblower shift mechanism in the electric-start 5 speed kart we built. We also came close to making a winter kart with the tracks instead of wheels. Some snowblowers have track setups that look like they'd work pretty well.
You could always to what I did when I was 12 to win riding lawnmower races. I tied a string to the governor and pulled it to open the governor if I was losing. Instant speed. My brother could not figure out what I was doing because I took the string off after the race.
Carl, thank you for posting this article! My son has wanted a power wheels/go kart/ whatever for years. I had a front engine rider but wanted to find another option and stumbled across your article and thought this is perfect for us. He's always wondered how things are built with more of an engineering frame of mind. After dealing with nonsense on FB marketplace, I lucked out after sharing this article, found a guy who donated a R92 this weekend and we started taking it apart. I have looked at your article hundreds of times but was wondering if you have any other photos on how you built them that you would be willing to pass along? Below is where we are at now. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!
Unfortunately progress has been slow but getting there. Mocked up the steering and will reinforce the column because the sheet metal is too flimsy. The front end was rusted and locked up so that took awhile and was fun to get to work again. It's been fun working with my son on it.
Been figuring things out and trying to follow the few photos of Carl'sI see online.
TallGuyJoe said:Carl, thank you for posting this article! My son has wanted a power wheels/go kart/ whatever for years. I had a front engine rider but wanted to find another option and stumbled across your article and thought this is perfect for us. He's always wondered how things are built with more of an engineering frame of mind. After dealing with nonsense on FB marketplace, I lucked out after sharing this article, found a guy who donated a R92 this weekend and we started taking it apart. I have looked at your article hundreds of times but was wondering if you have any other photos on how you built them that you would be willing to pass along? Below is where we are at now. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!
Let me know what photos you'd like and I'll see if I have them. We still have the karts so I can take new photos if needed.
In reply to Carl Heideman :
Awesome! I think I saw you post on another thread that your son fixed some things that broke? I was wondering what broke?
Maybe a few photos of the steering area to see if I am on the right path and a few under on how the linkage is set up? We are going to flip the rear end and set up the brake and throttle in the correct sides.
I just have a small welder so I can't drop the spindles like you did. I had some other ideas on how to drop the front and we drilled new holes to drop the rear end like you did but we might just leave it stock height.
We decided to buy one of those Harbor Freight horizontal shaft engines for this kart to make it easy and simple instead of trying to fix my old Briggs. We will still take the old engines apart to show him how they work. We also have an R72 that I thought about setting up like you did with the vertical shaft mower and peerless transmission but I'm not sure my skill set can figure that one out.
I appreciate your help! I'm new to the forum and am still trying to figure posting etc. I appreciate any other photos you might find helpful.
Thanks!
In reply to TallGuyJoe :
I'll take some new pictures of the details and post them here in the next few days. I'll also look to see if I have any good how-to photos in the archive.
We actually built two of these, one with the complicated 5 speed, and one with a horizontal shaft like yours. Way less work with the horizontal.
Regarding repairs, it was all little stuff like cables and loose parts and flat tires. And sometimes the boys found out quick repairs don't work as well as thorough repairs.
I do recommend you lower the ride height. Even with ours lowered, they'd get a little tippy as the track width is pretty narrow. We even ended up putting sway bars on the front axle as it pivots (no spring) and was causing the inner drive wheel to pick up on turns in addition to being tippy. The boys learned about weight transfer and other vehicle dynamics principles as a result of all of that.
Regarding the spindles, if you send them to Eclectic Motorworks, I'll weld them up and send them back to you.
Here is a photodump from my archives of some of the details of the kart we built with the horizontal shaft engine and a centrifugal clutch.
While I was going through my photo archives, I came across this video of the boys running the karts in the snow in 2009...
I took some more pictures of details earlier today...here's another photo dump.
I think the U-joint was from from McMaster Car. I know the bearing came from McMaster Carr.
This is the stock John Deere rack and pinion setup. I made one tie rod adjustable so that we could get some toe out for better turn in.
Sway bar previously mentioned.
And for the advanced 5 speed kart, a few more details:
We wanted a three pedal setup, but we couldn't package it, so the left is combined clutch/brake. Half way down in clutch only, all the way is brake and clutch. Yes, it was a bit of fussing to get it to work and stay adjusted!
This shows the other end of the brake and clutch rods, plus the jack shaft/double belt setup it took to make this all work and fit. Lots of head scratching led to this. Jack used to ride it almost every night for 20-30 minutes. I figured he put around 500 miles on it over the course of several years.
This shifter came from a snowblower.
And this is how it connected to the gearbox. You can see the cable sheeths are near the ends of their lives.
Might as well show the first one we ever built, made out of wood.
I don't know if it's PC anymore, but Jack liked the Dukes of Hazzard...
We used a crash starter motor out of an early MGB with the bendix removed to power it. It would run about 10 minutes on a charge with a group 26 car battery.
It was one wheel drive with scrub brakes.
Steering and brake details.
Carl these are awesome! Thank you so much! As an 80's kid, I love the Dukes! Never got a '69 Charger like I dreamed of but that's life ha.
My son was wondering if we could drive them in the snow and now I can show him your video!
I really appreciate your willingness to help me with information. I will take you up on that offer and send the spindles up to you. I like keeping the stock steering system and have it mocked up in photos below. Seems that I am on a similar track as you.
I like the idea of using the transmission and I am holding on to them in case we decide to try it on the second kart that we have. I've fooled around with mowers for years but a lot of this is has been a learning experience for me too and a lot of fun.
I'm still new to the forum but I think I should eventually start a separate thread so I don't keep hijacking yours ha.
TallGuyJoe sent his spindles to Eclectic, so I dropped them as I offered. I thought I'd put the dimensions down for future reference.
I used 2x3x1/2" bar stock for the dropped part and drilled 3/4" holes for the new spindle, which is made of 3/4" mild steel bar cut to 4" long. 3-1/2" sticks out and I weld the back side. The washers are welded 3" from the end to keep the wheel in the right spot. The original spindles had a groove for a snap ring, but I just drill a hole for a split pin.
This is a view of the finished spindle with the old part cut off.
It's about a 5" drop, plus I weld them on for a slight negative camber instead of the positive camber as stock.
Oh what timing on the update! My L120's 20hp B&S engine gets so much oil in the cylinder that it takes forever to start now and smells like a 2 cycle. I melted a battery terminal the other day from trying so long to get it started.
As such, I've asked my BIL about picking up a rider he inherited AND may just cut down the JD to make it easier for the kids to drive.
Question though about the starter motor as propulsion -- obviously that pulls a lot from the battery and gets hot, what have you done to make that not a problem in that cart?
Love that, nearly 15 years later, Carl’s (awesome) idea is still going strong.
P3PPY said:Oh what timing on the update! My L120's 20hp B&S engine gets so much oil in the cylinder that it takes forever to start now and smells like a 2 cycle. I melted a battery terminal the other day from trying so long to get it started.
As such, I've asked my BIL about picking up a rider he inherited AND may just cut down the JD to make it easier for the kids to drive.
Question though about the starter motor as propulsion -- obviously that pulls a lot from the battery and gets hot, what have you done to make that not a problem in that cart?
We ran that kart using a group 26 12V battery and it would run about ten minutes before needing to be recharged. The starter would get warm but not hot. Early on, the battery cables would get pretty hot and once the negative one actually started smoking. We went to heavier cables and it was no longer an issue.
I have a friend who had some mass produced kiddie cars from the 1930s-1950s and many of those used starter motors. Those would have likely been 6V units, but they must have worked okay back in the day.
David S. Wallens said:Love that, nearly 15 years later, Carl’s (awesome) idea is still going strong.
Exactly what I came here to say. As always, I love to see the pictures of everyone's creations.
Sorry it's been going slower than we wanted. Soccer season has been taking up free time on the weekends but we have made some progress.
We mocked up the layout to see how it will fit so the photos show things just sitting there and not finalized yet. He said wait a minute and ran to get the helmet his cousin used when he raced karts a few years ago. He's excited!
Not a 100% sold yet but I think we are going to try the transmission setup for the R72 so that we have 2 options like Carl did.
Dude! That thing looks GOOOD!
Carl Heideman said:P3PPY said:Oh what timing on the update! My L120's 20hp B&S engine gets so much oil in the cylinder that it takes forever to start now and smells like a 2 cycle. I melted a battery terminal the other day from trying so long to get it started.
As such, I've asked my BIL about picking up a rider he inherited AND may just cut down the JD to make it easier for the kids to drive.
Question though about the starter motor as propulsion -- obviously that pulls a lot from the battery and gets hot, what have you done to make that not a problem in that cart?
We ran that kart using a group 26 12V battery and it would run about ten minutes before needing to be recharged. The starter would get warm but not hot. Early on, the battery cables would get pretty hot and once the negative one actually started smoking. We went to heavier cables and it was no longer an issue.
I have a friend who had some mass produced kiddie cars from the 1930s-1950s and many of those used starter motors. Those would have likely been 6V units, but they must have worked okay back in the day.
Then they likely used the generators and not the starters- engine starters CAN do the work, but they aren't built for continuous use, and the generators were oil-bathed.
BUT THIS IS GRM. To make a starter do that, you'll have to pop the stator out to have an empty casing, and drill holes into the casing for an air inlet and output that run the length of the wiring coils and stator. Instead of doing anything like attaching a fan to the stator itself, I'd advise that you scour junkyards for 12 volt server fans and wire them to your on switch- they're loud, but they can move some SERIOUS air and are built for heavy and continuous use. Duct them through, and that should at least buy you several more minutes of use.
If that doesn't work... the classic brushed motors from forklifts, especially the hydraulic pumps, would be my bet. They're built for heavy continuous use, a little kart would be nothing (but could also be too much power!).
@TallGuyJoe that thing rocks!
So we are still working on the karts. Sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head. I just don't know as much as a lot of you guys on here so it's been trial and error. It's been a real busy summer with a short attention span kid so it's been moving real slow ha! I guess it’s like working on a hot rod for years! Having issues posting photos, probably stupid Iphone photos but here are a couple. Hopefully we will get done before he gets his license ha!
They way we had the steering set up on the 92 was a bit flimsy so we cut some metal, bent a tab and came up with this setup for the 72. It's bolted to the c-channel at the bottom too and all locked in and not wobbly so we will do it on the 92 as well.
Drawing the line for the cut so the wheel can turn freely.
Drilling some holes!
Mock-up of the engine that came from a power washer. Also mocked up the transmission location. Still trying to figure out the linkage underneath. We were going good with the brake set up but had to move the transmission back so we need to redesign that.
Still working on the steering for the 92. Steering for the 72 is done. The goal is the 92 will use horizontal shaft with clutch, the 92 will use the transmission setup, which is a big challenge ha! I bought one of those harbor freight welders, I've never welded before, so I'm learning on the fly with the pieces of metal trying to patch the holes, they are just spot welded in so far. It's a mess. Probably need to reinforce the underside more with a bar across.
This was the brake set up before we set the transmission. It might still work but we have to see since the brake mounts will need to be relocated. Used parts from another donor mower I had for the shaft and linkage.
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