Motorcycles, Snowmobiles, Go-Carts, ATV's and Golf Carts - wooden go kart
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Scavenger23
08-25-05, 07:02 PM
Well, I am planning on making a go-kart. I want to make it electric, gas is too loud. Anyway, I don't know how to weld and even if I did, I don't have the money to buy a welding torch, so I am going to try to make it out of wood.I want to have some sort of suspension, there's a lot of bumps in the road around here. Does anyone have suggestions about making it?
Pilot Dane
08-27-05, 05:41 PM
A wood frame will likely flex quite a bit providing some natural suspension. Many racing karts do not have a suspension proper, but rely on the flex in the frame to soak up the bumps and follow the contours of the road.
sporty982000
08-27-05, 09:52 PM
well, here are some idea's that you may have or not thought about -
1- some of the older murry riding mower's, early 80"s had springs under the seat. You could mount them on the seat of the go-kart, or maybe use them as some type of suspension. I think they our 3 inch's round and about 4 inches tall. Pretty stiff springs, not to flexy.
2- some very hard rubber dampers might also work, like the hard rubber used for week springs in cars. or something like that in nature. or solid rubber bushings,
3- You mentioned electric, but didn't say what you were using, but I thought Id throw in some thoughts on that - electric scooter motor or golf kart motor would work. Not I dont know what type of batteries you are going to use. volt and amps per hour.
However, you can find golf cart motors and scooter motors on e-bay. And ups batteries fairly cheap, 12 volt 22ah per hour for $18.00.
I have 4 power wheels and I use ups RBC4, 12volt 12ah batteries. beats the stock, slightly faster and last longer and for $11.00 you cant go wrong. BTW, these batteries are also use on some electric scooters. I add a 30 amp fuse tho, cuz they motors will draw and much amp as they can get.
What are you gonna use for gearing ? you will likely not have enough torq without some time of gearing. on a flat smooth surface all the time you would be okay, but in the yard and small hills/bumps may not work without it or bog down really bad.
sporty
1- some of the older murry riding mower's, early 80"s had springs under the seat. You could mount them on the seat of the go-kart, or maybe use them as some type of suspension. I think they our 3 inch's round and about 4 inches tall. Pretty stiff springs, not to flexy.
2- some very hard rubber dampers might also work, like the hard rubber used for week springs in cars. or something like that in nature. or solid rubber bushings,
3- You mentioned electric, but didn't say what you were using, but I thought Id throw in some thoughts on that - electric scooter motor or golf kart motor would work. Not I dont know what type of batteries you are going to use. volt and amps per hour.
However, you can find golf cart motors and scooter motors on e-bay. And ups batteries fairly cheap, 12 volt 22ah per hour for $18.00.
I have 4 power wheels and I use ups RBC4, 12volt 12ah batteries. beats the stock, slightly faster and last longer and for $11.00 you cant go wrong. BTW, these batteries are also use on some electric scooters. I add a 30 amp fuse tho, cuz they motors will draw and much amp as they can get.
What are you gonna use for gearing ? you will likely not have enough torq without some time of gearing. on a flat smooth surface all the time you would be okay, but in the yard and small hills/bumps may not work without it or bog down really bad.
sporty
Scavenger23
08-29-05, 03:38 PM
Ok, thatnks for the suggestions. I decided to learn to weld and make it out of metal. Something like desertkarts.com (http://desertkarts.com). I'm not sure about the motor, I'll work on that when I need to. :)