Quick Build

[roysheepdog]

Someone gave me an old go kart with a 3hp that was full of water.So to make a long story short momma wanted a buggy so time to make the go kart a little better.It was a one wheel peel and that wont work,the 3hp is well....a 3hp so.
Im waiting on parts for another buggy thats is getting a make over and Im only useing the frame so I have wheels,aarms,rack and a swing arm with a 150.
Sat. went to the steel suppler and got some 1'' tub with 1/16 wall and I had some 1'' with a 1/8 wall.
This is what I have so far.

[x-bird]

the black is the old frame then? Quick work!

[roysheepdog]

Yes most of the black is from the other buggy.

[roysheepdog]

This is a tuff crowd!

[SoapKart]

It's looking good.

[roysheepdog]

Thanks soapkart!
I think it will sit on its own wheels and shocks tonight.Off to get some bolts and nuts now.

[SoapKart]

You're moving right along. Be sure to post more pics.

[roysheepdog]

Its a roller!Ive got the rack on,it to long for the set up but the buggy only has 5'' of travel in the front so bump steer will not be to big of a deal.I set the wheels up with 3 deg. of negative camber, the frame has 8 deg.of rake and the spindles are set at 9 deg.caster.
With it set up this way if its turning to full lock,the inside tire the inside goes to 2 deg of positive camber and the outside goes to 8 deg. of negative camber.This makes the tires lean into a turn like a motorcycle,and it has much better traction in turns.If a front end has no camber change in a turn the front wheels have a tendency to lean to the out side,this makes the front end push or under steer.The camber change can also be built into the aarms by making the top aarm shorter than the bottom,and or by the spindel longer than the mounting points on the frame or the other way around.
The scrub radius is zero on this buggy,the spindle mounting points are uneven(leaned in at the top).If you were to draw a line from top to bottom of the mounts it would point to the center of the tire.So when the wheel turns from one side to the other the tire pivots in one spot on the ground.This is good because when the wheel hits a big bump it does not jerk the steering wheel the wheel just goes over with out much feel in the steering wheel.
With a big scrub radius the wheel will turn around the king pin or spindle instead of pivoting in one spot on the ground.This will give more jerking in the steering wheel when hitting big bumps.
Ill get some pics. up tomorrow.

[T3beatz]

Nice looking buggy, I wish I had the time and money to build my own...
and the shop, with the tools in it,
and a supporting girlfriend,
and my son was off to school,
did I mention money?

[roysheepdog]

I wish I had the money also.Im calling this a quick build because I had all the parts,building the frame is the fast and easy part.

[roysheepdog]

Did not work on it the last three days but here are some pics.

[T3beatz]

Looks pretty good, that's a different design on the A-arms, never seen it before.

[x-bird]

I'm liking that you're taking a good run at a well thought out single arm design. where i ran into issues that made me abandon it was the steering location. if the tie-rods are on too much of different angle than the arms, they began to really alter the toe during travel. under compression, the tie rods (rear mounted) would "lengthen" out, toeing in the tires 10-15 degrees.

[roysheepdog]

Thanks on the aarms.The spindles are form a carter 150 that I cut shorter and the aarms are off the other buggy that were duel aarms.The toe during travel problem is because the ti rod would be to long,this is how this is set up also.But this thing will only have 5'' of travel so it wont be to big of a deal.The shocks are very stiff,stock carter stuff.

[x-bird]

Originally Posted by roysheepdog

Thanks on the aarms.The spindles are form a carter 150 that I cut shorter and the aarms are off the other buggy that were duel aarms.The toe during travel problem is because the ti rod would be to long,this is how this is set up also.But this thing will only have 5'' of travel so it wont be to big of a deal.The shocks are very stiff,stock carter stuff.

i saw that you called it "mama's" buggy, so i figured you were building for a little less severe use. with a limited travel range and stiff shocks you shouldn't have too much of an issue with the toe changes if you set the rack height to the "center" of the travel range, it shouldn't be anything to worry about. once i started getting a lot of travel out of my front end, it got to be hairy handling-wise-- i never knew which direction it was going to dart off when it rebounded. Just make sure the steering has as little slop in it as possible. my homemade U-joints wore out quickly and once that happened i had to start over with a new design.

[roysheepdog]

How did you make the u-joints?I needed one for the steering and used a socket swivel.lol

[x-bird]

that's exactly what i did (1/2 inch) and even with the best quality one i had in my toolbox it still got too sloppy. i had around 1/3rd to 1/2 of a turn of the steering wheel with no steering response--it degraded to that level within 15 minutes to 1/2 hour of riding time ... add that to the toe issue and you can begin to understand why I decided to tear my front end down and do it all over. desert karts has some affordable universals, you could also get one of the yerf double-jointed ones which allow you to offset the column. (thats what i ended up with)

[metalstudman1]

Just for an alternative idea- I used a steering universal out of a junked jeep (newer type) and it worked perfect with very little modification to get it to fit on the shaft-$5. @ Pull-Apart.

[roysheepdog]

Well see how long it last.I looked at after x-birds post and it has a roll pin holding it together,so I dont know.It was a good idea until x-bird made me think about it.

MSN1 I live to far from a junk yard and with gas $$$$ so high,Ill have to see what a weld on cost I think they are cheep,but havent looked in a wile.

[x-bird]

the play in those universals isn't too noticeable until you have it all together. the one i used had the hardened countersunk allen bolt and seemed to have no play at all. the hole in the universal's center block is where the play mostly comes from. after a couple loadings from going around some turns it really opens up.

One of these lets you change up the steering column and or rack height or angle if necessary.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Steering...item3372a13d10