BD HD spindles/ball joints and tire upgrade... Questions

[TNBuggy]

I am attempting to install the buggy depot heavy duty spindles and ball joints + the 20x7x8 Front Tire Upgrade Kit for Yerf Dog GX150. I have the even (3rd Gen) A-Arms. A few questions... The new spindles and ball joints seemed to go on fine, but I did not use the 3 washers (2 large silver and 1 smaller gold) that came with each ball joint... is this ok? If I used the washers, there was hardly any bolt left for the nut to screw on, and the old original ball joints had no washers. Any thoughts? Now for my problem with the wheels: The new spindles came with no spacers... so I guess I will just use the old ones that are about an inch long. This will give the tires enough clearance, but man, the spindle sticks out a mile on the outside of the wheel... is this normal? I am a total novice at this, but loving it. Also... what's the purpose of the little set-screw looking thing on the inner edge of the wheel? I had to unscrew it put the wheel hub on and then screw it back... but it doesn't appear to have a purpose. I know there is something I am missing in all this... hoping someone can fill in the gaps for me. Thanks! See photos....

[xlint89]

Hello TN.

From looking at your 2nd pic it looks like you have the reinforced A arms. Not the thin tabs that were stock. The small washer was to fill in the void of the old ball joint, while the larger washers were to "sandwich" the tab together . I hope this makes sense.

Can you post a pic of your A arms? And how were your old ball joints mounted? Stock used a snap ring.

The set screw looking piece (also known as a zerk fitting) on your wheel is a grease fitting. That's how you'll grease your bearings. You'll need a grease gun to do so.

You can always use a longer spacer or add washers to your existing one if you want to eliminate some of the spindle sticking out. And you can always cut the excess off if you wish too.

[TNBuggy]

Hey, thanks for the reply. I added a pic of the new ball joints I just installed. I will try and add a pic of the old ones. I still have not taken off them off from the other side. I was also thinking that I might have the reinforced a arms because the washers that came with the new ball joints just left me no room for the nuts, so I just left off the washers like the old ones which had no washers. Seems to be nice and snug. Does it look like I have them on correctly?

[ckau]

The 3 washers are used with the original a-arms to center the new joints in the tabs. you have the upgraded version a-arms so the washers are not needed.
you do need to use the original spacers to keep the tire from rubbing on the tie rod joint.
the spindles are long to accomodate a variety of wheel/hub widths. You can cut some length off if you find them objectionable.
that set screw thingy is a Zerk fitting. A one way valve a grease gun plugs to in order to pump grease into the hub bearings.

[TNBuggy]

Thanks! So are th wheel bearings per-greased or is that something I need to do right off the bat?

[xlint89]

They should be pre-greased. You can give them a squirt of grease if you want to be sure though. You have the spindles mounted correctly.

Did you mount the ball joints with the "tick" or slight indent facing forward as the directions suggest?

[TNBuggy]

I attempted to mount them with what I thought was the dent facing forward... wasn't sure I knew what the they were referring to... I will check and see if I got it right tomorrow... I got it all installed and tested it all out with a drive... Worked great. I noticed one tire/wheel rotated a little wobbly like its not a true round... is that uncommon?

[TNBuggy]

Also, now that I have upgraded the front joints, spindles and tires... will my rear axle suffer? I was reading posts about this possibility. I would also like to upgrade the rear tires (mostly for looks)... any recommendations for a quick and easy upgrade? Can I mount certain atv wheels and tires directly on the stock rear? What are opinions on the ideal rear tire size I should upgrade to that won't negatively affect power and performance of the engine/axle stock set up? Looking for advice. Thanks.

[xlint89]

Is the rim wobbling too, or just the tire? A lot of these tires are made in Taiwan and may have slight defects to them.

If it's just the tire wobbling a bit, I would think you should be OK. If your rim is wobbling I might be a little more concerned.

The stock rear axles are known to have problems when you start to upgrade and abuse the kart more.

Some like me have tried reinforcing the axle. And some like me, have bought the Heavy Duty axle.

My stock axle did not fail, I just wanted the HD one for extra strength while keeping the stock one as back up.

Personally, I was very disappointed with the HD axle. Considering how much it costs, the lack of quality controls, and the lack of customer support from that company, I decided I would never do business with them again.

Post #134 explains the axle issue.

http://buggymasters.com/forum/showth...?t=2601&page=2

I have read some guys have broke the HD axle as well. But you have to remember that some people abuse their karts more than others.

Others have found a way to use different axles. Ckau has a thread on here explaining on how to use an aftermarket one. And I've read another guy I think is using a Carter axle? So you have more options than just the one, but you're going to have to modify some stuff to make them work. Although if you read my link, you'll see I had to modify my "bolt on" kit as well.....

Most of us run with a 22" rear tire. It may hinder take off a little bit, but it also gains some top speed and ground clearance. You can get them for an 8" rim like the stock ones, so all you have to do is buy the tires and have them installed on your rims. Or you can try to find a wheel and tire combo. The bolt pattern for the back of the Yerf is a 4 X 110 if you look for new rims. There are some ATV's that use this pattern so you might get lucky and find something that matches.

A word of caution: If you go with a wider rear tire, you get pretty close to rubbing on the rear swing arm. What I and others have done is use wheel spacers to gain more clearance and give the kart a wider and more stable feel (harder to tip over). BUT, the more you spread your tires out, the more stress you're putting on the rear axle which can lead to failure.

Here is a pic of my 22 X 10 X 8's (Height X width X rim size) on the yerf with no spacers in the last pic of post #8

And here's a pic of the tires with the 3" (1 1/2" on each side) spacers added in post #27

Also in post # 27 you can see the reinforcing mod I did to my stock axle by adding that pipe to the wheel hubs.

http://buggymasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2601

[xlint89]

And if you haven't done so yet, the best mod to the Spiderbox is better shocks.

If you can get a set of actual shocks, not just springs like the stock units, it makes the ride that much better.

[TNBuggy]

Thanks xlint89 for taking the time to respond in such detail... I am so new at this. I will need to take a closer look at the wobble issue to see what the deal is. Thinking about rear tires and axle, I think my best bet is going to be getting some 22s that are no wider than the stock tires and just keep the stock axle for now... my kids mostly ride it, and although we have trails, they don't abuse it at all... plus I have the engine running so good right now, I don't want to change things up too much and break something I can't easily fix myself. I changed out the engine oil, gear oil, new spark plug and new high out-put ignition coil and man, that made a huge difference... starts right up, idles smooth. My main reason for upgrading the rear tires are for looks to be honest... the new knobby front tires sort of make the rear turfs look kinda wimpy. Thanks again for all the help! Here's a pic of my daughter and her friend about to test out the new stuff. (after I took the first test drive).

[TNBuggy]

Oh, a couple more questions for you... on the shocks, which should I replace first... front or rear... which will give me the most noticeable difference in ride quality? Are there any that will bolt right on as an upgrade, without having to do any mods to make them fit? Anyone have a good experience with a certain pair? Also, back to the HD ball joints I installed... should I go back and make sure the slight indent is facing forward? How important is that? I had a hard time seeing it. It looked to me that there were 2 indents on each joint... on opposite sides of the gold colored metal piece in the middle.