This was an ok machine. Nothing special, not on the do not buy list either. I was kinda surprised that even though it only had shocks on the front and none on the rear, it rode decent. Top end was about 28mph. Steering was just ok. Overall a decent machine. Not going to keep up with any of our mini buggies but not really designed to. If you are on a low budget, these are something worth looking at. Uses a standard TAV30 torque converter.
Like all of the other YerfDog go karts (other than the Spiderbox) that we have had, the weakness was in the Tecumseh Engine and the mounting system for it. The Tecumseh carb itself is a decent design as long as you keep it running on a regular basis but if you let it sit at all, the idle circuit ports are very small and clog easy. Cleaning those ports is very difficult and sometimes (most of the time actually) impossible requiring a new carb. The carbs used on most of these are the type that have the primer bulb instead of an actual choke. These are the problem carbs. Later carbs were drastically improved with an actual choke and you can replace the older ones with the newer ones. However, those newer ones come with a main jet designed for a 5hp engine. If yours is a 6.5, you need to buy that jet as well. The whole package is about $85 but works excellent.
Regarding the mounting system, if you need to replace the engine with the commong 6.5hp clone, plan on having to mod the mounting system slots. It can be done (I've done it) but it's a fair amount of effort to do it.
Pros: Decent machine and should be able to be had for cheap (less than $500 in perfect running form. Any more than that is too much).
Cons: Only has shocks on front. Engine mounting proprietary to Tec engines.
BuggyMasters Overall Rating: 5 out of 10
Don't look to win any races with it but you can take it off road too.
09-20-2009, 04:28 PM
BuggyMasters Review: Yerf Dog 30032 Go Kart
