Spiderbox reconstruction

[Davcruz]

First let me say thanks to the folks that helped me by answering questions and offering advice in my introduction thread.

We picked up this 2005ish Yerfdog Spiderbox GX150 from a guy locally for $165.00. It would only idle and we looked at it in the evening with fading light, but I figured for $165.00 and it runs it was a bargain. My wife had a small go-kart as a kid and she loved it and has wanted our daughter, now 10 to have one of her own. Every time we saw one of the big buggies she would comment on getting one...so we put it on the trailer and brought it home.

The daylight inspection turned up a few "repairs" that left a bit to be desired, I will call it redneck engineering.

The a-arms suffered the typical fate of broken off tabs at some point and had unknown tie rod ends welded in and bolted to the spindles, each one was different from the next and they were all completely worn out. Front shocks where done. Front wheel bearings were shot. Had a carb installed from a 40 year old lawn tractor and was using the gas tank from the same tractor. Rear wheels were from a Dingo which uses a 4 on 4" pattern and had been modified to fit the 4 on 110mm pattern. One rear tire was a 21 and the other was a 22...not good on a live axle.

So I ordered a new carb, stock airbox and gas tank so I could verify the motor was in decent shape. It purred like a sewing machine so I began the process of a rebuild.

Tore the entire thing down to each individual component and did the following:

-A-arms sent to BDX for 1/4" tabs
-BDX HD ball joints
-New front shocks
-New rack and pinion
-BDX HD spindles
-Wheel bearings
-Stock rear rims and tires from BMI
-New master cylinder
-New chain
-Rebuilt the entire wiring harness
-Sand blasted the entire frame, swing arm, front rims down to metal
-Added braces to the front box frame mount
-Welded up the entire front box and added 1/8" washers to the a arm mount holes (welded on of course)
-Welded bracing to the factory battery holder
-Welded some light tabs to the frame
-Shot the entire buggy in the Dupli-Color Paint Shop lacquer system, primer, color and clear (Burnt orange metallic)
-Sprayed bed liner on the floor top and bottom
-Put it all back together with all new grade 8 hardware

So the little project was a bit more than initially expected, but it turned out great and the good news is that our daughter helped and we had a great time doing it and she is addicted to the buggy (so is my wife...).

Upon dis-assembly I did find that the axle had broken on the left side stub at some point and been welded back together. It looks like a fairly good job so I left it for now but I think I may replace the axle sometime soon.

This little machine purrs and runs so well. I left the engine completely stock because it is for a 10 year old and she doesn't need a race or even modified engine right now. Heck, it is probably capable of hitting close to 30 as it sits (my seat of the pants speedometer) so that is more than she needs. With the 20" rear tires it has plenty of torque.

May look into some more forgiving front and rear shocks and a hub conversion for the front with some larger tires.

I am terrible at documenting things, so I don't have a bunch of pictures but here are a couple of as purchased pictures and a couple of as now pictures. I plan to take a few more today. She has really not stopped the thing long enough to take pictures in the last 3 days...

Front view as purchased



Rear



Partially assembled



First drive

[Davcruz]

Oh yes, and here is another question for you guru's. After 3 days of not having reverse I can see how handy it would be ("dad, can you help me push the go-kart out of the woods...").

There has been a Carter Talon 150 for sale locally for sometime, it has reverse but the engine caught fire and is otherwise useless and the buggy has been completely disassembled. I have not looked at it first hand but it appears the front of the engine was damaged but not the rear area.

Would I be able to basically bolt this reverse assembly to the Howhit?

[zman007007]

hi Dav I have a Howhit on my crossfire cart and a Manco on my Helix cart, and some parts will interchange but I dont know about the reverse. My crosfire doesn"t have the reverse but I wish it did. it is a fun cart to ride and very roomy. zman

[zman007007]

While looking for a possible way to put reverse on mine I have been told I would need to have the extended shaft on my motor for the reverse unit to ride on or it would need to be installed.

[zman007007]

nice job on the cart. looks great

[2SlickNick]

Wow cart does look great! Bedliner; awesome!

[2SlickNick]

http://www.**********.com/store/inde...products_id=19
came across this after reading your thread.

[x-bird]

the talon 150 reverse unit should work--as long as its external and a single chain sprocket--it should be both of those. You'll need to use its output shaft as you need the extra length for the reverse assembly. only issue that might arise would be sprocket misalignment, which you can take care of by spacing over the axle sprocket.

[Davcruz]

Originally Posted by 2SlickNick

http://www.**********.com/store/inde...products_id=19
came across this after reading your thread.

Looks like the forum truncated your link, it no worky.

[Davcruz]

Originally Posted by x-bird

the talon 150 reverse unit should work--as long as its external and a single chain sprocket--it should be both of those. You'll need to use its output shaft as you need the extra length for the reverse assembly. only issue that might arise would be sprocket misalignment, which you can take care of by spacing over the axle sprocket.

It appears to be external, not sure about the sprocket...

[2SlickNick]

http://www.**********.com/store/inde...products_id=19
I will try again LOL.
Any ways I came across a reverse for yerf dig by accident after reading your post.
It was at buggy depot . Com

[2SlickNick]

Yep, they sure do truncate it.

[x-bird]

for whatever old, dark, insidious, depraved reasons, )))) that particular forum/store is kind of auto-banned from linking here.

[Davcruz]

I don't think the $300 BDX option is as interesting to me, the ROI just isn't there. If I can use the one one the Carter it would be great, I can get it for much less and I want the wheels and tires on it also.

[Davcruz]

Update on this reverse assembly.

I bought the Carter Talon 150. Rear wheels bolt right on the stock Yerf hubs. I had a machinist buddy make some spacer/adapters to fit the front 4 lug hubs on the Yerf 5/8" spindle. Works out great and added about 3-4" to the track width of the front.

I got the reverse assembly installed yesterday and it works very well. I did use the output shaft from the Talon, all and all it was a fairly simple procedure. I had to space the axle sprocket over to the left about 10 mm. My daughter really likes having reverse and I am also thankful!

Between the wheels/tires and the reverse assembly, the Talon 150 was the best $100 I spent on this Spiderbox so far! Add in the nice shocks I took from the front of the Talon and put on the rear of the Spiderbox and it was a win, win, win!

[x-bird]

Congrats, good to hear it went smoothly ... not always the case ....

if you're not going to hang onto the talon's remains, advertise them on here. Parts are hard to find since the company closed and folks are always looking for things for them.

[Davcruz]

I have already put a thread in the for sale section, no interest yet.

[Davcruz]

Here is a short video I made yesterday of the Spiderbox in it's current state. I will take some pictures and post up soon.

[Davcruz]

Finally posting some pictures of the Spiderbox. My last modification at this point is to get the Talon axle under it, that will require turning down the ends a bit to move the bearings inboard a couple of inches and possibly moving around the sprocket and disc.

[toomanytoys2]

Looks great!! You better be looking for some hay bales to put around those trees. Those kids are going to be power sliding around those trees sooner then you think .

[TheFauxFox]

How's it going? I would absolutely LOVE it if you could post some more pics and maybe a video? I am wondering about my spiderbox, and if I should sell it and take the money and put it towards a new kart (I have some extra cash in the bank ) or I should trick mine out like you did. What do you think

[jmansracerocket]

hey davcruz what brand bedliner did u use ? and how is it holding up

[Davcruz]

I used Raptor and it seems to be holding up very well. I did put it on quite thick, it is probably close to 1/8". I had it left over from doing the bed on my Cummins, purchased 2 kits for that project and had 3 bottles left over.

[jmansracerocket]

ok ty

[Davcruz]

Originally Posted by TheFauxFox

How's it going? I would absolutely LOVE it if you could post some more pics and maybe a video? I am wondering about my spiderbox, and if I should sell it and take the money and put it towards a new kart (I have some extra cash in the bank ) or I should trick mine out like you did. What do you think

Ask and you shall receive. I made a short video of her buggy yesterday. She was not wearing her helmet so she was taking it kinda easy. Had to get it out of the shed and run some gas through it since it had been sitting for 3-4 weeks due to the cold/wet we have had lately.

Click to view

[Davcruz]

Pictures at the request of the Faux Fox.

[TheFauxFox]

Odd, it doesn't look like there's that end cap I see other places...

Thnx for the pics! Very helpful

[x-bird]

end cap is there if you look closely, it's integrated into the shape of the boss. the aftermarket boxes have a cheaper slip-over type cap.

[TheFauxFox]

x-bird...interesting... so my talon reverse won't need it then! hooray

[TheFauxFox]

Hey Davcruz, would you mind taking a picture of how you attached the cable to the bottom of the reverse/forward handle? Thnx