Transmission for go cart

Someone gifted me a go cart frame, with steering wheel, pedals and road wheels. It so happens that my 11 year old wants one.

I have a Honda horizontal engine.

I would like to see if I can find some product that combines a few go cart related functions, like a transmission, with forward, reverse, and neutral, and, as a bonus, braking.

Anyone can recommend something?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus30279
Loading thread data ...

The transmission out of a lawn tractor might do the job - ore even a transaxle, which may also have the brake included.

Reply to
clare

Go-kart specific bits rarely have anything other than a centrifugal clutch right on the crankshaft, so you are immediately into riding mower/tractor territory.

How fast should it go, and what size engine are you going to put on it? Will it be used for a lot of stop-and-go or mainly 'track' duty?

You can make it crazy quick and get an auto-clutch and reverse if you find the right quad engine.

Reply to
Dave__67

"Ignoramus30279" wrote in message news:Jq-dnayErLJrfl3SnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

The Northern Tool catalog lists common components, so you can see how others build them:

formatting link
kart parts&mkwid=s9zBHuBQ0&pcrid=15295625111&mt=b

formatting link
jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Some, like mine, can only be shifted when stopped.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

It will be used by a 11 year old and possibly by 6 year old, so, I would say, it should go 10 MPH tops.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus30279

formatting link

This is nice. Toe torque converter is a Reeves drive, right?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus30279

You might want to do what a mate did, he got a Lotus 7 go cart and took the engine out and made it electric with various bits from a mobility scooter. This allowed him to add a remote control for the motor easily so he could stand back and kill the thing if the kid was getting too close to objects for comfort. I think his son was about 6 at the time and it was mainly for use in the garden.

Reply to
David Billington

Depends on what kind of "go cart" you want. An "off road" cart is a lot nicer to run with reverse. (think side-by-side quad - or even a standard quad without reverse). A "racing" type cart has no need for reverse.

A "kid's car" gocart can really make use of reverse.

As far as speed limiting, no throttle block or detuning is required. That's what a "governor" is for. Racing carts quite often have the governor removed or disabled or bypassed. A "kid's cart" needs a governor - and a centrifical clutch is the simplest drive, while a torque converter is a lot more flexible. I've seen carts made with the torque converter drive and a starter motor for reverse. Just means you NEED a battery - and it is a bit heavier.

Reply to
clare

Hey Iggy,

My expericnce comes fron a looooonnnngggg time ago, so not current, but all we used was a centrifugal clutch. At low RPM, it was disengaged. As the RPM's get to a certain point, the clutchbegins to engage, but slips a lot at first, then locks in to direct drive as trhe RPM's increase. Very simple. Works well. Relatively cheap.

Brian Lawson.

Reply to
Brian Lawson

At 11, I was let loose for a day in a Class 4 Kart, tuned 250cc Villiers Starmaker 2-stroke engine, 5-speed gearbox (fitted to motocross bikes, they were), capable of at least 120mph... Around Brands Hatch circuit they were quicker than Formula 1!

I was suited, booted and wearing a helmet though - but still it was like the junkie's first fix, been addicted to *Fast* ever since!

Dave H. (the other one)

Reply to
news.virginmedia.com

I can't help you with brakes, but for the "transmission" just use a centrifugal clutch with fixed (low) gearing. Kid pushes on the loud pedal -- cart goes.

If you want them to be ready for real cars, do it the lawnmower way, with an idler pulley that tensions the drive belt when they let of the pedal. Then you won't have to find a centrifugal clutch, and their cart will be more manly.

If you're home-building this and you don't want to spend much on brakes, just weld up a pair of steel plates that scrub on the rear wheels and don't let them ride when it's wet out. Or scarf something off of a lawn tractor.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

formatting link
A different time and spirit...

Reply to
Rick

One idea, if you found a junk zero turn mower you could use the wheel drive hydraulics to make a variable ratio hydraulic transmission for a go-cart. A lawn mower hydrostatic transmission might be the same type of thing, I'm not very familiar with them.

When I was growing up, a neighbor had one of those struck kit (sp) mini-dozers. It had a belt from the engine that ran around pulleys on 2 shafts one on the outside of one shaft and the inside of the other shaft. The result is that one shaft ran clockwise, the other shaft ran counter clockwise. Each track a large pulley on the inside and a small sprocket on the outside, the small sprocket went to a larger sprocket (by chain) to drive the tracks. A loose belts go from the cw and ccw pulleys to the track drive pulley. The shafts were spaced so the forward/reverse lever with idler pulleys would tighten one belt when pushed forward and tighten the other belt when pulled reverse. This is the same idea I see used on many lawnmower decks that tighten the belt to engage the blades. Anyway the same kind of idea could be used to make a go-cart have forward and reverse.

I always thought it would be fun to power a go-cart with a motorcycle engine, set up linkage for the shifter and clutch. I guess the 4 wheelers have what I would have wanted now, I'd like to have a Honda Rancher 4X4 but paying off debt first.

RogerN

Reply to
RogerN

Just don't do it like the guy at Wichita Votech when I was there around

1981. I was in the evening class and we got to see the construction of the machine with IIRC a 750cc Jap bike engine in it by someone in the day class. The exhausts were so close to the back of the seat that I think ones helmet would have melted. The output from the gearbox had a sprocket welded on to it, a neat weld, and we saw the cart disappear one week and the next the sprocket reappearred looking like the whole weld had failed at the interface, probably due to carbon content. I suspect that failure shook the designer/driver somewhat when it went pop.
Reply to
David Billington

For safety on a kid's cart you can do it the other way. Press on the clutch pedal to go. Release the pedal to loosen the belt and apply the brake. A commom brake on simple carts years ago was a heavy V-belt pulley on the rear axle with a length of belt wrapped around it that was tightened by stepping on the brake pedal (or pulling a brake handle), wrapping it into the pulley.

Reply to
clare

Yup, the classic setup was with a solid drive axle with a pulley on it, belt went to the centrifugal clutch on the engine. If you went high-tech, you might even have a spring-loaded tension wheel to tighten up the belt. Most kids didn't bother, the belt gave some slip on starting. I later found out there was a special B&S throttle kit for engines meant for karts, closed the throttle when there wasn't any pressure on the go pedal. Otherwise it would keep howling away wherever the throttle happened to be last. Would run fast enough to suit kids. Brakes were via boards riding on the tires. Reverse was hop off, grab an end and drag it around. That was before mini-bikes, when I was in junior high, the craze was for mini-bikes. Most of this stuff was put together from EMT, whatever caster wheels could be had, some solid rod, washing machine pulleys and belts and a horizontal shaft engine. Guys that had fathers that could weld were VERY popular. The was before the popular mechanics/science mags became home decoration only. Also before helmets, boots, gloves or whatever, Darwin at work.

If you just have to complicate things, you can get a lawnmower hydrostatic transaxle from Surplus Center, but I'll bet it'll cost a lot more and probably won't be as much fun.

Stan

Reply to
Stanley Schaefer

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.