We build a Go Kart out of scrap 2x4 | Chassis, suspension & steering
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 เม.ย. 2021
- Inspired by some wood being dumped at our house, we set about turning it into a functional car. This is not a "how to" video, because I wouldn't recommend anyone attempt something so unnecessarily elaborate, but it was great fun.
We did end up fitting an engine and brakes to it, but I never made a follow-up video for a couple of reasons. One is that the prototype was badly executed and I never had time to do it properly - neither the brakes or the engine were geared right for the weight of it. Second problem is that if I published the video of Jensen driving it, I'd probably have child services at my door. It was not safe and he had absolutely no control over it.
2023 update: We now live near an amazing Kart track in France and Jensen is in his second year of karting school. When we left the USA, we gave the kart to Jensen's uncle who ended up dumping it in the street for someone to take. So if you're the person who now has it, give us a wave! - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
I like not just the Project but the Father and Son bonding.
Yea honestly it doesn't really matter if it's any good. Doing it together is what counts
Those screams of joy at the end of the video are priceless...
under rated. this is some good inspiration. im trying to build one too!
Completely amazing! I also felt it was apt that you sent him off down the hill without any sort of braking mechanism. Seems familiar - lol
Brilliant Ben!
Sensacional. Parabéns! (Sensational. Congratulations!)
That's a dang cool build. Love the innovative suspension, lol.
That ain’t scrap that looks brand new
Very nice. I’m a massive racing fan but we had twin girls, and both now play netball, and one has fallen off every motorcycle or quad she’s gotten onto so I don’t think racing is for her lol. Great project and I hope Jensen enjoys it! A tool kit is an awesome present for a young fella also.
Thank you very much
I appreciate this as it has helped me design and prototype my go kart
Guys did great clean nice design sturdy parts
Me encantó. Que genial idea.
Great job!
Amazing😍
Awesome 👏
Excellent idiea 🤗🤗
It looks amazing. I like it a lot. Would you please share the plan with me? I want to do it to my own son.
Thank you. I've been really busy recently and the plan I originally drew up I had to adapt a little. You'll be able to see pretty much all of the measurements on the piece of paper I drew up. I work in metric mostly, unless I have to. If I have time, I'll publish something, but it won't be for a while.
Ready for the update! New subscriber here, thanks for the knowledge, totally doing this! I'll upload and video and, of course, give you all the credit
I have video of when we put the engine, brakes and pedals on. It was all a bit of a disaster frankly and the video of Jensen test-driving it was properly irresponsible parenting. Had we not been leaving the country imminently I would have fixed the issues, all of which were down to the sheer weight of the kart and the gearing of both the engine and braking
@@corrieb74 still an awesome take on it, great work my friend!
I'm thinking, the trailing arm mounts need some flexibility. Obviously not for moving the whole axle straight up & down, but for roll, and when hitting a bump (or dip) with only one wheel.
Agreed. Chassis flex FTW!
Hi Ben, awesome and well-thought design! I was wondering if you had plans to share the SketchUp blueprint? Thinking of building one with my own kids :)
Thank you. I honestly wouldn’t recommend this as anything other than a novelty project as the kart was so heavy. I haven’t shared the sketch up plans as I made changes as I went. You can see the dimensions written on the printed plan in some shots.
This looks great! Would this size fit an adult or would the build need to be adjusted for someone 5 foot 6?
Thank you! It really depends on where you put the bulkhead for the pedals and the steering wheel. There's enough flexibility in the height and depth of the steering wheel for an adult to drive it. The place we put the bulkheads for the pedals really limits the age of the driver. You would have to move those further to the front for an adult. Very possible, just a little different.
Seems like more of a manly undertaking than you might be up to.
Hi Ben, the steering looks really good and it sounds like it works well - is there anything you'd improve on it? Any chance of more info on it? Thanks.
That's kind of you to say, Mick. We added brakes and a small engine. At some point, I'll upload an update. Unfortunately that part was kind of rushed because we were busy leaving the country and the gearing of both the brakes and the engine were wrong. The sheer weight of it makes good brakes absolutely essential. The only change I would make in hindsight was getting side mounted bearings for the rear axle. I anticipated it riding above or below and one of those options working. In the end I had to bodge it to be somewhere in between.
@@corrieb74 Thanks for the quick reply, Ben. I'm still looking at the front end, might be a little while before I get to think about the rear end. Info about the braking system would be very welcome!! Cheers
PS The rear suspension is pure genius!
@@mickleonard7355 Thanks Mick. What surprised me most about the rear suspension most is that the friction of the system provides reasonable damping :) WRT the brakes, I bought a go kart drum which on a lighter kart with smaller wheels is probably fine. A bike disc setup would have been much better I think as it's designed to cope with much lower shaft rotation speeds.
Unreal! How hard was it to make steering?
Not hard once I figured out how I wanted to do it. I had all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas from a chain drive to belt drive. In the end, I was very pleased with how the heim joints worked. I did have to order the steering shaft from a proper go-kart place to fit the steering wheel, but just drilled a hole in it to secure it on the wooden pitman arm.
Looks great ha e you done an upto date bid with engine and breaks ?
Yea I put an engine and brakes in it, but none of it worked quite right and I ran out of time to modify it. Also the kids constantly crashed it. I may upload something at some point. Thanks for the interest
I just found your channel and this go kart video. Whatever happened to part 2?
Thanks for watching, Lenny. What happened? We emigrated. I never got the motor and brakes to a point where I was happy with them in the short window of time I had left. Jensen also didn't have the skill to control it, so the whole thing was somewhat sketchy. He's now in his second year of actual karting school and enjoying that immensly
Who long does it take to make it and getting to build the base
It took us weeks. I wouldn't recommend anyone do this, honestly. It's too heavy to be safe or useful
Hola cómo conseguirlo plano que nuestras inicialmente, puedes compartir el plano en PDF. Gracias
Can you tell me where you got everything
Where did you guys find the wheels,axles and all the steering related stuff? does anybody got any tips on where i can those itemes for cheap?
The wheels were used lawnmower wheels we found on the local free-ads. Axles were just rods from the hardware store - I put keys into them using a grinder. The steering knuckles I found on Amazon and the steering wheel/rod I got from a kart supply store. I ended up spending a surprising amount on hardware!
@@corrieb74 my budget is like 350 dollars for the whole thing, engine and all. Is that even possible?
@@corrieb74 **with an predator engine and steel fram, so that alone probebly costs upwards of 200 :(
@@livetarkort8434 I deliberately didn't keep a tally of what we spent. The engine was $99, but beyond that I have no idea. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a starting point anyway. It's so heavy, it's never going to be a speedy fun kart.
Lai bhari
Would you share your sketchup model? I'd love to build this for my son & the model would really help.
I no longer have it. You can see all the dimensions in mm in the video written on the sheet. That said, I don’t recommend you build this unless you have a lot of wood just lying around. It was very heavy and cumbersome in the end. It made braking and gearing a real challenge
Any update on the motor upgrades? Im considering this project myself but I want to go straight to motorized
No. The motor simply wasn't geared right when I tried it out. The kart was so heavy it would have needed two chains and two reduction gears. We then emigrated before I could make it good.
@@corrieb74 Ah, I see. Thanks for the reply
Brakes were also a big challenge. You have to brake the rear axle and with those big rear wheels, kart brakes just don't cut it. My solution would have been to gear the braking.
W british kid
How many 2x4 do you need to build that
I don't remember exactly, but it was at least 30
did u ever get around to fitting a motor or anything to it?
We did and it wasn't successful. I would have improved it and made a video about the improvements, but it was right before we emigrated and I just didn't have time. The biggest issue was the gearing. It needed two sets of reduction gears. Second biggest issue was the brakes, those needed gearing down as well. The thing was so heavy, it was frankly quite dangerous.
I want one with a 150cc engine
Where can I find guides or plans to do it, I also want to try it.
You can see the rough guide I was working with in the video along with metric measurements. I didn’t completely stick to the plan though so i chose not to publish. I wouldn’t recommend this though. The kart is so heavy when it’s done that braking is a real challenge
i am trying with my best mate to make one.Can i please get the 3d?
Any downloadable plans?
No because I adapted the plan as I went. You should be able to get many of the metric measurements from the piece of paper I was working from. Let me know how it goes.
@@corrieb74 I just did that, lol, perfect!
Nice, can you send me the plans? I will Pay you for your time. Thanks
I don't have them any more, sorry. You can see dimensions on the plan in the video - they are in brackets in mm here th-cam.com/video/3v3IOyaEL0I/w-d-xo.html
Hey, can you send me your sketchup?
Why do you sound like DarkViperAU
Can you build me one