[Kartbuilding] Fwd: Karts

[Stephen Burke]

Hi,

Suspension starts to make things difficult alright. I had said to
myself that I would make the kart firstly without suspension and then
when the kart was up and running and I was bored - Id modify it to
have suspension - I never got around to it however!!

Suspension for the rear is easy!
On the rear axle - where the pillar bearings are attached to the
chassis - basically put springs and a shock on either side - so just
the rear axle has suspension to the chassis. No part of the chassis
flexes on the rear. Get the idea? - Now to take care of the
transmission - put the chain as per normal - however you will need a
"tensioner" sprocket or bearing tensioning the chain - and this will
take care of the rear suspension and drive - this is how it is done on
a motorbike.
For the above setup - Id have a solid live rear axle and drive it as
per normal with a chain with a chain tensioner. The only modifications
been - mini swing arms etc (or simply a small arm/ lever with a spring
on one end and pivitng on the other end of the lever - and this is on
either end of the axle where it normally is attached to the chassis.

I never looked into the front suspension - it gets difficult with
track rods etc.
For that I suggest you look at a website by sadik >
http://www.sadik.net/gokart/ He deals with suspension.

BEst of Luck
-steve

> Thanks a lot for the good info.
>
> I have been thinking about the types of suspension and which one to use. I
> thought that if i had wishbone or a-arms in the front it would work quite
> well, but may be hard to make, what do you think? In the back the only thing
> i could think of was swing arm similar to the kind used on a motorcycle.If i
> made swing arms in the rear it gets to complicated because of the axle.  My
> only question here was should i include the gine in the swing arm piece or
> not. If i do it makes it quite a bit easier to build, but then the engine
> has to go through all of the bumps and would really only work with an
> automatic engine. If the engine is not included in the swing arm there may
> be problems with the chain staying on, but everything else would be much
> easier. If you have any better ideas for suspension they would be greatly
> apprietiated. Another thing is should i have live axle or not? Also i have
> no idea about supliers. Thanks for the help!
>
> Lucas Wilson