Pretty cool idea.

There are a lot of kids rigs on Pirate so Id start there.

How are you planning on making it 4wd and what are you thinking about for a front axle? The gocart engine might make it a little tough unless you sit the engine sideways about midway in the vehicle and run something like a t-case with a cog on the rear output - so maybe you can disengage the front axle if need be.


this build deserves its own thread!

 

I assume you are saying shut up and start?

I just picked up a set of samurai axles in really good shape for $100. I'm looking at a steering box out of a samurai for the steering right now, and considering a tranny and transfer case out of a bronco II? with a low range of 2.72:1 and the gears in the trans. and gearing it around 4.5 to one into the input of the trans it should give me a top speed of 25 at the kohler engine's rated speed of 3600rpm and a first gear low range speed of around 2 mph at 3600 rpm.

Anybody know what the smallest tranny with overdrive and transfer case is? my thought was use b II parts because they're pretty cheap around here

That enough progress for my first week?

and I'll definitely put of pics as I have anything exciting

 

No man, I think hes saying unleash your little brothers on a fully built rig and they'll either sink or swim. = dumbest idea EVER!


how do you plan on mating a side shaft engine to a bII tranny? I could see something like a divorced t-case but I have no idea how you'd make it work with a clutch and all.

Id "dumb" it up if it were me. Single speed tranny, single speed t-case but a low range of 4:1. 10 tooth engine gear 40 tooth t-case gear chain drive.

 

Well they are 10 now, and they learned to drive my samurai when they were 5, so I'm not too concerned about their skills. the only thing about 1 speed is to get it to go slow enough it'll have no top speed, but if I could find a transfer case with a low enough low range and do a two speed that would be nice, except without a tranny in there it'll have no reverse, which won't work.

 

Hey, I'm lovin the idea...wish I had the time and resources to take on a project like this. If it were me, for simplicity and weights' sake, I might try an old 3-on-the-tree trans with a homemade chain drive transfer case. It'd be full time, but you could pick your ratio and it's cheap and easy to fab up and replace if need be. If you wanted to go 2wd, maybe just unlock the hubs. I've actually thought about this idea a long time ago (not that it's important, nor was it quite as well thought out as yours) but I even considered trying to make some generic long travel shocks out of dirtbike front forks (well, the shock absorber part of it). This would be a really fun rig with some really skinny 33's on it. Anyway, just my $0.02...

 

Im guessing you have a K341...i got one of those in my mower, the muffler fell off so i put a 2" turbo style muffler on it, sounds awsome haha nice rumble. How about a CVT off an old sled? maybe find a sled with a reverse box too.

 

yeah, I think it is the k341. My latest plan is a comet 40 series torque converter which has something like a 2.61:1 to 1:1 (near there anyway) cvt feeding into the input shaft on an np435 or preferably an SM420 'cause it has a 7.00:1 first and 1:1 high. then a homemade full-time chain-drive transfer case with a 3.68:1 ratio all this adding up to a high speed of 25mph in 4th and 3.5 mph in 1st at 3600 RPM. and that is ignoring the cvt's "ratios"

With this setup I can always change the transfer case ratio pretty easy if it's not good, ie too high or too low.

Just picked up some samurai driveshafts and steering box and stuff, I'm just waiting for a deal on an sm420.

Any Input?

 

you could look for a diff with limited slip for you tcase...youd need to remove the crown/ring gear and put a sprocket on it. Put the sprocket end towards the rear that way the rear will drive most, then if the rears slip the lsd will kick in and hook up the fronts...and if you wanted to get extra fancy you could forget the limited slip and get an air or elec locker to have selectable 4wd ...sounds cool ya? hah

 

this is kind of out of left field, but have you looked into using a different motor? say a very small front wheel drive car motor and transaxle. turn it sideways and run the 2 axles off the cv shafts. i've seen buggies setup like that. you don't get a low range, but you get the transmission taken care of. gear the axles to the moon and it will be slow.

 

I doubt a build like this is anywhere in my near future but I still think its cool as ****.






Holy crap Dan....thats a pretty good idea.

 

if i had a shop, it would have happened to an ex g/f's old escort. body was shot, but the engine/transaxle were fine. but no, we sold it to my pothead/mechanic buddy for a hundred bucks worth of beer for me. i won either way, but a buggy would have been way more epic

 

This is how I've seen them done before, but the cost and fab work goes WAY up on that style, My idea is very much more 4wd go cart than full on rock buggy. We'll see I guess. Does anyone know off hand if the 2wd versions of the np435 and sm420 have the same low range gear?