GO CART PARTS LIST

GO CART PARTS LIST (Keep in mind this was 50 years or so ago.)

1*washing machine - automatic?
2*Motorized reel type lawn mower. These were used before the rotary mower was invented. Anyone remember them?
3*1934 Plymouth
4*bicycle
5*mine bolts -
6* steel pipe
7*Jack shaft -
8* twin size bed?
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(Keep in mind this was 50 years or so ago that my cousin his dad and I built this go cart.)

1*washing machine - automatic?
We used two of the gears that made the agitator go back and forth. This was used to construct the steering mechanics. Un like most automative steering that was made up of a steering gear box tie rods and other linkage we were basically able to use one set up which did the job of a steering gear box and the linkage all in one arrangement. We didn't need tie rods and all that linkage as all that was required was a short connector to each front wheel.
We also used one of the pulleys that rotated the washer drum on one end of the speed reduction jack shaft.

2*lawn mower
Motorized reel mower. These were used before the rotary mower was invented. Anyone remember them?
We used the engine for our power plant.

3*1934 Plymouth
all we used was the steering wheel.

4*bicycle -
All we used was the small rear wheel sprocket to put on the other end of the speed reduction jack shaft. we welded the larger pedal crank sprocket to the inside of the left rear wheel. and used a section of the bicycle chain to connect the two sprockets

5*mine bolts -
The kind they use to support coal mine ceilings to help prevent cave in ins.
We lived about a block from the factory that was one of if not the largest supplier of these bolts to the mining industry. They would buy square stock and turn it down to make the bolts.
We bought 2 pieces of 1" in stock from them and my uncle who was a machinist turned them down on the ends to make the axles.

6*pipe
Probably 3/4" STEEL.
We used pipe for several things. One thing we used it for was the combination motor mount clutch.

7*Jack shaft
Actually the type used to increase or decrease speed depending on which one is your goal.
You might say this became our one speed no reverse transmission.

8*and a twin size bed?
Frame we used it for the chassis, under carriage or what ever you want to call it.
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About the only thing we had to buy that wasn't some part off of some old junked thing was the 4 new store bought wheels.

Guess we didn't have any kind of old junk around that had any wheels on it.


Needless to say my cousin & I were the envy of all the other kids in the neighborhood.
50 years ago they all wanted us to take them for a ride on what just might have been the first go cart ever or at least the most unique one ever built.

I wish I would have kept it.
Today it would have been a unique one of a kind keepsake and a really great conversion piece.

The only keep sake I have from it is the last motor that was on it. This motor is way older than I am. Dad used it to saw fire wood for the old coal stove back in the early 1940s.

This is A LOT more creative than kids of today's generation could ever dream of doing.

Most parents now buy go-carts and battery powered ride-ons that are pre-made, if you can get the kids outside, away from the air-conditioning and video games.

A self propelled reel type lawn mower with the cutter reel removed could be used as the rear wheels of a small cart. If you changed the pulleys you could go faster.

Old Maytag gas engine powerred washing machine motors got used in carts too.

The torque converter out of a top loading automatic washing machine could be used to couple a chainsaw engine to the rear wheels of a gocart. There was enough slipage to allow starting but some folks used a stand to prop the rear wheels off the ground during starting then reved her up and kicked it off the stand. These torque converters were available for the asking if you brougnt your own tools to the appliance junkyard. They would keep you from bogging down too much trying to acelerate out of a tight curve. MTBF wasn't so great so we moved up to torque converters out of the BIG LOAD commercial machines. Unfortunately these were harder to come by.

I have also mounted model airplane engines to the book rack on the back of a bicycle for some assist. An OS Max .80 swinging a 12inch diameter prop with a 6 inch pitch does a decent job. Didn't use a guard so it was a tad dangerous.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] When I was a kid in da fifties, the most sought-after item on earth was a Maytag washing machine engine. They were used to make racers........ours were always rear engine....and booster systems for bikes. The boosters went in the rear where the paper rack was and put the power to the wheel with a roller. Luckily for me some thieves stole a Wisconsin engine off a hay loader we had, and by the time it was finally recovered, Dad had replaced the engine. I used that engine to power every conceivable form of conveyance; from rear-engined dragsters to a hopped-up "doodlebug", which was a scooter that originally had a tiny engine and a fluid clutch. I had to raise the frame on "the bug" for that big Wisconsin to fit, and fab up a direct drive with a suicide (foot) clutch. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]