Now we will need a way to control the direction of the wheel. This is accomplished by welding a steering arm onto the spindle. This will serve as a lever that will be connected to a tie rod that will be connected to a rack and pinion that will be connected to a steering wheel that will be connected to the arms of the child. In this first photo you can see that a lever and a brace have been welded onto the spindle. I got this design idea from ubuilditplans.com that also sells the plans for a two seater go cart called the S11. I built that project a couple of years ago and I can tell you that their plans are very detailed and accurate. More detail of the spindle with the lever attached. You can't see it very well but there is a 3/8" hole drilled in the end of the lever to connect to the tie rod.

We will need a spindle for both sides and they are exactly the same except that they are not. What I mean is that they are a mirror image of each other. One has to point to the right and the other to the left. You can use either spindle for either side but it makes a difference where you put the steering arm lever. Have I ever welded it on the wrong side? Has an armadillo ever been run over on a Texas roadway?

These spindles are ready for fit up.

Let's play name that tune. Sometimes I am reminded of a song when I make a statement. I wonder if subconsciously the song actually influences the words I use. When I make a statement that reminds me of a song I will put the actual phrase from that song in parenthesis with the letters (NTT) which of course stands for Name That Tune.
You can start at any point you like ( NTT "You can check out any time you like") in the construction of the front suspension but like the two sets of workers building the railroad track from opposite ends, you want to make sure the ends are going to meet up in perfect alignment. If we plan on having wheels on this cart then we will need a way to connect them to the suspension. One way is to use a common bolt that is matched to a set of bearings in a wheel hub. I have chosen a wheel hub that has a set of 3/4" bearings so it will require a 3/4" grade 5 bolt. There are different grades of nuts and bolts. You have your standard everyday commercial grade that is found in any hardware store. This is fine for bolting two parts together like a gate latch or lightweight use items like a mailbox or wheelbarrow. But for something like a go cart that will see constant twisting and shearing forces you need to step it up to grade 5 or grade 8. Grade 5 will be fine for this project because some of the hardware will be welded to other components as we will see next. Grade 8 has a higher carbon content and would be subject to cracking under stress after being welded, or at least after my welding. Grade 5 hardware is identified with opposing marks on the head of the bolt. Otherwise they all look pretty much the same except grade 8 has a more yellowish tint. Anyway you have to start somewhere and it is sort of like the ankle bone is connected to the shin bone ( NTT) and so on.
The spindle that holds the wheel consists of a 3/4" bolt welded to 2 pieces of 1" schedule 40 pipe that serve as pivot points for the steering. You begin by welding the 2 pieces of pipe side by side making sure they are parallel to each other.

Next step is to weld the nuts to the ends of the pipe. These nuts will receive the Flexible Rose Joints that will allow the steering to turn smoothly on its individual axis. You must weld these nuts in short steps in order to keep from distorting them with too much heat. Just take your time here. It will pay off in the long run. Just keep using short spot welds alternating to opposite sides all the way around. Let the parts cool down between welds. Go do something else. Go take the trash out. Sweep the floor. Write your wife or girlfriend a love song. I will be using a 1/2" nut on the top and a 5/8" nut on the bottom. We use a larger size on the bottom because of the greater stresses exerted on the bottom joint. The easiest way to get these nuts on straight is to first screw a bolt on to the nut then insert the bolt inside of the pipe. Use of a clamp will hold the nut firmly in place while it is welded to the pipe. Also the welding ground cable can more easily be connected to the work piece. This is where a metal work table would really come in handy. You would just need to ground the table instead of trying to figure where to connect the ground to a small work piece. In this picture the 1/2" nut has already been welded to the other side. This is the 5/8" nut end ready to be welded.

This is the 5/8" Nut end steadied on the side of the table and ready to weld.

Both ends now have the nuts welded to them. The spindle bolt can now be welded on taking care to get it paralell and perpindicular to the pivot nuts.

As you can see my welding has a long way to go. As I see it you can have pretty and you can have functional. You can have pretty without functionality and you can have functional without pretty. The goal of course is to have both. For now I will settle for functional because no one really cares how good you look if the wheels fall off.

This spindle looks very lonely to me. I think it needs a steering arm for a partner.

Sometimes it seems that progress is being made and then at other times it seems that things are at a stand still or maybe even going backwards. We have all heard the saying " two steps forward and one backward equals progress". I suppose that works out as an average. But averages are hard to factor when you are in the middle of the battle. When you find out that you just spent two hours putting something together with the wrong parts it is difficult to feel the progress that will eventually be averaged in once you spend two more hours taking it all apart so you can start again. It is frustrating but it is all part of the learning process. Sometimes we know something but we don't know that we know it. What I mean is that if I read something in a book and somehow retain that knowledge intellectually, it may not be until some point in the future that a true understanding will come about by observing that knowledge in motion. As an example I have studied camber and caster and toe in and out as it relates to front suspension. I remember reading that you want to avoid negative caster in a front suspension because of the control problems it causes. So I always wondered why the nose section on some designs have it tilted upwards at a 8 to 10 degree angle. Imagine my surprise when putting the project together and while tilting the nose into position visually seeing how the caster angle is put at a positive angle. So my point is that if you are following a well designed set of plans then chances are you will come out with something that works reasonably well even though you may not understand much about why it is done that way. I bring this up because as I have admitted before I am not a design engineer but I am able to take workable ideas from other designers and hopefully incorporate them in scale to this particular project.

With that said it is time to start the front suspension. This is probably the most technical part of the whole project. It does not have to be but I want something that will be fully adjustable and be able to take jolts from bumps and dips without greatly effecting the control or steering. I also want it to be as comfortable of a ride as possible for my girls. My CAD program ( computer assisted design) is not good at modeling movement of components. I have to painstakingly move the individual parts around in 2 dimensions. There are special computer software programs designed specifically for modeling the movement of suspension components. They also sell yatchs in Galveston bay but that doesn't mean I am getting one. So i will work with what I have and rely on other proven designs and hopefully come out with something that works reasonably well. If you are the kind of person that likes to do things once and move on then you will not enjoy a project like this. If you have that much tallent you are not reading this anyway. I have had to untack parts numerous times and put them back together in order to get them just right. You just can't be afraid to start over.

The first parts to fabricate are the front bumpers of the nose. They are made of one inch square tube x 1/16" wall. I welded a piece of 1/16" plate on the open ends so that no moisture can get inside. The initial welded part looks pretty ugly until it is sanded using the angle grinder with a sanding pad.

The finished Bumpers.

I am using the same 1" square tubing with a 1/8" wall that the frame is made out of for the rest of the nose pieces. You want this part to be as strong as posible and not flex at all. When the other parts are cut to length they are held in place using the wood blocks so they can be tack welded together. The chipboard pattern is very useful in acurately locating the parts.

Once the side pieces are made exactly the same then they can be connected together. I will use some 1" x .090" wall round tube to connect the pieces to each other. Why do I use 1" round tube? It is easier to square the pieces to each other and I have it on hand to form the roll cage. However you can use whatever you have on hand.

You want to be sure it is square side to side and top to bottom. I had to untack and reweld more than once before I got it right. When making tack welds it is a good idea to try and put them in a place that will be easy to access with the angle grinder so they can easily be ground off. If you use the cut off grinding blade in the grinder then most of the time you will only need to partially grind the welds and give it a smart wack with a hammer and the welds will easily break loose. Then you will need to grind off the old welds so you can start over. Don't be afraid to start over even if you have to make the entire piece again. Practice makes perfect or at least better. Never finish welding anything until you have fit all pieces together to be sure they fit.

Simple holding clamps work well to hold the parts in position for welding. You want to be sure this is square because the proper movement of the suspension is at stake.

Here is the Nose section welded together. I got a little ahead in the photos and you will notice the brackets for the A arms already welded on the right side.

It is a good idea to keep a notebook to catalog information, ideas and sketches. Since everything cannot be fabricated at once there needs to be a logical sequence so that everything fits together when finished. I recall a picture I once saw of two groups of men building a railroad track starting from opposite ends. When they met in the middle only one rail would line up to connect so everyone just stood around wondering what to do. Sometimes I will spend a lot of time figuring out how I want to make a component only to forget about it when it comes time to do it. Or, I may lay some ground work with a certain pitfall in mind only to forget that I found a sollution because there was no record made of it. If you use a pencil then you can easily alter specs as you learn what will and will not work. I must admit that I rely on my cad design program to determine if things will really line up correctly but sketching on paper helps to visualize what you are trying to accomplish. I am not the neatest at sketching but at least it means something to me. Here is a sample of my chicken scratch.

The best way for me to learn is by doing. I find that I am not very good at photography. It took quite a while just to learn how to spell it. The following picture is supposed to show the tack welded frame. When I viewd it through the camera lens it looked pretty good. But now that it is printed out it looks more like a very poor advertisement for a Toyota van. Anyway I will remember this for future photos and try to improve. Improving is a good goal for any skill. Good, Better and Best does not apply to this photo. It is more like Ain't no good,
Bad and Poor. Now I will turn the frame over and tack weld the other side. You dont want anything to move out of place for the initial fit up of all components.

This Go Cart project is taking much longer than I had anticipated. There must be some motivation to finish any project. It may be a boss breathing fire to meet a deadline for an order. Maybe it is just something that you enjoy doing. So what is my motivation for doing this anyway. Well, miss Paige saw the wheels in the garage the other day and she can't wait to drive this thing. That is enough motivation for me. But I can see that I must get more focused and disciplined if I am to be finished by early summer. So I am going to concentrate and try to kick this thing into high gear. Here are some of the things that have been decided and designed.

1. Front suspension. Double A arms fully adjustable.

2. Tire size 16 x 7 1/2". Turf Tires

3. Steering. Rack and pinion.

4. Rear suspension. Single swing arms.

Here are some things to be decided.

1. Drive train set up

2. Motor size

3. Decide on using Universal joints or CV joints

4. Shock size

I am determined to finish this Go Cart in a more timely manner than the time it took to finish this Doll House. When the girls saw it they talked Grammy into going to the store and buy furniture and appliances. I hope they save enough money for me to buy the Go Cart Parts.

It is a good idea to grind the mill scale off of the surface of the metal parts that will be welded together in order to ensure a good weld. The sanding pad on the angle grinder works well for this and a bench grinder also works well.

If I was a welding machine this shiny metal would make my mouth water.

As the parts are cut they will be spaced on the table in their propper place.

This is where the wooden blocks come in handy to hold the frame members firmly in place so that they can be tack welded together.

A scale pattern of the frame made out of chip board is a great help in getting the parts positioned.

The floor frame is now ready to be tack welded.

I forgot to mention that it is a good idea to pop a chock line for the centerline of the frame. It will be of help to know the exact centerline of the frame in order to make sure that the right and left sides are equal.