Building Son's Jeep Willys Go Cart...

[PWagon]

My son had been asking me for years for a go cart, so I decided to finally build one with him. This has been a year long project since my time is spread thin with work and weekend activities like my son's baseball tournaments, school functions, etc.

My son wanted a 4-seater, but I had to bring him back to reality and explain that a 2-seater was more practical. I wanted to keep weight down as much as possible but have a high strength frame capable of carrying an adult too.

We started with my son sitting on the ground and placing square tubing and wheels around him to get a visual idea about the size of the cart.

 

[PWagon]

We then got busy bead-rolling the floor pan and the putting the frame together. All things considered, my 10 year old son's first attempt at bead-rolling is not bad.

 

[PWagon]

Keeping the size of the wheels proportional to the body would be difficult, and I ended up buying several sets of wheels (different heights) to try to get it right. I bought a Predator gas engine at the local Harbor Freight for $120. We burned through a few clutches before I swapped it over to a torque-a-verter. Now it has real low end torque then adjusts for high end speed. A Torque-a-verter is the only way to go.

 

[PWagon]

We began building the body out of thin sheet steel I picked up at Metal Supermarket downtown. I "eye-balled" the body panels, fenders, hood and windshield.

 

[PWagon]

My son could not wait to get functional lights. I ended up buy incandescent tractor light for headlight and clearance/marker lights to use as taillights. I did take out the incandescent bulbs and replace them with led bulbs since leds are brighter and use less energy. I did not want to recharge the lawnmower battery every week, so leds made sense.

 

[PWagon]

Time for cream colored Rustoleum paint, decals, and a functional light test...

 

[jekquistk5]

way cool.

 

[skunked]

that's awesome, bet he loves driving that around.

 

[PWagon]

that's awesome, bet he loves driving that around.

Yes, he sure does, and all his friends like it too. I think I've set him up for a lifelong appreciation of off-road vehicles. Plus he's taken an interest in welding and metal fabrication. I'll let him weld a bit here and there (supervised of course).

 

[runamok151]

Great project!!

 

[Green Monster]

That's awesome, great project!

 

[dangerdog]

That is awesome! Looks like he had fun with the build. And dad has some pretty good sheet metal skills.

 

[max 02]

Nice work!