That's one hell of an update! I'd bet you could flip those things and make a few bucks easy!
CK5
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Offroad Go Cart Build - Too Many Builds
- Thread starter truck-oholic
- Start date
Well, it adds up pretty quick and the amount of labor put into these is significant. That being said, I'm hoping to get $2,200 for the Pebble Bouncer Buggy and I am reluctantly going to list the Iron Cross Buggy for $2,500. I wouldn't take a penny less on the Iron Cross Buggy but I may go as low as $1,800 on the Pebble Bouncer Buggy if necessary because I really don't want to keep it. It is not a very good fit for our woods trails. The approach angle is no where near as good as the Yerf Dog based buggies and doesn't have as much low end grunt, it's geared more for top speed.
handloader90
Building!
Badassery!
Painted, hood & fenders reinstalled, on the chopping block for $2,000
Took the Iron Cross Buggy out in the snow last week, OMG what a blast it was
Here's a little vid of some buddies riding on one of our trails.
Still have the Beast Mode Buggy to eventually finish building but i have no shortage of projects right now so its low on the priority list.
Here's a little vid of some buddies riding on one of our trails.
Still have the Beast Mode Buggy to eventually finish building but i have no shortage of projects right now so its low on the priority list.
Been a couple years since this thread had any action. I had to search it out, I'm going to look at one of these machines for my kids tomorrow.
Ha, yeah, I still have to finish the Beast Mode Buggy. At this point it pretty much just needs some fuel hose and the wiring hooked up. Haven't done anything with it in quite a while. If you find me on Instagram (ibew4life) there are some photos of that build that pickup where I left off on here.
Btw, still have the Iron Cross Buggy. No real problems to report, still ride it but since moving to Indiana in Dec 2018 it's mainly only brought out for the snow since I haven't cut any trails yet at the new place yet.
Right on. Sounds good. I'll probably pick that one up tomorrow if it's decent. Parts seem readily available still and they seem better than the crappy Chinese ATVs. (ibew4life)? What do you do for work? I'm IBEW local 57 out here.
I've been in the trade and IBEW for almost 10 yrs. I did my apprenticeship in Nashville TN so my ticket is still out of that local (#429) but I've been working on the road the past several years. In Dec of 2018 my family and I moved to the SW side of Indianapolis (#481) as I've been working for a signatory contractor in that local called High Voltage Maintenance since Sept of 2018. We do acceptance and maintenance testing/servicing of all types of low voltage and medium voltage equipment, rarely actually do what is professionally classified as high voltage, highest I've worked on is 69kV. I'm hoping that I'll eventually be asked to move my ticket to 481 since this is our long term home. My wife and I are both from PA and while we loved being in TN the first 5 yrs or so, the last 5 were progressively shittier for cost of living vs. pay and it was time to get out of the wage oppressing South and back to the North where labor isn't treated like crap. That's why I hit the road in the first place, just couldn't make it on scale in Nashville anymore supporting a family. In 10 years of us being there, the wages went up about $5 an hour while the cost of living more than doubled. They are currently making $27 and change on the check with $4.25 an hour for retirement ($62.5k combined on 40 hrs) while you'd need to earn around $90k a year to live comfortably in the area. Up here in 481, just 4 hrs north of Nashville, I'm making $34.85 on the check with additional 30% of gross weekly earnings being contributed to retirement and the COL is actually lower than Nashville but rising. It's a huge swing. On the road I made as much as $58 an hour (LU 98 Philly) with another $45 or so in benefits so it's definitely a trade off staying put but I get to see my family almost everyday.
T
tenderfoot
Guest
I've been watching or looking for a go kart for my son down here in TX on and off for a couple of years. They are awfully proud of em. Don't know anything about them but I noticed looking at pics the cages seem to be for looks on most of them. I'm assuming Manco is the way to go?
Those red Yerf dog spiderbox go carts are one of the best 150cc 2 seater options out there and you can get a used one of those pretty cheap but if you want them to perform truly "offroad" I.e. trails, hill climbs, etc then you'll want to spend some money on upgrades mainly suspension, steering, and transmission. I put A LOT of time and money into beefing mine up. Although I've never driven one, I think both models of the Kandi go carts would be the best choice if buying new. The suspension and approach angles on those look really good for stock.
Right on. I am actually a Journeymen Equipment Mechanic Foreman at a power plant but all trades here are in IBEW. I love working for the power company. Best job ever. I ended up getting that Yerf Dog. It was $500. Carb needs replaced and some other maintenance/old age stuff but otherwise its in great shape and way better quality than the chinese junk which is all over out here. And there is tons of parts availability online. I am looking a a carb kit now with new carb/paper style air filter/and upgraded jets. Pretty cheap too for most everything I've looked at so far. I have four boys and they can't wait to tear around our 26 acre farm with it.
Cool, I'm jealous of that acreage. We are on 7 acres now, were on 4.6 in TN. Our acreage now has more woods but they are less usable for trails. Still plan on cutting some here in the future but our old place had some super sweet trails I cut that we definitely miss. Post up pics of the cart and tag me if you don't want to put them here. Parts are super plentiful and stock stuff is really cheap. You can spend a bit more money getting into the performance parts and even though something says it will fit, a bunch of it needs modification or you really have to pay attention to what you are actually buying because a bunch of it looks identical but has different construction or application. The performance CDIs and voltage regulators are a good example of this.
My oldest is having a blast working on it. He's ten. We pulled the rear gray rack part off. The front gray bars for the cage will get replaced with real cage bars at some point cuz they are bent from a flop at some point. I built a stainless battery tray to put a side terminal gm size battery on it and I think I'm going to do a 6 gallon boat tank on the right side of the rack opposite the battery. The acreage is nice but I miss the Midwest and having woods and trails and all the stuff you have. Mine is 6 acres hay and the rest pasture and desert type stuff and not much trees or green.
6 gallons is a LOT of fuel for one of these. You could probably run all day long on a gallon. I think the biggest tank I've seen on a 150cc is 2.5 gal and the stock size tank is 1 gal. Like I said, you can spend a little or spend a lot, just depends on your overall goal and expectations. We were beating on ours pretty hard so we found the limits of certain things fairly quick. Like full size builds, there is also a major snowball effect with modifications, one thing inevitably leads to another like suspension upgrades dictating steering upgrades too, etc. It doesn't sound like the terrain you'll be running on will be as punishing as our TN trails so hopefully you don't break any axle shafts
. One word of warning, these things are pretty easy to roll when turning hard at mid to high speed especially on healthy grass that won't let the rear tires break loose like dirt and mud. I've two wheeled ours several times and flopped it once IIRC because of grass although ours being lifted and on bigger tires obviously has a higher center of gravity. I've flopped it and put it on it's lid several more times on the trails but that was low speed off camber hill climbs 
Thanks for the heads up. There is a similar 3 gallon tank for $10 bucks less so I will probably go that route then. I just figured double the size for ten bucks more couldn't be bad. Yeah we have barely any vegetation it will be running on. All sandy loose dirt for the most part but good to know before my kids flop it. I will probably keep stock size tires on it to keep it low as long as I don't have issues with it get high centered all the time. If it goes too fast I'll make a throttle stop for it too so they can't get too wild.6 gallons is a LOT of fuel for one of these. You could probably run all day long on a gallon. I think the biggest tank I've seen on a 150cc is 2.5 gal and the stock size tank is 1 gal. Like I said, you can spend a little or spend a lot, just depends on your overall goal and expectations. We were beating on ours pretty hard so we found the limits of certain things fairly quick. Like full size builds, there is also a major snowball effect with modifications, one thing inevitably leads to another like suspension upgrades dictating steering upgrades too, etc. It doesn't sound like the terrain you'll be running on will be as punishing as our TN trails so hopefully you don't break any axle shafts
Just waiting for an air filter housing. Runs great. Rides pretty stiff but will work for now. Probably needs new tires. My boys love it. 
Sweet!
gonefishin
1/2 ton status
Pretty cool build. I just read everything from the beginning. I got a manco dingo 8 for my 8th birthday and loved it. It had 22” tires, 8hp, and live rear axle.
my daughter is 7 and is wanting a 4 wheeler, but I think she would be better off with a go cart that has seat belts and roll cage... i let her drive me around on my 250cc Yamaha 4wheeler but I don’t feel a kids size atv is the best thing for her yet... my property (20acres) is very wooded and has some steep spots. I would feel better about her having a roll cage. But for around here we really need a reverse...
I’ve been looking at used ones. Anyway I have a couple questions.
how well do they do on hills and mud? Do any of them have reverse? And any idea how much hp the 150cc engines make? Any performance upgrades available? Or is everything basically custom fab?
my daughter is 7 and is wanting a 4 wheeler, but I think she would be better off with a go cart that has seat belts and roll cage... i let her drive me around on my 250cc Yamaha 4wheeler but I don’t feel a kids size atv is the best thing for her yet... my property (20acres) is very wooded and has some steep spots. I would feel better about her having a roll cage. But for around here we really need a reverse...
I’ve been looking at used ones. Anyway I have a couple questions.
how well do they do on hills and mud? Do any of them have reverse? And any idea how much hp the 150cc engines make? Any performance upgrades available? Or is everything basically custom fab?
I think stock these GY6 style 150cc engines make around 11HP and with mods can make around 14HP. There are a bunch of bolt on performance upgrades for just about everything you want, I.e. suspension, steering, drivetrain, exhaust, safety, etc. Just depends how much you want to spend. All of the frame reinforcements I did were obviously custom fabbed and there won't be many if any bolt on options for that. There are some newer models from different manufacturers I'd recommend that have reverse stock. You can also add reverse boxes to these older models if you want but it's a bigger job. If you want something with reverse already or just something newer I'd be looking for an older Kandi 150cc or their newer 200cc, link below. With the right tires and drivetrain mods like better clutch packs and CVT roller weights for improved torque, these will do pretty well on smaller hill climbs and mud. I've had ours up 8-10' high 45 degree or steeper banks from almost a standstill at the bottom and much much bigger elevation changes with less grade and more momentum.
https://www.wholesaleatv.com/produc...MI5vDny4-u6AIVnf7jBx2D6gwtEAQYASABEgLnwvD_BwE
