Hey my son and I just finished this cool arachnid kart. But we're bummed out about the commet torque converter situation (out of business I guess). We decided to try a centrifugal clutch, but not too sure how that's going to work out. I'll have the clutch on this weekend. Is there any alternative torque converters being sold? If so, where? I have some pretty cool pics I'd like to send too. We followed your plans exactly and it worked out great and that's saying something for your plans because we'd never welded/fabricated before.
Arachnid
(48 posts) (12 voices)-
Posted 1 month ago #
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You can still pick up Comet Torgue Convertors on EBay. I just pick up a 40 series driver and driven and two belts for around $310 US. I am also building the Arachnid. Started cutting steel on the 17th of July, but waiting for componets to arrive from the USA before welding to confirm placement & Fit. I bought the 40 Series Comet because I am going to use a Honda GX390 (13HP) engine. Basicaly stock, just able to breathe a bit better than stock :). Do you have any pictures of your finished project available to view anywhere? I have everything in transit except for rims/tires. Did you go with the recommended size?
Posted 1 month ago # -
Silvergrizz, thanks for the heads up on the torque converter on ebay. I'll check it out. I have tons of photos and video from beginning to end. The finished product is really sweet. It's been a riot watching my 11 yr old son ride it around. He's still learning to drive (pushing the brake and gas at the same time! ha!), he even drove over an old stump by accident and he and the cart survived! I'd love to send in my photos and video but I don't know where to send them. We stuck to the parts list provided (tires/rims, shocks, brake, etc...). Pricey on the shipping since I live in Alaska, but everything is good quality though. We did make a few modifications - little different seat to accomodate a 5 point seat belt, put some plating on the bottom and sides of frame. Had some minor setbacks once my son started driving it, mainly due to nuts and bolts needing to be tightened, no major issues though. The cart is very responsive in the steering and my son is having a total blast! I can only imagine what this will do with a torque converter. Good Luck!
Posted 1 month ago # -
Davidlav25. How did you make out finding a TC. I should of asked you what engine you have on your kart. If its in the 6hp range then a Comet Tav30 will do. Be careful on Ebay with the 30 series, the chinese are making knock offs. No Knock offs on the 40 series yet. Also if you only need a 30 series, there is a new company in the states called GTC manufacturing that is making Torque convertors. There address is
http://gtcmanufacturing.com/Also, I am documenting my build on another site http://www.diygokarts.com. the link to my thread is http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8493
You could start your own thread there an upload pictures of your build. For the vidieo, upload it to Utube and just link it to your thread.. Very active at that site, often over 100 at a time online. great source for info on every aspect of Karting. There are several people over there documenting different spidercart build. Hope to see you there
BobPosted 1 month ago # -
Robert Dicken, I think you need to get on http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8537 and start providing a little tech support. Myself and Bill are both building Arachnids at this time and running into design issues. There are least 4 different threads ongoing on this site about Spidercarts. It routinely has over 100 people online at any one time. The primary concern is front suspension on the Arachnid at the moment and how it relates to steering issues. I have other concerns that probably are out of your control as they relate to parts that have has spec changes resulting in poorly fitting components. ie: shock mounts that have 1/2 holes that take shocks with 3/8 holes, introduces a lot of uneeded slop. Bottom line, jump in and provide some support if you want to stay in the game.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Silvergrizz. The GTC TC has taken it to a whole new level. We've been on back order with a reseller since May and it finally came. I got the TAV2-30 1" bore 40/41. The quality is very good. It fit perfectly, all I had to do was slide the engine up about a 1/2 inch and whola! Man it really goes now. My son is going to wear out the tires doing all those donuts! Keep trucking along. This little buggy rocks. I'll try to load some pics up too.
Posted 4 weeks ago # -
Hello all! WOW a lot has happened in the time I have been gone. Looks like we are building some karts! LOL I read through the other forum to see what was happening. I am back if any of you want to chat at this point. I have been out of the country for a few months and I am sorry for the no response. Looks like we have some pros here!
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Robert, first thing you need to look at is the frame width on the front suspension on the Arachnid, it needs to 6" not 5" in order to provide the correct geometry. Take a look at Bills thread, link above. he has posted a video of the finished product with the kinks worked out. It would be nice also to include more information about the requirement for Parallel A-Arms and more importantly parallel tie rods. Other factor that should be included is requirent for A-Arms and tie rods to travel in the same arc in order to avoid "bumpsteer". I am just starting on the rear suspension now, but out of 22 spindle brackets I got from BMI only 4 were in close enough tolerence to use for rear suspension brackets. Only way around this is to shim individual brackets to line up before welding. On the front suspension, did you consider the Ackerman principle in your design? Also in order to achieve front suspension travel, it can only be accomplished with the use of cone bushings for the heim joints or they will bind up early. The picture you include in the plans is impossible to achieve without them. Although I see none in the picture.
Would also like to see a recommended height range for each of the KARTS with perhaps options to lengthen for taller people.
Since your reading through the other forum, eprhaps you might jump in and offer some tech support.
Regards
GrizzPosted 3 weeks ago # -
Hi, I am looking at buying the plans for the Arachnid but before I do I was wondering how much on average did you guys spend on the frame it self? I got my self a 90 amp mig welder from harbor freight and it works pretty well.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Bacpacker8, if you mean just the steel, I picked up all required for 107.00 CDN, and I had to go to .10 as 14 guage was not available. I got mine from a steel supplier, don't go somewhere that sells it in 4 and 8 foot lengths, it will cost you 3 to 4 times as much. I gather you are in the US, look up steel suppliers in your phone book and give them a call, might want to try salvage yards as well. Here, ,locally, one of the biggest salvage yards also wholesales new steel at competitive prices. If you are talking all the hardware to have a rolling chassis, then I am up over $3000 CDN. That includes a 13HP Honda Clone, with a few racing add-ons. Header, air cleaner, bigger jets, etc.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Silvergrizz, Thanks! yea I looked up a steel supplier and I can get all the steel for 80 bucks. So I am going to try and take a welding class at my college to get better so I don't mess up the welds. But I was looking at a 15HP engine.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
backkpacker8, If you want to follow my progress on my build, I have a thread going here:
http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8493
I am following the plans basically with no mods other than the engine, which will require a different mount.
What brand engine are you planning on using?
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Oh cool!, I will have to check that out!. I think I am going to use a 13HP Greyhound engine. I just a poor college kid so I am tryin to save as much money as possible haha. I don't know if you can explain this or not but how does the torque converter work? and how do you you install it onto the engine?
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Silvergrizz, I looked at those pictures and it looks great!, what shocks are you using?
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Hi! Just bought arachnid plans and starting to build it little by little. I was wondering should I extend the lenght of the kart, I'm 1.93 meters tall (6.33'). How tall are other builders here :) ?
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
backpacker8, A simple explanation of a Torque convertor is think of it as an automatic transmission. It is simply two pulley's, a driver (on the motor) and a driven (on a jackshaft). There is a belt between the two that changes speed as it rides higher on the driven unit. If you do a search on Google for Comet Torque Convertor you will find sseveral manuals available. A Tav 30 was common on 6.5 HP engines but you need a 40 series to handle a 13 HP engine. You can still pick up genuine 40 series on EBAY, however the chinese are cloning the smaller series. There is also a new US manufacturer called GTC Industries that is building TC's.
The shocks are the ones specified in the plans, I picked them up off Ebay from BMI for less money than they want on their website. The are cheap chinese shocks though, probably better off to find ski-doo or atv shocks of a similar length for better quality.
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
KamiKaze, I am 5'11" and I'm thinking I should have stretched it out a bit. I am currently working on the front supension, back is finished, but I have not really sat in it with the seat and pedals rigged yet. A builder in the UK mentioned he stretched his by 5" I think, but I don't know how tall he is. Click on my link above and you can find mine, Bill's and Wobbly's (guy in the UK) build progress threads.
Where are you located?
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Silvergrizz,
OK I am here and have read all of the posts...
My work takes me out of the country quite a bit. Sorry for the delay. This is why I started the forum was in hopes that people could help each other out when I could not be here to answer questions. For the most part it works great!Here is the deal with the front end of the Arachnid and the GrandDaddy. Let me first let you know that I am not a mechanical engineer. I am a dad with a son and a shop. We love to build go karts and ride dirt bikes. I built the off road go karts upon request for some sort of front and rear suspension.
I have tried to design all of my karts so that the parts were cheap enough and the instructions easy enough that I anybody that was handy in the shop could build one.
The front end as designed in the Arachnid plans does work and it does work well and its cheap and easy to build. Can it be built better? Well obviously! We have one of these that we built as a prototype and we have a blast with it. We don’t get steering bump and it handles 4 wheeler trails just fine. I learned all I know on a farm, not school. We built things that worked and held up.
If the plans can be adjust to a more scientific accuracy then I am more than willing to add in your notes or even change the plans. I just put together what I knew would work and it does.
I am sure I have typos in the plans and made some mistakes in them. I do apologize for any of the honest mistakes and please let me know where they are and I will fix them.
Posted 2 days ago #
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