An Old Fashioned Bogie Kart

by HUKBMBEAR

24K11412

Intro: An Old Fashioned Bogie Kart

Kids bikes are becoming so cheap, and once your kids used and abused it, there is very little use for another child, so what can you do with it.????

The answer is simple you buy another in exactly the same condition, strip them both down for the wheels and make a Bogie (go kart). This not only gives you fun in making it but also extra life for parts of bikes that would otherwise be on the scrap heap.

This is an entry into the Wheels competition - if you like please vote

STEP 1: Parts List

For this my parts list is all recycling materials (with the exception of the bolts and eyes)

The wheels from two frog bikes (one my sons' the other £2.00 from a car boot sale)
11 cm Tongue and Groove floor boards (left overs from replacing a floor cut to 60 cm lengths plus some odd peices
10 cm by 4 cm left from a garden fence - you will need 1 bit 125 cm long and two bits 55 cm long
Side styling - anything to hand - this is not just decoration it helps protect fingers from the wheels - I used an old living room chair we no longer needed.
Steel 2 pieces 50 cm by 4 cm and 5 mm thick
55 cm length 4 cm by 2.5 cm scrap
11 coach bolts
2 eye bolts
length of rope

Please note that although I have give some sizes - they are not really important - if you make one of these then use your child and scale the cart from there on (add a little for growth this is a toy that will last a long time - years not weeks)

STEP 2: Axle's

Star by stripping the wheels from both bikes and remove the axles (make sure you don't lose the bearings.). Also remove any cogs from the rear wheels they will not be needed for this project.

You will be left with 4 axles clean them up and pair them - this is important as you want to have similar wheels at the front and rear. If you look at the axles and the nuts you will note that two will be thinner than the others, these are from the front wheels of the bike - I used those for the front wheels of the cart.

The axles of the cart are made by welding the bike axles to a piece of steel - now I can not weld so for this part I took the studs to a local garage who did the welding then charged me and gave the money I handed over straight to my son (nice people).

Take a look at the pictures you will see the completed axles once I had reassembled the wheels.

STEP 3: The Chassis and Steering

Take one of the 55 cm beams and make a notch in it at the half way point that is large enough to sit the long bean in, then on the other side along its length make a recess to take the steel on the axle, st the ends you will need to remove a little more material as the welded part of the bike studs will be facing up into the beam. (repeat this for the other 55 cm beam which will be the front axle).

Clamp the axle with the rear bike wheels to the first 55 cm beam and then to clamp the 125 cm beam into its notch - allow it to over hang at the rear by approximately 15 cm then drill a series of holes along its length to tak the coach bolts used to hold it together.

Repeat this clamping and drilling process for the front axle then use a long coach bolt and two large washers to attach the front axle - for all bolts I used locking nuts , but also applied thread lock as well.

The rear needs 5 holes the front only three. on the front put the other two holes close to, but missing the weld at the wheels the use the eye bolts with large washers front and rear - this is where you will be attaching the rope

STEP 4: The Body

Cut some scrap T&G to pack up the space from the rear axle to the top of the long beam on both sides. and cut some extra as well

The extra is used to form a cross beam support for the front of the seat (see the last picture) basically use the scrap spacers and a length of the T&G to sandwich it over the 125 cm beam. I also used the added 4 cm bean as a strengthener under the cart.

When you are ready clamp it all together and start putting the bolts in (use your children as counter weights if needed.

For the steering I had one of my children sit on the cart and hold her arms out, I then ran a length of rope from one eye to on the front axle to the other while she held onto it. Then tied the rope off at a comfortable length.

This was to be the end of the cart, but I realized that the kids would at some point put their hands down to hold onto the sides with the potential for them to get trapped in the wheels so I used the sides from and old chair to give the cart some stylish and functional sides.

A further improvement was added once they started to use the Bogie and I found out that more often than not I was to be the motor (either pushing or pulling). This addition was a screw eye at the rear into the overhang of the 125 cm beam. I then used and old curtain pole fitted with another eye as a push rod making it easy to both push the cart as well as stop it and also easing the pain on my back.

I hope you have enjoyed this one and take the time to look at my other guides as well as voting for this in the Wheels competition.

9 Comments

Muddy Knees 7 years ago

What a fantastic kart - that looks brilliant! Can I suggest sack trolley wheels as another option? They tend to be a little stronger when cornering.

If anyone is looking for a bit more of a helping hand I run a small business called Muddy Knees making Wooden Go Kart Kits. Please feel free to have a look atwww.muddyknees.co.uk. We're always happy to hear from kart builders, even if you're're not looking to buy a kit.

Thank you, Wulstan

ContraptionMaker 9 years ago

Congrats on being a finalist!

HUKBMBEAR 9 years ago

Thanks glad you liked it, its nice being a finalist

TrollFaceTheMan 9 years ago

Cool!

audreyobscura 9 years ago

So rad! I had a sled that kind of worked the same way.

جنائبی 9 years ago

عکس جد

TrollFaceTheMan 9 years ago