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The previous owner of my Mac R-200 used it as sort of an off road vehicle. The front axle needs some serious straightening. It has been pushed back about 8 degrees on each side. The majority of the axle itself is not curved, with the deflection occuring where the frame and axle meet. My plan was to clamp down the frame, and clamp a long cheater to the axle tube, and pull it straight. I have access to a torch (which might make it easier) but I'm not sure what the tubing is made of. Any thoughts out there as to how this project may be done. I don't want to heat it if it's chromoly. Thanks.

would like to here what others say ..myself i look at each kart as to what im going to do with it ..if its racer or shelf material .85% percent of my personal stuff gets retsored and set on a shelf ..the ones i ride are unrestored pretty straight units to start with ..the none racing ones get whatever it takes... heat ,put on a jig,cheater bars ,swearing,welding ..sometimes all of the above at the same time ..like i say interested to here whats good or bad ...someone will tell us ..

hi mike,

there is no reason not to try to straighten the axle if it's tweaked.
but if it was me i'd not heat it until you try to just straighten it with force.
the real worry you have is if the metal stretched at all.
if so there's no good way to unstretch it and when you go to straighten it it'll buckle.
no loss as it's not usable now.
heating the axle will often times create a buckle too and can make the metal brittle internally.
and sometimes when you straighten a bent tube you can create a micro crack which will eventually fail.

my preference is to replace the axle if it doesn't pop back easily.
there was a guy on the forum who blueprinted the mcculloch frame i think the axle spec will match.
maybe you can look through the old posts and find that info.

if you have a blueprint spec there's guys on the forum that know people to bend up new ones.
i believe john mccovey ie: puttnikdude has someone.
hope this helps
dave

Hey Dave,
I was leaning toward trying it cold, but want all the input I can get. I get what you are saying about the micro fracturing. Replacing the front axle is not a huge deal, and I'll have the floor pan out already. Still it's time I could spend doing other things.
Reference the getting caught with too many toys. She asked me yesterday if I could find another deal like the R-200, would I go after it? I hemmed and hawwed, she interupted and said, "If you can bucks, you should do it, besides you get a kick out of this stuff". Textbook definition of keeper. Or was it because we'd just watched American Pickers? Other than 27 inches of new snow life is good. Thanks for the input.
Mike

Hi Mike,
The McCulloch frames are made from mild steel.
The rt front axle on my R1 was bent up a bit and back about 10 degrees or so before I restored it.
No big deal, a big rubber hammer and a good eye for things being straight got it back close to perfect in short order. I didn't reinforce the axle stubs like a lot of people do, just bent it back and have been running it for 2 seasons now with no problems. I even like the way it handles with my dual Mc20's once I got used to it. Nice vintage kart, feels just like the old days.
Good luck with the R200, that should be a nice handling kart when you are done. I like to keep in mind that I am not out to beat the track records or win a bunch of races with my karts so if the front end geometry isn't perfect, i can't even tell. These old karts mostly slide around the corners anyway so as long as you are close, the kart should be fun to drive and you will get used to any idiosyncrasies within a few times out.
Most of all have fun,
Scott Kneisel
Farmington, NY