Suspended rear chassis

[Terry Bentley]

Looking for pics, info, input, ideas on rear suspended chassis. Basically like the McCulloch, Cates, Kavalla, and Hellcat. Wanting to isolate the motor mounts and/or axle. Outside the conventional swing mounts. I dont want six axle bearings on a dual frame. There were plenty of one off karts with good ideas that never made the mainstream. Put your thinking hats on and see what you can come up with. Any closeups of a Cates or other similar setups would be great. Any input at all would be greatly appreciated.

I think this Kavalla setup is awesome.


This is more of what I have in mind like on a Hellcat.

[david a luciani]

hi terry ,
i just got a special made from a neal kart with the fox kart box mount set up on the back.
will get you some pixs.
dave

[Terry Bentley]

I noticed the Red Bug in 1964 had a nice suspended rear assembly. Anybody got one to share pics?

[ted johnson]

You need to remember that tests were done many years ago that indicated that rubber mounted engines were not as efficient in transmitting power to the rear wheels as were solid mounted engines. The kart may be more comfortable to drive, but..... You'll notice that the rubber mounts went by the wayside in the early days of sidewinders.

[Tom Smith]

Terry, If you go with something like the Cates suspension set up you can adjust the handling with the torsion bar. I don't think the other suspended axle karts were adjustable but I don't really know for sure.
The first time I drove a Cates Kart convinced me to get one ASAP. Later I worked on a kart team that ran a C-open Cates enduro kart with a Margay dual engine gear box, it used the gearbox suspension mounts which were the same as the single engine none engine side suspension mounts. Those are single bearing units. Tom

[Terry Bentley]

I have owned a couple Cates karts when growing up. They were obsolete and cheap at the time. I would like to clone one of the later suspended ones if someone had an aluminum mount I could duplicate. My dad raced Cates back about the time I was born, but sold everything by the time I started school. I bought an old one of the supsended models the summer before high school. I wore that thing out riding until the Mc 30 blew up. The karts were built about 45 miles from where I am. The last I heard Lynn Cates wife was still alive, but thats been a while. I dont think anything is left of the barn he built the karts in. I still have a couple off the cast aluminum steering wheels, spindles, motor mounts, caliper mount, and round side tanks for enduro. The Cates has gotta be one of the simplest easy to build designs and handled so well. If someone has a motor mount that they could loan out, I would love to make a plaster mould from it to cast some up.

[Dominic Salvato]

My first edition 1961 Cates is a fascinating Kart. Hollow rear axle and suspended fiberglass seat. Hardly any rotating weight with scrub brakes. Magnesium Hands wheels.

[Terry Bentley]

I have been wanting to get measurements of your Cates frame, if you would be willing to take some accurate dimensions.

I can date a Cates kart back to 1959, with basically no major changes during production until the suspended chassis was introduced. The was an upgrade kit available for the older chassis.

[Tom Smith]

Terry, I have a small file started on Suspended Cates Karts with some source info like the king pin bushings, spindle bolts etc. and some of the basic dimensions although none of the compound miter angles and exact lengths required to produce the outer frame sections. I have a frame I cut apart to use to make a jig for one some day soon. As you know each suspension mount incorporated 2 sets of Lord Mounts. I have not been able to locate replacement Lord Mounts. They get thrashed out on karts that were abused or not maintained well. Maybe you can research a source for them. Lord made or (?) still makes hi end mil-spec vibration isolators and I have a feeling Cates may have used military surplus Lord Mounts. Tom

Lord mount .JPG

(732.56 KiB) Not downloaded yet

Cates F. axles, steering supprts & arms, seat mounts .JPG

(831.32 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[Dominic Salvato]

Be glad to help out.............