newbe needs help with my rupp dart

[Jim Waltz]

Scott your kart looks great I, be happy if mine looks half as good as yours.Thankyou everyone for your Imput. I got a lot to learn.What did we ever do without Internet, so much info and you guys are great

Mel,

One thing you should know about your first generation Azusa aluminum wheels is that they take an axle that steps down from 1" to 7/8" to 3/4".  This is not at all obvious just glancing at the wheels and the axle, but is very important, as almost all the vintage wheels go 1" to 3/4".  

If you have the axle that the wheels were on, that would be a pretty rare combination of parts.  Someone wanting to restore a Go Kart 800 would be very interested in them.

FYi.

[Scott Elkes]

Looks like my frame. The experts on Darts tell me that if it has the 1/2" steering it's a '61.

The 1/2" steering shaft continued up to the early, Fall of 1962, 1963 Model Year Dart Karts, then transitioned to the 5/8" shaft late 62, early 63.

Not seeing the center bolt with the three bolts in the steering hub, leaves me wondering. My friend had a 1960 Dart K Road Runner that came without the center nut--not a swing mount kart!
 I'm with Chris that it may be a late 60 or 61. The Dart A-Bone model was introduced as a 1961 model year (Fall 1960 introduction). Introducing the swing mount. My understanding Black seats were typical for the A-Bone, not sure on the white. They were available and came that way before 1960.

[Vern Bergman]

Mel makes a good point. Without the internet all this would not have happened.
Welcome Mel!
Vern

[Scott Elkes]

im guessing it should have 4" front 5" rear turbins but scott elkes would know for sure
tk

1961 (A-Bone) - Go Power (Mags). 4" front, 5" Rear. (prior to 1960 or 61, Darts used a different wheel, unfortunately I do not know the name. They were more similar to the Hands wheel?

1962 (A-Bone) - Grand Prix wheel introduction using  4"front / 5"rear. Tapered frame rails, pedals mounted ahead of the front axle (Before that in the frame behind the front axle.)

Late 1964 Grand Prix (?) / 1965 Grand Prix for sure came with 5" wheels all the away around. Rupp had the tendency to use up the old stock first, then going to new stock. When production ran out, in came with the new during the model year.

[Terry Bentley]

   


1961 Dart with welded mount.

[Mel Ruffner]

        [attachment=1256][attachment=1256]        

Mel makes a good point. Without the internet all this would not have happened.
Welcome Mel!
   Vern

HI  my rupp has a steal swing arm  and does have the axle. Here are a few pics when I first bought it

[Al Peckenpaugh]

Take a good look at the pedals on Scott K's kart. If you're over 5' tall, and want to run your kart, get every inch of legroom you can. I'm 6'1" and can't stand more than 2 laps in mine. Original pedals! But I have 3 others I fit in.....

[David Luciani]

mel,
look at the axle and confirm it has two stepped areas where the wheel mounts plus a stepped thread.
if it doesn't you'll need to have the axle re-machined to fit the rims.
i've dealt alot with gokart 400 800 and 1200 frames as restoration candidates.
a very few have the original rear rims still on them.
the rims are extremely hard to remove without damage . the double step adds another layer of friction and corrosion lock points.
typically the wrong axle was used when a rear rim comes off easy.
then the axle area inside will be all goobered up because a wrong single step axle was used as a replacement.

i do have pix of the exact axle you need from a home built kart that came with those rims.
if i remember i'll post pix on this thread.

i bought the whole kart from a friend who is also a picker.
have no idea where he found it but it must've been dry storage for all these years.
the frame had no rust and the early azusa rims were pristine all around .
the rears just slid off as if they'd been mounted last week.
the kart also had the typical big washer style bearing mount on the rear.
back in the day azusa would sell wheel kits with everything needed to create your own machine.


even though they aren't 100% correct i'd leave them and build the kart back as found.
as far as getting yours as nice as scotts take your time and you'll have a kart just as nice imho.

[Mel Ruffner]

Dave I checked my axle and yes it has 2steps and threaded part. Now I have another question. The axle has a threaded nut on the end ,but not drilled for cotter key and I don,t think there!s room to drill one.Would I be able to run it at a vka event or the big one ? Is there someway to safety wire it , with out drilling a hole in it?

[ted johnson]

Dave I checked my axle and yes it has 2steps and threaded part. Now I have another question. The axle has a threaded nut on the end ,but not drilled for cotter key and I don,t think there!s room to drill one.Would I be able to run it at a vka event or the big one ? Is there someway to safety wire it , with out drilling a hole in it?

Mel, the axle undoubtedly came from a Go Kart 800, along with the wheels. These axles were notorious for being too short for a cotter pin outboard of the axle nut. The common solution is to drill through the flat of the nut and the axle. It's a difficult thing to line up the holes for drilling unless you can drill the nut and axle after assembly. It's hard to do that, because the nut is recessed too far from the rim of the wheel. If you can drill through all the flats, you have a better chance of lining things up. Some CAREFUL measurements are required. I've done a couple, but not easily! Ted