05-19-2020, 02:37 AM
My one attempt at correcting some bad front end wear is taking needle bearings from a Mc piston and press into the spindle that originally was for 5/8 bolt. I had to ream it out to fit bearing, but no big deal. Then used some nice ground and hardened step bolts. Also used thrust washers/needle bearings at top and bottom. This way I could tighten down the bolt until there was no play at all without any binding.
I cut a stepped spacer to reduce down the C channel to fit smaller bolt. It was also was machined with recess to act as a shield for needle bearing too. There was just enough clearance to place an oring under thrust washer to seal out the elements. I put more work in to this than was really necessary, but fun to do at the time.
It was a remarkable improvement over the original stuff. I would not hesitate to do something like this again on certain old karts. Some need it badly others not so much.
I cut a stepped spacer to reduce down the C channel to fit smaller bolt. It was also was machined with recess to act as a shield for needle bearing too. There was just enough clearance to place an oring under thrust washer to seal out the elements. I put more work in to this than was really necessary, but fun to do at the time.
It was a remarkable improvement over the original stuff. I would not hesitate to do something like this again on certain old karts. Some need it badly others not so much.