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If you look at the left rear axle/frame area in the above photo...that's how bent the right front is. Any advice for straightening it and getting the right front back to where it needs to be?
Last edited on Mon Oct 30th, 2017 04:52 am by saltcoupe
Saturday I started stripping the kart. In this photo you can see that somebody in their infinite wisdom welded a piece of what appears to be rebar under the front of the frame. (I'll be removing that). Also the right front is bent. Any advice for straightening that and getting it back to where it should be?
Short answer: unless that rebar was added by someone trying out their new arc welder, you'll probably want to hang a new front axle & bumper on it.
Also, before you get too far, be sure to check for Dart Sag*.
Longer answer:
There were a TON of Darts made (and that's a very good thing), over the course of 50 yrs. Naturally, a large portion of them have lived rough lives... think "Dukes of Hazzard" re-enactments...
At the time Rupp decided to fold their tent in the early '70's, one of their biggest customers was RobRon, a kart shop in S.C. RobRon had been fulfilling a need in that region by buying the Rupp karts in their kit form and reselling them assembled. RobRon ended up buying everything related to Rupp karts and began producing them in S.C.
Forty-five or so years later, RobRon is Robert Stanton, a karting legend and super nice guy. He was on this forum not long ago, and provided his new phone number. I would ask him for a price on new front axle & bumper. A good welder & fabricator in your area could use the bumper to align the axle/ bumper subassembly to your chassis to give you the correct caster angle, and be done in a jiffy.
*Dart Sag is a name I just made up, so I'll define it as the inevitable outcome of a too-big kid jumping over a too-big General Lee Jump, causing one or both of the main rails of the frame to bend, right where they intersect with the steering hoop. It's only metal, so you bend it back, I suppose.
