What To Look For When Making That Racing Go Cart Purchase

Provided by:  BoneKarts.com - Rob Elting

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With all the choices in chassis and motors, it can become a dilemma if you don't know what you are looking for when making that racing go cart purchase. If you have an unlimited racing budget, then by all means just buy all new stuff, any of the major go cart manufacturers make a great product. If your racing budget is small, and you are looking for the right cart for your money, I will give you some things that I look for in buying a potential cart for resale, or for personal use.

Overall appearance is most important, because you can see just how well the cart has been treated by the way it looks at first glance. From there I look at the axel and all components linked to it, I am looking for the axel to have little or no rust on it and I spin the tires to make sure the axel isn't bent, and that the bearings roll free. You should not hear the bearings when the axel is turning, if you do they will need to be changed soon.Then check the brakes out to make sure there are no leaks in the system and the brake petal is solid when pushed down, and also that both sides of the caliper are working properly. When checking over the steering, you can tell if the cart has been maintained or bolts checked regularly by the amount of play in the steering wheel, remember loose bolts cause stuff to wear out faster. Finally lift the cart up and inspect the underside of it out for scratches and or gouges in the frame, the underside will tell the real story of wear, lots of scratches and dings, means lots of racing...............few scratches and dings means one of three things, a good driver, a good painter, or you actually have a go cart chassis that is a good candidate for you to buy.

When buying used motors, whether its a 2 or 4 cycle, you must be prepared to have the motor gone thru unless the seller is a trusted cart seller or will guarantee what your getting will be race ready. As long as the motor runs and you can test ride your cart you should be ok, remember this, if the guy you are buying the go cart from has a problem starting it, it probably is a sure sign you will have the same problem when you get the cart home. On the other hand you would be amazed at the good deals I have bought that ran bad and were fixed with the replacement of the spark plug! Good lesson learned, go carts foul spark plugs, I don't know why, but they do, so change your spark plugs regularly.

A go cart that comes with extras can be a blessing or a pile of garbage, depending on the parts and pieces that come with it. Good parts are useable gears and wheels and a kart stand and starter. Bad garbage parts are old chains, wore out gears and a bunch of cracked up sidewall tires that you will never use and will just clutter up your soon to be taken up space in your garage. Price is the determining factor............ don't pay to much for what you are buying. Do your homework, check on what the new price would be for what you are looking at. A good price for good used go carts and parts would be around half the new price, if the cart you are looking at is like new then buy accordingly, some carts are worth almost new price, as some just don't ever get ridden much less raced.

If you are making an online purchase, have the seller send you close up pictures of the cart from all four corners, so you can get a good look at the frame and components. be careful when making online purchases that use a good buying outlet that tracks their buyers as well as sellers, so you don't get ripped off.

Well I hope this will give you a little help in making that racing go cart purchase, and don`t worry no matter what you buy, you can win with it, just stay at it, and remember practice makes perfect.

Till Next Time, Stay Tuned