Someone school me on split wheels.

[Ah_5500]

My kart has split 5 inch wheels with the studded tires and tubes. I'd like to put some of the wide race kart slicks on it. My questions are...
Can I use my wheels and put a spacer between them to get them to the correct width for the wider tires?
Do race kart wheels and tires use tubes?
Will my tubes work?
Thanks all

 

[jandj]

How wide a slick are we talking about?
Yes, you can use spacers.
Some race tires use tubes and some are tubeless.
How wide a tire you use will determine if you can use the tubes you have.
If you can, post a pic of the rims you want to use.

 

[itsid]

I have the feeling we talk about "vintage" split wheels and 4.10 knobby tyres here..

and I seriously doubt it's a good idea to mount 6.5" or 7" wide modern racing slicks on them..

not only because of the rims, but because of the kart as well

so yeah...

'sid

 

[Ah_5500]

Sid nailed the description.
Coming from someone with more experience than myself, why is it a bad idea and why does the kart style matter. Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[Ah_5500]

here's the kart

 

[itsid]

jandj explained that just yesterday ..
so allow me to be the one today ...

A modern racing kart flexes, so that the inner rear wheel lift in a tight turn.
vintage karts (even vintage racing karts) don't do that, so it's the inner FRONT wheel that lifts up the ground.
and that is a bad thing.. it can flip the kart upside down since you added enough traction to the rear (wide slicks) to not just slide the excesive g-forces out

On slower turns, a wide rear may look killer.. but it'll handle like crap;
vintage karts barely ever use proper Ackermann geometry, and the wider the wheels (rear wheels that is) the more difficult it'll be to take a good corner;
again.. modern race karts lift the inner rear wheel, so they do not have such problems.

'sid

[EDIT]
Oh a fun kart we're talking about..
Nice color btw... love it!

 

[jandj]

Depending on if they fit your rim, Azusa makes spacers that you can use to widen your rims an inch or two, so you could go with about a 5" wide slick. The catch is you want a hard slick which means you'll be buying Gus' Vintage Speed tires which although great tires aren't cheap.
My advice would be just buy some Ching Shin slicks that fit your rims and have fun sliding it around.
I will add (and this is from experience) that most fun karts do not have much in the way of steering geometry and are a bit high off the ground for serious thrashing so don't go all
WFO right off the bat!

 

[justinlogue5_0]

I think he is going to need a lot more than just an inch or two spacing to run that slick in the back ground, but I am no expert.

 

[jandj]

Most fun kart rims are 3" wide so with a 1 3/4" or 2"
spacer he can go 5" wide.
As I said, I'd go with the narrower Ching Shin or Kenda slicks that will fit the rims he has now.

 

[justinlogue5_0]

Most fun kart rims are 3" wide so with a 1 3/4" or 2"
spacer he can go 5" wide.
As I said, I'd go with the narrower Ching Shin or Kenda slicks that will fit the rims he has now.

Where can you find the above mentioned spacers? I am curious about these now.

 

[jandj]

Look in the Azusa online catalog.

 

[itsid]

azusa wheel spacers

'sid

 

[Poboy kartman]

I think he is going to need a lot more than just an inch or two spacing to run that slick in the back ground, but I am no expert.

 

[justinlogue5_0]

azusa wheel spacers

'sid

Thanks

 

[itsid]

you're welcome.. but there's a button for just that in the lower right corner of the posts...

'sid

 

[Ah_5500]

Thanks for the advice guys. What a wealth of knowledge. What I'd ultimately like to do is run the race tires for "rain" due to the different tread designs. Although not karting competitively they're pretty pricey but man would they look killer imo. I like offroad too much to commit to a true slick tire. I've also thought about getting a 6 inch rear and throwing on what I've seen advertised as "snow blower" tires. They should give the peg leg kart a little more dirt grip.

The tire in the back ground is for a 15x15 wheel which won't fit after installing the larger Baer brakes. The rear is now going to have a 20x15 so they're spares. I have a student building a drift trike that we set them on today, haha. I'll try to post a picture next week. Again thanks for the knowledge and kind words.

 

[justinlogue5_0]

azusa wheel spacers

'sid

I guess to use these you would have to weld on a new spindle to accomadate the wider wheels?

 

[Ah_5500]

No because you would use the same hubs.

 

[jandj]

Hold on....hubs?
Can you post a pic of the wheels you're talking about?
The vintage type split rims we've been talking about don't use hubs, they slide on the axle stub.
If you widen the wheel you reduce the amount of the stub that protrudes where the nut goes.
Just want to be clear so we're all on the same page....or maybe I'm just on the wrong page.

 

[itsid]

I guess to use these you would have to weld on a new spindle to accomadate the wider wheels?

not necessarily, but if you do not have a spacer behind the front wheels, or a very narrow one;
yes...
you'd better stay away from the wheel spacers, or buy new spindles.

No because you would use the same hubs.

Nope, not at all..
the azusa wheels the spacers are meant for DO NOT mount to a hub.
instead they directly mount to the spindle or axle (depends on front or back wheels of course)

'sid