Go Cart

Caleb has been wanting to build a go-cart for a long, long time. He actually got money to spend toward supplies for his 13th birthday over a year ago. But, winter came, wheels were hard to find, neither he nor Tom quite knew how to approach the whole thing so go-cart building came to a screeching halt. Then last spring Caleb found some perfect wheels on an axle at DI. (They are actually motorcycle training wheels--folks like me didn't know such a thing existed.) But another set was still needed. Months later our little red tricycle got a some rough treatment and snapped in half (big boys really shouldn't ride tricycles!). Bad fortune turned good however because now Caleb has some back wheels for his car. Tom and Caleb worked together on it every now and again, but were stumped on brake logistics. So go cart building resumed its place on the back burner. Then we realized my parents were coming down for the BYU's homecoming extravaganza and the TCU game and they had a day to spend with us. Perfect time for Grandpa to help Caleb tackle the brake problem. And in one day, it was finished! The grin on Caleb's face says it all. There are still a few tweaks Caleb wants to make like getting faster back wheels, lining a few parts with diamond plate, adding some reflectors and numbers etc. But having this much done is so awesome. Thanks grandpa!

Trying it down our steep driveway. Steering is done with a rope that runs through eye screws that are on a board that is attached with a single large screw.
You can see how they made the brake work: the pedal is a piece of wood that is attached with a hinge then goes back to a piece of wood on the back that has and old tire piece on it. When the pedal is pushed, it pulls the board to put pressure on the back wheel. Pretty cool!
Caleb's first passenger was Tessa. Both loved the ride down the slight incline we live on (although, it was way too slow for Caleb!).