I Built a Go Kart From Harbor Freight Parts
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Building a Go-Kart on a Budget Using ONLY Harbor Freight Parts!
I challenged myself to build a go-kart on a budget using only products from Harbor Freight! From the frame to the engine, I put together this DIY go-kart with affordable tools and parts-all while keeping costs low. Can I make it work? Watch the full build and see how it turns out!
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I can’t believe this happened 17:03😭
Why spoiler
I can't believe you made a pickle fork steering wheel!
Are you really surprised, come on Will if it's got wheels, you can wreck it.
In my experience, those wagon wheels barely survive 1 man power, lol.
Those wheels did that to me too, on my 70lb RC lawn mower that crawls along at 3mph, much less a friggin go-kart.
They found the finest mozzarella or somethin to make wheels out of.
imagine making a racing series where people are only allowed to go to hardware stores like harbor freight and building a kart for 500 bucks, and calling it the Harborfreight 500 or something silly
Like the 24 hours of lemons
That’s a good idea I think Bikes and beards built a mini bike from an engine hoist a predator engine and some misc parts.
I'd love to see a Top Chef-like competition!
Had some real Junkyard Wars vibes. man, I miss that show.
Wacky. Races.
This is a great idea, good job
@@BikesandBeards thanks dude love your channel
Time to challenge Craig to a $500 hardware store build off when the challenge wraps with Paul Sr!
@@Bummotorsport , I like his channel as well, but I also think that you could do some improvements to your go-kart build. First of all, I would double the rear brakes to your go-kart. Second, I would actually get some legitimate brakes put into the front of the go-kart with some more of those metal pieces. Third, I would get some more of those metal parts being reshaped/melted/reforged into more actual brake shoe shapes to attach to the front and rear brakes of your go-kart. One of the brakes would be for the obvious stopping of the go-kart, while the other brake would be used for the acceleration of your go-kart. Fourth, if you could get some decently priced brake lines from Harbor Freight, then I would get them as well for the go-kart. Fifth, your frame could use some bits of corrugated, and rust-proof, aluminum, or steel, to be hammered into shapes that give it a stronger, and more reinforced, floor, as well as a place to give your engine some more stability, and a general overall go-kart shape. Sixth, by adding those additional bits of metal, it should give your engine less wiggle room, as it would also have a stronger foundation to rest itself upon, thus making it less prone to wobble on the go-kart. Seventh, you should buy another shovel and put it perpendicular to the other shovel. Eighth, your shovel seats need decent padding if you are going to do any sort of endurance racing, as go-kart seats that have little to no padding on them tend to not be kind to behinds, or bodies. You should also make sure that they are fireproof as well. Ninth, although not a lot of people tend to think about this, but you should carry a fire extinguisher that can put out the kinds of fires that typically happen in vehicles, that is, buy a fire extinguisher that is built for vehicles, as well as have the compound that is needed to stop vehicle fires. Yes, I seem to be a bit of a safety warden here, but, as the saying goes, "It is better to have it, and not need it, than it is to need it, and not have it", and that is how you should view the fire extinguisher issue. Tenth, you should get more scrap bits of metal and try and make a legitimate racing car/go-kart/car steering wheel for your go-kart. Eleventh, and lastly, you need to give the go-kart a paint job as well. Yes, it might jack up the price around $USD 100 or so, but you already spent more money than what you wanted to spend with the new wheels, so you might as well take what you learned here and add my suggestions for overall improved performance to the vehicle.
What an awesome video. Gotta appreciate the confidence of youth, riding 37mph down a paved road, no protective gear, scrunched up behind a rod riding on four cheap Harbor Freight wheels that are prone to popping off. :D I miss those days. Keep doing what you're doing, boys! Have fun!
What really blows my mind about BUM builds is how they turn the breaking systems into a playground for experimental engineering.
😭😂 this is so true
concerning
I would like to ask what is BUM stand for?
@ building ugly machines
Curious about your location, are you in Nevada? 1st time seeing you guys. Great build
There's no wayy!!, me and my older brother was talking about building a cheap gocart build earlier and then I see this 🤯, this is why your gonna be an all time favorite off mine, keep it premium .
@@jacob_meredith420 thanks man!
Right
Wholesome comment til you realize his phone was listening
@@mrbeefy604that's was a awesome comment lol
I'm going to second another comment. This should be a regular yearly race series. The Hobo Fright 500. $500 build, all bought at Harbor Freight. Have awards for the coolest build, etc. :)
How much did they spend here?
Gives ACTUAL meaning to "driving it until the wheels fall off"!
As a fabricator, I honestly couldn't imagine building a Kart with a pile of Chinese junk.
You sound pretty unimaginative then @@robertbobin5053
You would never catch me using an angle grinder without the guard in place, I have had too many close calls with cut off wheels breaking and seeing other people get injured by not using the guard. I see so many youtubers using angle grinders without the guards.
On a side note, nice little go cart for cheap...
Great video! Folks, this is American ingenuity. Kids should be doing this in school! Only gripe, get some helmets guys, want to make sure y'all stay safe!
Be careful welding wheels with tires inflated. Can become a bomb. Just don't want to see you get hurt, brother! Great video, very good editing!
That’s a good point didn’t really think about that haha
They don't pop they just melt. Good advice I believe safety first. Luckily my guys have made this mistake before and it just smells and I have to order new wheels.
@FPV_LAB ha ha, no kidding!? I just remember a video called defuse the bomb, 2 guys welding on a semi wheel, exploded and it killed them both. Much higher air pressure. Bad deal.
@@montanamountainutv semi wheel for sure. Mine was on broadcast spreaders with a similar wheel from harbor freight. I appreciate you looking out though. Hidden dangers all around. Always better to be safe than sorry.
I like when people weld on live gas lines better. We used to weld on a 1000 gallon a minute line coming out of a production oil platform when the rust ate holes in it. Well I didn't. I watched from a safe 2 feet away as the fire watch.
Harbor freight has kneeling pads or even tool box drawer liner. Would be nice for a seat mod. Metal seats are harsh on the butt after a cpl mins!! Awesome build guys! Love it! Keep it up.
Kneeling pad is a great idea. I used that for my drift car when the race seat i bought had a MASSIVE cushion that put me into the ceiling.
Should do a welding tutorial video since so many of your videos make these projects accessible for newbies. Giving people the confidence to craft two pieces of metal together can change peoples lives
It changed my life 100 percent I’ll try to incorporate something like that in a future video
@@Bummotorsport I been pushing the Deboss Garage welder test vid... they luv'd the HFT $100 welder for crap just like this. Would great to incorporate how cheap a metal melter can be.
Yes this is a great idea@@Bummotorsport
If you do learn, wear a proper respirator you don’t want to inhale any of those fumes
Where have you been!?!?. I can't watch plumbing without all of you. All 3 of you had a perfect chemistry.
Watching this while eating lunch in the harbor freight parking lot. Maybe start the next one with a trailer!
Haha the trailer idea would be awesome!
So right off the bat I would make 1 change, and add 1 piece. The change would be to put that motor against 1 side of the axle instead of centered. That will make it to where you don't have to worry about hitting the engine, and you can have an actual back rest coming off of your seat. The second thing is that the front axle needs a lower control arm of some kind to keep it from sagging out like it does. That will improve your control dramatically, and make it much safer. Pretty entertaining to watch though guys!
I'd add one more thing: a helmet. Still so darned awesome!!!
Without being mr.critical, I would've liked the engine be braced, by adding another piece of material to triangulate the engine mount and reinforce it.
6:45 that steering column is a sternum breaker 9000 lol
Seeing the shovel used as a seat reminds me of one of my grandpa's stories when he was a kid. He and his brother had a junky old motorcycle (pronounced "motorsickle"), and they needed another friend to help push-start the engine so they took the seat from an old cultivator and put it on the back so he could ride along with them. I love seeing that old style of ingenuity and make-do still being practiced today. Hope you continue working on the kart and can take it around a course with some proper twisties some day.
This is what kids did back in the day. Love the imagination.
When warmer weather comes you could make a harbor freight air boat. I like your ingenuity 😂
That's a cool idea. But I'm more impressed with your shop.......in a storage unit? That is genius. Instead of renting a garage for your workshop and UA-cam videos for thousands a month and electric and water bills.....you probably have a 50 to 100 dollar storage unit rental. That is crazy smart. I've never seen someone do that before. I thought it was just a nice garage at first until I saw the outside. You got a new sub just for that alone.
My thoughts exactly, genius way to start out.
Very illegal in most places. Without special permissions, you'll likely get kicked out & get some nasty fines. I assume he's got permission tho (I hope)
@@jakezanders6598 I was thinking/wondering the same thing...most storage units don't allow this kind of stuff. I assume he has permission, and maybe his unit has its own separate electric bill for running that welder. 😆
You know, I have my doubts. The insurance a storage unit owner carries is very specific. And I guarantee it prohibits residency and work spaces. Additionally, at 9:18 it appears there is only a single outlet in the unit that they are running everything off of. 🤨@@jakezanders6598
And that unit is at least 200 a month
This is the first time I've seen one of your videos, and it cracked me up to see that your "garage" is a storage locker! AWESOME!
They cost as much as a house so he should be able to do whatever he wants lol
Wow this made me smile ear to ear. Just like struff we used to build.
That stainless steel aluminum is good stuff!!
haha yeah that's the most AL SS I've ever seen. Drills like it too.
Heck ya! Great Job BUM!
Thank you guys!
That was crazy, I can't believe it held up that long. Not because of you guys, but the metal that was used. Awesome job guys!! Thanks Ray
Super fun,....you gave this 71 year old man such joy. As a kid we'd built the worst go-carts from junk we had lying around, and we didn't have a way to weld anything so everything was bolted together and we used wood from old kitchen cabinets, and 2 x 4s, found bolts and nuts, and an old lawn mower engine. Fun! It helped if we drove down a road that had a downward hill.
Came here straight from cleetus McFarland. Your speed run cracked me up. Keep em coming.
what video?
What an absolute ball to watch. Great vid. Reminds me of when we were kids and made our own skateboards out of scrap two by fours and nailed steel wheeled roller-skates to them. I still can't believe we survived the late fifties and then the sixties. Damn we had fun and we didn't do drugs. We had no AI. It was just natural stupidity. Like I tell my son's if duct tape and a hammer don't fix it....then you got an electrical problem.
Yeah i built one too and towed it behind our bikes. wore holes in my shoes dragging them for balance... good old days
Dude that is a nice Subaru.
The kart is nice too
That camber tho at 1:34
I was thinking to do something like this by myself and dayum thanks BUM for giving me cool ideas
The Grind Hard crew would be proud. Great work, Will!
I love the fun and simplicity of this build! ❤
That's a cool machine from the cheapest parts possible. It's a winner 🏆.
You guys are awesome. Great build. Your shop is simple like most of us. I hope you pick up some advertisers like AG1. Keep us entertained and laughing, and you will make it big with UA-cam.
Whoa, that Harbor Freight is a helluva lot nicer than the one I go to
I pulled so many lawnmowers and weed eaters apart to get my two seater side by side go cart zoom! The nostalgia
This is a great video! Super fun watch!!!
Those wagons are handy for getting your stuff around at festivals. Would be baller to be rolling around camp on one.
Will your a big inspiration keep on posting 🔥
Thanks man that means a lot!
Great job guys!
Excellent job guys
You can always add some cords and a cut down tarp for a parachute.
Try a HF mixer and make a mini dump truck.
Weld a HF flat grill on top of the engine and grill up some fajitas.
Metal tubing, gas valves, cans of brake fluid, bag of nails, bic lighter. Build a Cart Cannon!
Bag of panduits, six weed trimmers. Build a high speed brush mower.
Oh the possibilities 😅
You guys should make your sprockets and mounts for motor to one side or the other, by mounting to the center it's giving room for flex, chain skip, and twisting. Move to one side or the other near the bearings and it will have more strength and the motor mount would have more strength from the side rails, but cool build otherwise!!! Love your content. You guys rock!!!
Woooo! Good job guys! Really inspiring!
I converted a red wagon into a ride on. I printed hub adapters that bolted to the 4 bolts on the wheel. Worked well enough to strip the nylon gears off the little motors.
BUM is so good. Easily one of my favorite channels, no question about it. Edit- that post hole digger was a great idea!!!!
@@Basilisk_in_a_dark_room thanks that’s awesome to hear!
I have this cart for my jet ski and have thought about turning it into a go kart for so long! Hyped to see you guys make it happen!
im always so jealous you guys have places like harbour freight, even if the quality of some products is questionable.
we just have B&Q which never has anything i ever want, and thats usually just basic tooling
It's good seeing youngsters with an imagination. Great video boys
so sick! please keep working on it and make it better!
Really happy with this youtube recommendation. Cheers
nice to see you on your own channel brother, this the kind of stuff i like about grind hard, you just brought a new level of jank to the team lol
Man i love that the brake literally just reinvented the original automobile brakes from like. The 1890s lmao
Love the video. I think it's great that you and your partner have found a hobby you can share. You can tell you both really had a great time.
Soo happy you upload on a Sunday 🤙
That wheel 😂😂😂😂love the channel I needed this 😊glade you got your own channel keep it up
Nothing but love. Great video
Best part of Sundays. Will.
@@robertwhipple3324 thank you!
Hi guys! I met Will a couple years back at Panera when he was at grind hard. I’ve got an older 2 stroke Polaris 90 quad I’d love to give you guys for parts or a frame or whatever. It’s a great motor but has so sort of electrical issue. Let me know if you’re interested. I’m in CDA.
@ yo that would be sweet! Our email is bumcommunications@gmail.com
What a cool idea! Great video guys!
If you guys haven't. You gotta delete the governor in the 212. It'll give you at least 2 or 3 hp
That jazz music was fire at 5 mins brother , love it , came here the day you left gh.
Heck ya dude thanks for the support glad you liked the music!!
For the money you saved shopping at HF you should have gotten a bench vice 😂
Shoulda got a vice while you were at HF lol
This video rocked guys...i LUV that i didn't see any Safety Karens screeching about those PREMIUM Carhartt helmets.😂
Also, small thing...I'd luv to "we" in the next title.🤘🏼🤘🏼
sick video fellas! you can put some rubber on the bottom of the brake “pad” to increase friction against tire for more stoppage.
Try and find an old Honda motor from anything and do a hundred mile challenge. Keep up the cool videos
That turned out way less jank that I expected. Good job.
That subie tho! Man of culture I see 🫡
I would have put a back on that seat and welded that back axle a little straighter so the wheel doesn't wobble. Also would have tightened the chain a bit more too but that's a dope build
Digging bar, post hole digger is like 2 shovels bolted together for pulling dirt out of a narrow hole.
Nice Impreza, I had a gf8 in college that I often wish I didn’t sell
We need to get you guys a square so that you can mount some front end without toed out wheels! Lol!
😂
first time seeing one of your videos. hope you guys make it big and move out of the storage unit. you guys deserve it
This was dope af
That is a great video. loved it!!
DUDE THIS IS A KILLER UA-cam VIDEO.
@@David_Hood thank you!
This is sick
What’s funny is how poor these videos are for a someone with years of UA-cam experience. But also how you get to look back on these videos and relish in the memories and time you got spend doing what you love and having fun. It’s enjoyable to watch.
hey previous harbor freight employee here, yeah if you ever get their tires bt sure to do some extra welding on them cuz the manufacturer that HFT hires does a super shit wielding job on those wheels, so its just makes your life easier to wield them in extra support. they ALWAYS break and we dont even ask what happened, we just always allow people to grab new ones when they do break
Made me smile !
Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today.
Cool idea. Glad I came across this channel 👍🏻
Absolutely swindled it boys!
Bro put a small gear differential on this thing it will be drifting and turning like perfect 👌
I liked how the CVT/clutch just magically appeared. Magically conjuring expensive parts really helps keep the price down.
Cvt are not that expensive
Use your skull, did you find the exact clutch they used, if your answer is "no" then maybe they didn't film it or maybe they had a extra clutch on hand
Does Harbor Freight sell CVT/clutch and sprockets? I mean they did just seem to magically appear with no commentary.
@@gabrielpowers766 understandable thats why I said maybe they have an extra
@gabrielpowers766 yep...... Hard to build a go kart using "only" harbor freight parts when they don't sell CVTs or even chain clutches.
i love seeing him do so well on this chanel!!!!!
I’m impressed. Nice job boys.
Your doing a great job putting out the content with out grind hard.
Sick. Gotta love the creativity it forced
I'm impressed considering what it's made of.
The problem with those wheels was that you were granny shifting not double clutching like you should, you're lucky you didn't blow the welds on the intake! great vid lol
You earned a like just for using Cult of the Lamb music. Fantastic game
im so happy yall changed the steering wheel. the vertical steering wheel was driving me bonkers lmao
Very entertaining. Thanks for the laughs.
I love this! Only thing I would have done differently was the rear wheel attachment. Definitely would have pressed the bearing out of the wheel and gotten a machine shop to turn the ends of the axle to the correct diameter for a press fit
I’m getting a kick out of this you guys are great and the cart is really cool. I don’t know if I’d say premium haha I love the raw enthusiasm though, super rad
2:20 dude js wanted to show off the whip 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Downright Inspired I am.
Fun idea and impressive execution! Gluing metal is truly a superpower.