Who Makes Their Own Kart Stands?

[Justin Martin]

Hey guys, thanks for the positive input! I will be building a stand, mainly because of past experiences. Being that I do have quite a bit of experience in fabing I enjoy bring able to add the little quarks and special touches that you can with your own product. (You should see our pit truck st desert races. Hands down probably the most awesome rack you will ever see. We don't have signal loss on the radio like some other teams, we have a 100 footttall telescoping antenna that folds down and is incognito on the truck. We also have our compressor tank built into the rack tubing so you would never known except for the hose jack. Our radio body, the actual unit itself fits snugly into a notched and boxed part of the rack)

Also after making my rolling stand I will eventually make a vertical stand that lifts off the ground when rolled into my trailer hitch, therefore I don't need to pull a trailer...


Tracy, I did get a rotax /intrepid cruiser and will be running at PKRA. I'll have to spend most my time down here in Tucson at Musselman, but will get up there as much as possible, probably, mainly for the club races.

[Brian Degulis]

I'm just getting back into this sport and a good lift is important to me because I to have back issues. I've looked at a number of lifts and yeah they aren't complicated. I also own a company that builds tug boats so I have everything one could want in steel fabrication equipment all ready to go. Will I build my own? Probably not. First I'd need to design it or get measurements from an existing lift. Then I need to build it sandblast paint and assemble. Then I need a quality winch and casters. The idea that I could have a finished product for $250 is not realistic. The winch and casters will cost more than that.

I think if you have the capability and the equipment and it's something that interests you or you have a better idea then great go for it. For me I don't have any interest in lifts. I just need to have one that works. So I'll buy one and use the time saved doing something I enjoy like practicing on a track!!!

[Britt Robinson]

[Kyle Geddes]

Lightweight, has wheels, and available everywhere!

Take the actual bbq part off, any extra tables, holders, etc, voila.. a kart stand!

The only thing i need to do on it, is zap it with my mig welder in a few spots to strengthen the legs etc.. then maybe i'll add a couple casters to the front.

[Mike Goebel]

[Justin Martin]

Well, for those Nay Sayers, here is the home made Kart Stand. Our shop has been extremely busy building Race Trucks, as well as a new King Of The Hammers Truck, therefor there was quite a delay with producing my own Kart stand.

All said and done it cost me $240 in material. It uses the same 2,000lbs Badland winch as the Kartlift brand, as well as the same casters.

The stand features a simple fold down handle, that utilizes the same bolt as the trailer hitch. Inside the male end of the hitch (on the rack) is a welded in self locking bolt, so that when on the truck and tightened up, the rack doesn't sway. The V "arms" that hold the kart are adjustable height with 3 positions. A standard medium, one 6" high and one 6 inches low. We shaped the hooks so it will both lift the kart off the ground, and out of the back of a mid size truck. The handle is designed to unbolt from the up position, at this point you power the winch, which sucks the handle down to lock the arms in place for a slop and worry free trip on the back of your truck. It took us 12 hours, but the next stand could be reduced to about 6 or 8 after setting up proper jigs.

This was done with limited bending of any tubes. A Simple Plasma, Grinder, Tubing Notcher, and 220 Miller Welder. It was built out of my brothers shop, that is normally used for building Desert racing vehicles. (trophy trucks, buggies, etc....)

I am in no means trying to disgrace or take away from kart lift, or streeter. Rather I am showing that it CAN be done for much cheaper, at the same level of quality...

Also, for those who said I COULDN'T do this, and were very insulting in their comments.

This stand easily lifts the kart, with me in it. We weigh in at 365 for Rotax SR

[Justin Martin]

PS. This is the first prototype.

There will be a few things done to lighten her up, as well as improve some ease of use. Such as eventaully doing a self tightening "quick release" type receiver bolt

[joseph hollinger]

Any idea where you can get an inner tube for those tires?
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A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. -- Winston Churchill.

[Andy Seesemann]

[Justin Martin]

Joseph, they are standard 8" caster wheels. Tubes can be found at most hardware stores, or worst case harbor freight.

Andy thanks for the compliment.

Truthfully this stand could be build with a 110 welder and a grinder with flap wheel, grinding wheels and cut off wheels.

We did not use any of our high end equipment.

We DID use a tubing notcher, but this size tube can easily be notched with a grinder. I have done it hundreds of times before the shop was succesful.

There are however no complex bends or anything crazy that would use expensive equipment. The long cuts on the front wheel braces (the one on an angle) were cut with a plasma, however it COULD be cut with a cutoff wheel on a grinder....

Everything else was pretty straight forward. I did buy $96 in tubing, but only used half.

My brother often looks for projects in between truck builds, when it is slow. After building this one he thinks he can get hem done for the same price as the big names, pretty easily. One day of cutting tubing for 6 stands and 2 days to build six stands. The first one of course took awhile as plans change and develop during the build.... Figuring different things out, speedbumps, etc.

However I have no reason to believe that if it were jigged and you spent a day preparing tubes you could easily bust out two stands a day for one man. It just comes down to how many you can sell...

It all depends how much you consider your labor worth.... Yes, building a race truck is MUCH more extensive, and labor would be quite a bit more. However these stands are quite simple, and one man doing 6 stands a week and selling for 700 would bring in ~$400 ish per stand, so 1,600-2,400 a week, market permitting (selling4-6 stands). That's not half bad, especially if a fab shop happens to be slow.

Anyhow.... I am not saying the others are over priced. But if you have a welder, a grinder and the will to do so, you can have yourself a very nice stand for under $300. It doesn't take a powerful welder for this tubing, its not all that thick. Our experience in trucks compiled into pretty decent knowledge of what we can get away with strength wise. With the bracing as seen in my stand you can use fairly light 1x2 tubing.

[joseph hollinger]

[Doug Ring]

Looks like a good "first take", Justin. I have one of Tim's stands, and I'm a very happy customer. A while back, he switched from a cable to a strap winch, which seems to work just fine.

Now, the key question - how well does it hold up in the field? Picking up a 260# shifter (yep, that's what I need to scale at 405#) over a full season or two? Per Joe's comment, I also worry a bit about the wheels - my experience with rolling stands has been "the bigger, the better". Also, working with Harbor Freight parts is a two edge sword - they sure are cheap to procure, and replacements are easy to get, but quality is always questionable. I know, the Badlands winch comes from HF...

[Justin Martin]

Joseph, prior to buying these wheels I confirmed they are at both Ace hardware and harbor freight. Also I found them at Lowe's after the fact.

8" casters are pretty standard and easy to find.

The bolt holes are also ovals cut at a 45* compared to the edges, pretty easy to replace the entire caster if something happens....

[Justin Martin]

Doug, a 205 pound kart would be no problem, as mentioned mine lifted myself, in the kart. Together we weigh in at 365.

As for Harbor Freight I completely agree. The only product purchased form HF is the winch. And I only bought this particular winch is because it is the same winch used on kartlift stands. If you question the quality of mine, might want to check yours as they use the same components.

All bolts and hardware are grade 8.

Tubing is picked up from our steel yard where we normally buy tubing for race truck cages.

I do agree with the strap. It is a very nice touch, and I thought about going that route. I chose to keep the cable, as it is detachable to use in other ways, such as collapsing the stand and holding it together while down.

I surely don't see why this stand wouldn't hold up. We are used to building trucks that can withstand thousands of miles in the desert.

The hardware as mentioned is grade 8, we used 3x delrin bushings on all pivots. The pully is mounted on bearings. All high stress joints are gusseted.

If this doesn't last as long as the hardware I saw on the kartlift I would be surprised. Now I agree that kartlift, as well as streeter put out a great product for those who don't have the means of building. However, for those that do, as mentioned same equipment, grade 8 hardware, strong tubing, felting bushings, all for under 300 and 6-12 hours of building depending on how you design it etc. That's less time than most people spend on home improvements once in a while.

[Tim Koyen]

Looks pretty good Justin.

I don't like your choice of wheels and casters, those are pretty cheap and the bearings wear out fast, but for your own stand, (and not one that customers will complain about) I could see using them as they are easily available from HF. No need to worry about innertubes, the wheels are so cheap, just buy new ones.

I really like the way you mounted the pulley on the handle, thereby moving it higher and giving you more leverage, although that winch is so strong, it's really not necessary. Very creative thinking though. FWIW...I stand by the fact that the Badlands winch is the best 2000lb winch on the market today with an actual brake. I use the 3000lb version on my commercial stands for rental karts and they lift #650 karts in that application.

BTW...if you think you could sell 4-6 stands a week, you've greatly overestimated the market. Remember that your dealers will take a big piece when you're building your business model.


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