Hello and thanks for letting me join. I had previously bought my 6 year old a Doodle Bug but he then told me he wanted a quad. I decided to use what I could from the Doodle Bug and build him one. I purchased the Grasshopper plans online and scaled them down about 20% since he is a little guy. I also had to modify as needed due to the reduction in size and the fact that I wanted to use the engine mount portion of the Doodle Bug frame. I also used the stock Doodle bug Brakes and controls on it. Since he is light the stock Doodle Bug motor is fine for now. I simply added a jack shaft to gear it down and lightened the clutch shoes for a better take off. It is still a slug but it does not scare him so it is doing the job. I used some Go Kart wheels I had for the front (not matching for now though) and the stock Doodle Bug tires for the rear. I got some shocks from a ATV/buggy store here in Albuquerque and modified the mounting points from the mounting points in the plans for better leverage on the shocks so the suspension is compliant even with his 50 lbs on it. If I sit on it it will just about bottom out. It has also increased the suspension travel plenty. The small quads out there all have way too stiff of suspension for the riders that are actually small enough to ride them. This thing has ridden like a Cadillac for the few test rides he has taken it on. Since there is so much travel I had to make a chain tensioner linked to the frame that takes up the chain slack as the swing arm moves upwards. The front also developed lots of bump steer so I had to seriously modify the mounting points of the tie rods on the steering spindles to take away some of the bump steer. Now all I have to do is Weld the seat mounting straps to the frame to get rid of the bungee, make a few little mods and oh yeah, take it all apart and paint it. After I mounts some fenders to the thing first that is. I know it looks like Frankenstein but it makes him happy so it is serving it's purpose.
Sonnydlit
Sonnydlit