Homeade Drift Trike From Junk

Hey, my name is Ezra and I am from Chattanooga Christian School. From building 3d printers, to riding dirtbikes, I am into many hobbies. Allthough sometimes, I can get tired of those hobbies and want to make something else. I found an old tricycle, a ripstik, and a broken gas weed wacker and got an idea. I would put the ripstik wheels on the back of the tricycle, and replace the front wheel with the motor from the weed wacker. This would make a fast and funtional drift trike, that I could use to get to my friends house or ride to school faster than walking, and to release stress. This is a bit easier said than done.

Old tricycle (Razor Tornado)

Ripstik(optional)

Broken gas weed wacker (Ryobi cs26)

Plywood

Wood screws

Longboard/ large longboard wheel

I found an old razor tornado with a blown bearing, no front tread, and a broken seat. First, I removed the ripstik wheels and replaced the broken ones on the tricycle with those fresher ones. I then replaced the bearing with an old skateboard bearing from the longboard. The front tread issue was solved by using a different front wheel. (later on)

I got a broken Ryobi cs26 string trimmer from the leftovers of a garage sale for free. I replaced the spark plug, gaskets, fuel line, and cleaned the carburetor. After that and some minor cleaning and tuning, it was ready to go! To remove the motor from weed wacker, I just unscrewed all visible bolts and removed the two plastic covers. I then cut the front grey plastic so that I could easily acess the shaft from the clutch. I then found a plus shaped drill bit that fit well, a spacer, and I CADed out in Fusion360 and printed a #40 3d printed sproket. I glued them together, and the sprocket spun when I revved the engine!

I found the electric skateboard from the same garage sale for free, and allthough none of the electric parts still worked, you could still ride it as a really big, heavy longboard. I took one of the giant wheels off, and CADed out on Fusion360 a #40 sprocket that interlocked into the wheel, printed it on my He3D K280 3d printer, and glued it on.

I attached a piece of plywood with 4 wood screws, and cut out 2 smaller squares of plywood with 2 holes drilled out to friction fit an old screwdriver. I used these in combination with the screw driver, the wheel assembly, and 2 sockets as spacers, I screwed them into the main plywood and mounted the wheel. At this point, the trike could roll easily with you on it.

If I were to have put this mount directly on the plywood over the wheel, then it would spin the wheel the wrong way. So, in order to avoid this, I made a rectangular frame that fits the motor well out of wood, so that the direction the motor spins reletive to the wheel is corect.

The way that the exhaust system for this engine works uses a metal cover with some clearence to the actual exhaust so that you can touch it without getting burned. I used this to my advantage, and drilled 4 holes into it to fit more wood screws. Next, I drillede out some holes to screw in the exhaust screws. I then screwed it all onto a piece of wood, and it held well!

I mounted the motor mount onto the frame, completing the mount of the motor to the tricycle. I also routed the killswitch and throttle in a position to be operated by the right hand while riding.

I cut a piece of wood to fit snugly in place into the motor frame, and drilled a hole into it slightly bigger than a skateboard bearing. I then put 2 skateboard bearings onto the other side of the motor sprocket. After that, I screwed on a holder on the back of the wood to secure the shaft in place. This would cause it to be secured too far into the wood, so I stuck a small press fitted piece of wood in. I then put it all in, securing the wood support with some wood screws, and it was secure! This little machine is awesome! Thanks for reading! This was more of a documentation then a build guide, but you may see one of those coming soon!