I have an older Yerf Dog, one of the single A-Arm models. When you lift the front end off the ground, the steering wheel moves the front wheels very smoothly. A soon as you put it on the ground it starts to become stiff and jerky. With a person sitting in the kart driving down either a paved or dirt road it takes a jerk of the steering wheel to get it to turn, and a follow-up jerk the other way to return it back to straight. If you didn't jerk it back it would stay turned and if not careful you could get into a bad situation if you were moving fast and only wanted to make a quick little steer. The kart is all stock, seems to be in good shape, and everything looks to be normal. Any ideas what can cause this?? Any advice is appreciated, I am stumped!!

You probly got a bushing or bearing gone bad and binding when theres weight on it.

What model do you have? If your not sure, go to yerfdog.com and click on the karts to see which one.

33035 is the model number.

Looks like the same setup as mine. One or both of your spindles is probably in need of lubricant.Turn the wheels all the way to the side and check the spindle on that side for a hole in the center. Spray it down with lubricant (WD-40, PB blaster, anything like that) Spray at the top and bottom of the spindle too. And work the steering back and forth and see if it starts to free up. Also look for binding at the steering shaft/Tie rod knuckle. Lube here as well. Something in the spindle or steering may be bent too. Eyeball each side to check for differences.

One or both of the mechanical shocks could be binding too and in need of replacement. Do the wheels look slanted inward when you riding. If so, they need replacement. You could try turning them all the way up too for maximum stiffness, but this usually doesn't help if the springs are binding or shot. All this is based on you saying everything moves freely with the front off the ground. Bad/ Binding mechanical shocks will cause this symptom under load on Yerfdogs like these.