Side to side weight

Jon Betts · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2001 6:12 am Post subject: Side to side weight

Make sure that the scales are level in all directions. Steering must be dead straight, as an experiment turn the steering by a small amount and see what happens!!! Also check height of all 4 wheels. Make sure left and rights are the same height, then scale and make small adjustments to heights to even out side to side, Oh yeah I'm sure you are sitting in the Kart in the driving position, right?

Dick George · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2001 6:16 am Post subject: Side to side weight

Jon,

Actually I thought of the sitting inthe kart part shortly after I sent the original message. Still 14 pounds diffence between rears. I'll try your suggestions, maybe a lot more sensitive than i realized. Thanks

Dick George · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2001 11:00 am Post subject: Side to side weight

I kind of understand the front to rear weight distribution. I just weighed my kart , and side to side on the front and back is quite a bit different. Rear corners differ by 25 pounds. Is this due to the engine being on the right side, or a tweaked chassis? Or something else that's not expensive to fix?

Jeff Mulvihill Jr · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2001 12:40 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

I had the same problem, but I didn't scale the kart to figure it out... I had a bad oversteer problem with Left Hand corners... the R Rear was too heavy.

The suggestion was to move the seat a bit over to balance L to R.

I now fully understand the "reasons" to scale a kart BEFORE you start out...

Tim Lewis · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2001 1:36 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

Another easy one to overlook is tire pressures. Make sure they are all set to your hot pressures.

Pete Ryan · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2001 2:01 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

are the two front corners close?

Todd Bolton · Joined: 18 Jul 2001 Posts: 893

When you rescale make sure all the scales are level with each other, Air in all tires is where you want it, Stagger of fronts and rears are = or close to =, Where all your racing gear ie. helmet suit ect....

Get the front tires as close as possible and if the rear tires are within 5lbs you should be good to go....

Joe Vancura · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2001 2:26 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

JUST A THOUGHT BUT, I HAVE SEEN SEATS BOUND UP AND TWISTED.YOU UNBOLT ONE OF THE MOUNT HOLES AND THE SEAT SPRINGS 2-3" FROM WHERE THE FRAME IS.I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE ON THE SCALES.BUT,IT CAN'T BE GOOD....

Pete Ryan · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2001 3:56 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

you can also take off your rear bumber and then put it back on. when my rear bumper go bent the rr was 13 lbs too heave and the lf was 22 lbs too heavy and befor it was bent they were about 2lbs off from side to side. of course it took my dad and i almost half the season to find out it was the bumper

Patrick Hubbell · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2001 4:59 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

quote:
Originally posted by dickgeorge:
I kind of understand the front to rear weight distribution. I just weighed my kart , and side to side on the front and back is quite a bit different. Rear corners differ by 25 pounds. Is this due to the engine being on the right side, or a tweaked chassis? Or something else that's not expensive to fix?

Make sure that the roll out/ tire circumferences are equall on the front and rear. Tire pressures should also be equall. Be certian the scales are level in all directions. Zero the scales. Set the kart on the scales, get in the kart and without touching the sterring wheel roll the kart back and forth to center the steering. Assume the race position and have someone else read the scales(analog not digital). As someone mentioned the seat should not be influencing the chassis. Correct seat mounting is critical. Gaps should be filed with washers. Do not force the fit. All weights should be within 5 lbs of each other.

Don Zerangue · Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:48 pm Post subject: Side to side weight

Two items which will really throw off your scale measurements: 1)all 4 scales have to be absolutely level with each other, especially so for electronic scales, 2) your tire circumferences up front have to be equal and the two rears need to be equal.
Both of these along with steering being in the neutral position are of major importance.

Don Zerangue