Middle bearing question

This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by Daniel White.

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- May 22, 2016 at 10:22 am #66262
  
  Anonymous
  Inactive
  
  Nope.
- May 22, 2016 at 6:40 pm #66284
  
  Gary Lawson
  Participant
  
  About 2 pounds if you take it out. Otherwise no.
- May 23, 2016 at 4:34 am #66289
  
  Matt Martin
  Participant
  
  Without the hanger there, you’d get rid of parasitic losses from the bearing having to rotate.
- May 23, 2016 at 6:05 am #66301
  
  Daniel White
  Participant
  
  Thanks for the replies.
  
  So if it were you (or me), a 5-11, 162-ish driver racing Yamaha spec pipe / can, would you take out the middle bearing or leave it in?
  
  When I got the kart, I took it out, but my racing friends tell me to put it back in. Their argument is that having it in gives me more tuning options. My counter to that is if I want to tighten up the rear, I can
  
  1. narrow the rear track
  2. tighten the bolts to my rear bumper
  3. install my rear torsion bar
- May 23, 2016 at 7:13 am #66310
  
  Anonymous
  Inactive
  
  Well option 3 should be the very last resort on any kart. 99% of people throw out their rear torsion bars.
  
  I like having it in because it’s a quick little adjustment to see if you need to go stiffer on the axle. Put the bolts in and see if the slight stiffening helps the kart.
  
  Options 2 and 3 on your list involve stiffening the actual frame from tube to tube. I like to have an option to stiffen the axle too, as that can have a different effect to stiffening the actual frame.
- June 5, 2016 at 7:30 pm #66836
  
  Walt Gifford
  Participant
  
  If you have a hard high speed braking zone, the rear of the kart might go all wonky without the middle axle bearing depending on the track and traction you might flip.
- June 6, 2016 at 10:12 am #66871
  
  Anonymous
  Inactive
  
  [quote quote=66836]If you have a hard high speed braking zone, the rear of the kart might go all wonky without the middle axle bearing depending on the track and traction you might flip.
  
  [/quote]
  
  I seriously hope that’s a joke Gif.
- June 8, 2016 at 9:20 am #66994
  
  Daniel White
  Participant
  
  I haven’t flipped, but I will say that my local track has a hairpin-ish turn, and I swapped ends three times this past weekend. The kart didn’t swap ends on initial braking, but late in the zone, just before turn in.
  
  Now, perhaps this was because I may have started the turn before my kart had slowed enough, but I’ve driven this track for eight years and have rarely had this much trouble.
  
  Maybe the middle bearing, even just zip tied, provides a bit more stability under braking, no?
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