[Gary Lawson]

It is typical for oval racers to do all of their kart setup while on a level platform on kart scales. Most sprint racers do their setup on the stand. A.ll karts gain negative camber and toe in from frame flex. It is easily compensated for and it is not necessary to align the kart on the ground.

[tony zambos]

Set the kart up on the stand. Then put it on a flat, level surface. Get a buddy roughly your own weight to sit in the kart and roll it back and forth. Measure the kart again. Now you’ll know about how much the kart changes from the stand to the ground. In the future, set the kart up on the stand and allow for the differences.

[Walt Gifford]

I always do my set ups under load.

[Anonymous]

Once you know what the value change is for camber/toe when you set the kart on the ground, it’s easy to compensate for it on the stand.

My karts have always weighed like 230 pounds so picking up the kart and setting it down over and over is a literal pain.

[Curtis Cooksey]

TJ, you should consider an electric stand.

[Walt Gifford]

It’s nice to have everything sprung the right way when you tighten things down.

[Rob Kozakowski]

Do an initial comparison of the stand to the ground… then…

Do it on the stand.

In other words, just like Gary, Tony and TJ say.

 

When you’re driving, the load on the front end of the kart, even with the wheels pointed straight ahead, is always changing… under acceleration, under braking, riding over bumps, etc.  There is no such thing as a static load on the kart when you’re racing… so what does placing a static load on the kart, while on the ground really add to anything over putting a static load while on the stand?

[Walt Gifford]

Well, if there’s some slack and you tighten with the wheel hanging down then you could hit a bump on the track and knock the slack up the other way. If the wheels on the ground when you tighten things then you hit that same bump your set up is not going to move. Probably doesn’t matter too much in todays modern world, just a habit left over from the old days.

Gif

[Jim Derrig]

Since the “set up” is all relative, what difference does it make?  If you’re fast at 5mm of toe on the stand, then you’re fast.  What difference does it make that this translates into, say, 6mm toe once you sit in the thing?  All of the numerical reference points ultimately are arbitrary anyway–we could make a millimeter a different base length, define a circle as containing 320 degrees instead of 360, etc.

I realize that “preload” is important when you’re trying to meet a factory spec, say for camber adjustment on a passenger car, when the spec assumes a loaded condition.  But we’re not trying to create a common reference point here–you just need to know the conditions that the “fast” adjustment points were set at, and then replicate them.

[Rob Kozakowski]

Exactly what Jim said.

There’s no right or wrong way to do it.  The key is being consistent with whatever method you choose so that you can reference back to what works and what doesn’t work.  Often times, the easiest way to maintain that consistency is to do it on the stand.

[Walt Gifford]

Seems like when you have a set of scales set up level in the pits everyone comes around and wants to use them though. How do you check if the front and rear axles are parallel on the stand?

Gif

[Rob Kozakowski]

Keeping in mind that repeatability is what we are really looking for, here’s a potential problem with measuring alignment on the ground…  From:

http://kracer.com.au/blog/kart-setup-nitty-gritty/alignments-dynamic-or-static

<span style=”color: #2f2f2f; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15.6000003814697px; line-height: 23.3999996185303px;”>”Secondly – and I had done a lot of dynamic wheel alignments before I realised this – unless you let the tyres run out to their true resting position, you’re not actually doing a dynamic wheel alignment at all! Obviously, when you get in the kart on the ground, the chassis sags and the wheels get more negative camber. However, unless you roll the kart forwards at least a metre or two, the tyres stay loaded up and don’t let the stubs sag as far as they actually will on the track. Sitting in the kart will often see camber go 2-3mm towards negative. Rolling the kart forward a few metres will see another millimetre or two of negative camber gain! Bet your mate that told you “dynamic alignments are the best” didn’t know that!”</span>

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