[Gary Lawson]

Both set screws point inward on mine

[Gary Lawson]

Interesting. Both arrow and tony kart cassettes are so tight you cannot remove them with your hands. Unless they are very used. Yours did sound severe though.

[Gary Lawson]

Basically your best bet would be to look for a correlation between a fast kart vs a slow kart in regard to tire temps. And even at that driving styles greatly affect tire temps, so you would be well served to use the same driver for testing.

[Gary Lawson]

although I’m sure it’s not what you want to hear tire temps are almost useless when it comes to tuning a kart. As you’ve already found, when a track is almost all one direction (like all tracks are) your temps simply won’t be even. You could try add a ridiculous amount of weight to the lefts to help them heat up more but you’ll go slower because the balance will be off. So what’s the point….
My advice on tire temps is that is can be useful when comparing front to rear temps to determine balance. Also check 3 spots across the front tires to help with camber. Then again, if a bunch of negative camber is really fast even though it wears out the inside prematurely, then is it wrong?

[Gary Lawson]

So to be clear rotax rules mandate that the tire/wheel must be even or wider than the outside of your bodywork.

[Gary Lawson]

The only time this is common is under sanctioning bodies where the rear tired must stick outside the cik bodywork like rotax. The narrower rims make the rear narrower than the bumpers.

Otherwise the people you’re talking to are making a mistake.

[Gary Lawson]

So lower the weight to 350 and probably lose 10 racers or so based on those numbers. Are there 10 rwcers sitting at home because they don’t want to pick up their 365# kart?

[Gary Lawson]

I would say it’s a more firm tap but you’ll just have to try your way and see.

[Gary Lawson]

I use an extension for a 3/8″ ratchet to smack it with. Or if I have a drift punch available I’ll use that. There’s no problem using this method.

[Gary Lawson]

The extra struts plant the tires harder from weight transfer through the seat. Whoever told you different is wrong. Numerous karts in low hp settings do not run seat stays or remove them as grip levels increase at national events from increased rubber on the track. My statements are not opinions or things I was told by someone. I’m not fast by accident and neither are the people that have me work for them at national events. Im here to help not spend time debating. I can promise you if you follow all the steps I mentioned your problem will get solved. Plain and simple.

[Gary Lawson]

Doubtful the scaling is going to make much difference unless the seat is very centered (which is almost impossible given a 206. A bigger driver on vega blues is at a big disadvantage and 2 wheeling is the common issue. You may be able to move the seat to the left slightly to help with the problem but it’s likely you already have 50% or more distribution on the left side.

I would also try removing the seat stays.

Lowering the seat is easily the biggest change you can make to fix your problem aside from widening the rear track (which you can’t). If the seat lip is more than 8 1/4″ from the top of the axle then that needs to be your first priority to tip it back along with lowering it below the frame. As a bigger driver I have dealt with the issues for a long time.

[Gary Lawson]

I would make changes in this order
1. Lower the seat so that the top lip is 8″ off the axle. Have the bottom 1/4″ below the frame.

2. Raise the rear axle to lower frame.

3. Thinking outside the box you can move the RR out 1/2″ and move the LR in 1/2″.

4. If allowed use wider wheels on the back.

[Gary Lawson]

From what I have seen cassettes for most karts are extremely tight and a mallet is usually needed to remove the bearings. You may want to contact the manufacturer to see if loosening them is a good idea since this is apparently how they were made to begin with.

[Gary Lawson]

Yes. I don’t think their is a direct relationship between front and rear track. I think it is more related to how wide the kingpin width is on the kart. Most newer karts are somewhere around 26″ and as I said they are around 47. Karts closer go 24″ are closer to 44″

[Gary Lawson]

No issues. They have removable seals

[Gary Lawson]

If those changes don’t help lap times much then try moving the seat forward 15mm

[Gary Lawson]

Put the front at 40. If you still need more then add some caster.

[Gary Lawson]

That skusa rule is clearly targeting making parts on the kart out of carbon fiber etc. Neither skusa or any other national organization in the U.S. have ever checked axle bearings in pre or post tech. That includes skusa, wka, uspks, and rotax. Let’s get this thread back on topic.

[Gary Lawson]

Ceramic axle bearings are legal everywhere. I do know they are not allowed in engines by many sanctioning bodies. Comet kart sales stocks them and kartsport North America is the importer. They will be able to get them in 30,40,or 50mm.

[Gary Lawson]

Have used same skf ceramic bearings on my kart for 4 years and never had an axle come loose. Simply clean and relube them a couple times per year. Have had soft axles come loose that were tight with standard bearings. They work particularly well on soft/thin axles that are prone to come loose if not tightened significantly but are also dented very easily if over tightened. The skf bearings keep me from worrying about either denting an axle or having it come loose during a race. The price is not an issue for me when you take into account how much longer they last.

[Gary Lawson]

Take them out and hit them with 220 grit sand paper or something close

[Gary Lawson]

Karts that run 55 rear are typically closer to 46-47″. Older margays for example ran around 53 1/2 rear and would run 44 in the front.

[Gary Lawson]

Partially dependent on the track, class, and driver size. In your case I probably would not go below 10. Some tracks have high G banked corners at the end of the straight like Jacksonville that I have seen tires come off at 12# at 360# in a 4cycle.

[Gary Lawson]

I think you will find that going any wider than 47 1/2″ in the rear unless you have an abnormally tall/big driver will cause the kart to sit too flat. Don’t be afraid to use a sawzall to the frame in appropriate spots to soften the kart. A popular area is the inside motor rail if it is tied in and also if it has “k”struts. You can always get a clamp and reconnect it if you don’t like the change

[Gary Lawson]

Is this actually a cadet kart? What size axle does it have and what wheelbase? Also what size tires and wheels are you using? Doesn’t sound like you’re on 130mm wheels on rear with 450 tires and a 30mm axle like what is spec on most cadet karts

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