I need help w/my frame

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  • #40934
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I bought a used ’99 Margay that I believe is tweaked.

    Can anyone recommend someone (professional or private)
    that can help me diagnose the problem and straighten the
    frame, if that is the true problem.

    I’ve been chasing an extremely loose condition for a
    dozen practices, and two races. I finally got it on a good
    set of scales and found my LR & RF are very light.
    When turned hard left the RF comes off the ground 1/2″.
    When turned hard right the RF lifts, but not completely off
    the ground.

    Thanks for any advise or recommendations.

    #50613
    Superslow
    Participant

    Do you notice the kart performing differently around left hand versus right hand corners ? ?? IF not, I would not worry about it…..! If your setup does not require the use of a lot of lock like your tests, it may not be making a lot of difference to the kart. Always being equal though has to be better from a logical perspective….! !

    #50614
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Russ B. wrote:

    I bought a used ’99 Margay that I believe is tweaked.

    Can anyone recommend someone (professional or private)
    that can help me diagnose the problem and straighten the
    frame, if that is the true problem.

    I’ve been chasing an extremely loose condition for a
    dozen practices, and two races. I finally got it on a good
    set of scales and found my LR & RF are very light.
    When turned hard left the RF comes off the ground 1/2″.
    When turned hard right the RF lifts, but not completely off
    the ground.

    Thanks for any advise or recommendations.

    You may not be tweaked.

    I’m little rusty on kart setup, but……….

    Your kart may be WAY out of tune

    When you had the kart on the scales, did you try to adjust the kart to relieve the imbalance? Was the kart wheelbase square? Were you in the kart when you scaled it? As Far as turning and lifting goes, the steering akerman built into the chassis will cause the inside front wheel to drop and the outside lift. It’s supposed to do that. If the effect is unequal, it could mean that the camber/caster/toe is all messed up.

    It may also be that your rear axle is set up wrong – not centered, or ride height not the same left/right.

    Is your loose condition the same when turning in either direction? – remember loose is not necessarily a bad thing. loose is fast.

    One way to check your frame for tweak is to first make sure that the kart is even and square dimensionally – both sides the same. Make sure that the scale is 100% level. Then put the cart on the scales with you in it (both feet on the pedals and the pedals full-forward, hands on the wheel, etc.) and check your corner weights and if you’re still off try to adjust the corner weights buy working with the camber/caster pills on the front kingpins. If you can’t get it done, you could be tweaked. If you’ve never scaled a kart before, it would help to get someone who knows what they’re doing and has the proper tools – like a laser alignment tool – those really help a lot when scaling.

    The other way is to strip the kart, and set in on a flat surface. If the chassis rocks you probably have some tweak. You can adjust to compensate, but only to a point. You can also try to straighten a twisted chassis, but that doesn’t always work, either.

    You see there are a lot of things that could be wrong with your kart and not necessarily a twisted chassis

    #50615
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    My driver (daughter) does notice a diff. btwn lft & rt corner She says lefts are extrtemely loose, rights feel good.
    Extremely loose meaning she has to back off alot, where others are able to keep there foot in it.

    At the track, we started off so loose she couldn’t get through
    the corners at all without looping it all the way around.
    I pulled in the rears 2.5″ through three adjustments (1″,1″,1/2″).
    to the point of the hubs being right up against the axle mounts.
    Better and better each time, but still too loose for the main.

    I also adjusted tire pres. slightly, no more than a .5#, not wanting
    to make too many changes at a time.

    As far as scaling, she was in the kart during the check.
    We did try adjustments on the bottom pills which made the readings
    better. I have since puchased and installed upper pills, but have not
    been on the scales. next possible day to use them would be Wed.

    Both of us, Myself and the friend w/ the scales, have years of
    stock car exp., but are just learning this kart thing with our kids.
    Meaning, we know about scaling (level, foot/hand placement, zero out)
    but we do not have the laser alighnment tools. My alignment
    techniques so far are with eyesight, a good tape measure, and
    bubble level (construction style).

    Thanks for the input and questions, with three weeks till the next
    race I want to fix this right (if possible).

    #50616
    Mike Jansen
    Participant

    Brad @ IMI straightens frames if you still need to have it checked…

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