Chassis issue.

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Ashlar

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Hi guys i am new here. I have a kart and i THINK the chassis may be bent .

When i turn the steering right when no weight is in the cart the left front wheel raises fairly high of the floor i can get my hand flat under it. I turn to the right the left comes up but not as far. When weight is applied to the cart i.e me sitting in it what happens is if i turn right the front left bumper bar pitches up turn left the right bumper bar pitches up The wheels stay on contact to the ground tho. Now i hAve a gx340 lump on the back previous owner has just welded 2 lengths of box section to the frame and then bolted engine to them is this correct .... In my little technical knowledge would this exegerate the pitching of front end when turning left ?? From what i have just said could anyone guage were it could be bent so i can attempt to straighten it up .


Cheers lads / lasses
 

Ashlar

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See i thought that!! It looks so much like previous owner has been running with the tyres running on inside of the tyre!! Instead of a whole tyre contact patch if that makes sence i do apoligise for my newbery
 

Ashlar

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Felineman

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Its not bent its done wrong when your steering straight there should be some degree of camber you have none from the pictures so someone did the build wrong. I'd suggest you go through the forums for proper camber/caster setup. Get the hacksaw/grinder out and weld it back on with the correct values. looks like your toed in on the top you wheel should be flat on the ground when your steering is straight. Plus your tire is overinflated. 2-5 lbs I think is max.
 

Ashlar

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Argh i have no access to a welder and obv to pay someone to cut weld and make up a new steering part would cost a fair bit. Wonder if i can pick up a decent straight frame. So i have no chance of countering this peice of **** fabrication ?
 

Ashlar

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Ok lets say i go new frame route can any go kart chassis take a gx340 engine obviously i will need engine mount welding in place any frame should be fine correct ??
 

Felineman

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You can bend the frame to counter the incorrect camber if you know anyone with a hydraulic press. The cost of having someone cut and weld it right shouldn't be much maybe 50 bucks max the cost of a new frame would be over 100-300 depending where you got it.
 

mckutzy

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I wanst going to say anything but I will now, why not a better pic(s) from a better angle(s), panned out a bit to show more of the vehicle. It doesnt go to show much but a tire, and what or anything is bent. Just saying...

Edit: I see more pics now, I guess they werent all showing at once. I see Fabroman, did some editing. Thnx.
 

OzFab

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Yup caster and camber issues Better to cut it off and redo the steering. Or just leave it and use it as a screw around kart.

Hold up, are you trying to say a professionally made production racing kart is built wrong? I find that hard to believe...

It's much more likely that, by welding on the two engine supports, the kart doesn't flex as it should.

DO NOT TOUCH THE STEERING GEOMETRY!

Years of R&D went into creating that frame, the fact that some douche messed it up by welding two bars to it has nothing to do with the steering but, it will affect it by reducing the amount of flex in the frame.

Carefully cut off the engine mounts & source a proper clamp style mount; that should fix your problem...
 

Felineman

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I have to argue that what does the engine mount thats 4 feet away have to di with a twisted front frame? OK please post pictures of complete frame from above front rear and both sides so we can ABSOLUTELY see what the issue is. You can also measure from the ground to the frame in the front and rear to see where it is high and low. If someone could actually see it completely we would be able to say for sure. Is this factory or homebuilt frame?
 

mckutzy

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Curious, not really familiar with 4 wheeled vehicles and all the know how for them, but why the motor mount(s)?
How does this affect the wheels up front, and how did you assess this, with just the frontal portion of the kart shown?
 

OzFab

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When was the last time you saw a racing kart with an engine mount welded to it?

These frames are made in such a way that they're designed to flex through the length of the chassis; if the two engine rails are bound together by welding, the amount of flex is reduced.

The fact that it's only the left wheel is lifting so high means that the right side of the frame is not flexing as it should... & where is the engine mount?

Also, if the chassis wasn't sitting dead flat when the engine mount was welded on, it will have a twist built in, not to mention distortion caused by welding...
 
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