Troubleshooting guide

Front End Adjustments

Some of the most important handling adjustments are made at the front of a kart. Problems that occur

when entering a corner are frequently due to an improperly adjusted front end. Front end bite and

steering response can be corrected by simple adjustments and toe setting is a good place to start.

Set steering dead ahead during front wheel alignment and keep wheel movement suppressed by

attaching a short bungee cord to the bottom of the steering wheel and running it either to the top of the

seat or back over the seat to the rear bumper area. This should keep the steering wheel in place while

adjustments are made.

Toe In/out:

Toe settings will affect weight distribution, top speed and cornering response. The more toe in or toe

out, the slower top speed becomes due to excessive drag by the tires. Despite this negative effect,

increasing the toe out will increase initial cornering response, this giving the driver a better turn into the

corner and reducing understeer. However, if the kart is overly sensitive to steering wheel movement at

the point of turn in and begins to oversteer, the toe out settings may be too high. With toe out, the

inside front wheels moves down in relation to the chassis more than it will with zero toe or toe in. On a

dry surface, a toe setting of 0-3mm out is recommended. For a very high speed track, setting close to

zero toe may help top speed. Toe in is not normally used on a kart.

Remember that the kart chassis will deflect under the driver’s weight and this deflection can affect toe,

caster and camber settings in particular. Generally, the goal is to have zero toe when the chassis is

loaded with the weight of full fuel and driver, sitting on the track. Therefore, a heavier driver will need

more unloaded toe out than a lighter driver.

On road racing tracks in particular ( as opposed to the tighter sprint tracks), most karts will probably

handle and accelerate better with the toe set to absolute zero when the kart is on the ground.

However, on sprint tracks, slight toe out will help turn-in to corners, but rarely more than 2mm (on each

side), except in wet conditions, when larger toe out setting can be helpful.

When setting the amount of toe, make sure that the toe is equal on each side.

If you reset caster and camber settings or front ride height, you will have to reset toe as well.

Ackerman:

Ackerman steering makes the front tires turn at a different rate. For example, the front inside tire will

turn faster than the outside tire when turning into a corner. This creates a faster steering response,

thus causing flex through the chassis when turning. Adding Ackerman makes the kart steer more

positively and lift the inside rear tire at an increasing rate as steering is added. At the same time, the

driver will notice a decreased amount of steering input needed to turn the kart (because the inside rear

wheel is being “jacked” more. As a result, the kart becomes more sensitive to the driver’s input. In

contrast, decreasing Ackerman makes the kart steer more slowly and more steering is needed to

corner.

The spindles will usually have 2 tie rod hole locations; the inside hole increases Ackerman, while the

outside hole decreases Ackerman. The tie rods can be lengthened or shortened to fit either hole.

Make sure you have sufficient threads on the rod ends when using the outer holes.