Tweaked frame

[Mel Ruffner]

Hi everyone I have another question. My dart kart has excess camber on one side. You can lift one side with excess camber real easy while other side is a lot heavier. Is there a easy way to bend the excess camber front spindle back down? Thanks again for all the help.

[Tom Day]

Hi everyone I have another question. My  dart kart has excess camber on one side. You can lift one side with excess camber real easy while other side is a lot heavier. Is there a easy way to bend the excess camber front spindle back down? Thanks again for all the help.

The best way is to find someone with the equipment to straighten it BUT if that's not an option the old cement block and 3 guys method has worked for me IF it's not real bad. Blocks under 1 wheel. 2 guys to hold the back end down, 1 guy to jump on the other front to spring it back. I'm sure there are people that disagree with this method but if thats all you have it can work.Goes back to the old days.This is for up and down only,if it is pushed back you will need to seek some help.

[Jim Waltz]

It is true that it all depends on what is actually bent.

3 guys and concrete blocks would work to straighten a twisted frame.

A bent axle might warrant cutting, straightening and re-welding - or even cutting off the existing axle and welding on a new one (if a replacement axle is even available - some folks make replacements for some of the models of karts).

It may be that the spindle itself is bent.  This could possibly be straightened in a shop press, or a new one fabricated.

My 1st Edition Kalifornia Nyke has a similar camber problem, but I have yet to figure our what exactly is out of whack.  Since it is a half-ass restoration intended for use as a "loaner" kart, I may not even bother to fix it.

Ciao!

[ted johnson]

If your Dart front axle is bent too much, you may be able to get a new one from Robert Stanton of Robron. He has repop Dart parts, and is a very good gentleman to deal with. Ted

[steve miller]

i have go karts you crank the steering wheel all the way either direction one tire comes off ground an inch ...they still go around the track fine ..Lol..

[Walter Dale]

i have go karts you crank the steering wheel all the way either direction one tire comes off ground an inch ...they still go around the track fine ..Lol..

That's how we aligned ours back in the day! LOL

[doug tenney]

Hi Mel,
Sounds familiar.  I went through the same process with my Dart.  One wheel had a bit of positive camber and it just bugged me.
In my crude understanding, there's three things going on.  (1) camber of each wheel, (2) weight distribution across the corners of the kart, (3) % of weight on front vs. rear.

I'm not smart enough to know exactly how important each of these are to how well the kart goes around the track... so I will defer to others... but I figured out how to measure them, cheaply.

First I bought inclinometer (item 95998) from Harbor Freight:  https://www.harborfreight.com/digital-an...95998.html  .  I found it to be indispensable for this kind of work! (more info below, if you care)
Second, I bought four cheap bathroom scales at Target.  Weigh yourself on each one to check consistency.
I picked an open spot on the basement floor (easier said than done!).  I marked a spot on the floor for each tire, then checked levelness with carpenter's level & a straight piece of lumber.  I recall I had to use a couple of shims to get all four spots on the floor to be level.
I put a scale on each spot, put, parked the kart on the scales, sat in it with my helmet on, steering wheel perfectly straight and hollered for an hour to get someone off the couch to come down and read the scales for me (it helped once I raised the visor).  These readings will tell you if your frame is meaningfully twisted.
To measure camber, I took the front wheels off, and put 2X4 blocks under each spindle shaft.  Important: 2X4 blocks were turned on their edge, aligned parallel to the length of the kart, and positioned midway on the spindle's width.
Next, I put the magic inclinometer atop the spindle shaft.  Presto, there's your camber reading for that wheel.

I recall I used a long length of pipe (3/4" I recall) and a family member (for self-moving ballast) to tweak the camber to a visually acceptable value.
I didn't notice any change in the handling, but now when I walk up to the kart, I don't start cocking my head and staring at that wheel.


Inclinometer notes: beautiful thing is, you can assess their accuracy, and/or calibrate them, by taking a reading and then rotating it 180 deg to see if you get the same reading.  The gem from Harbor Freight is excellent as long as you do that.  Also (!) consider that the accuracy of any inclinometer diminishes sharply as you move away from level.

[Mel Ruffner]

Hi Doug thanks for thr response. How did you use the pipe to adjust camber? I,am going to tbo on sat. Be the first time out with kart,and camber on one front wheel needs to be reduced. Every time I try google how to adjust kart ,they talk about adding spacers, which for my a bone it,s not possibly

[doug tenney]

Mel,
For sure, this is one of those "measure twice, cut once" cases.  If you approach it the wrong way, you could solve the camber problem at the expense of the left-to-right ba1ance.

We haven't met, and unfortunately my son and I won't be able to make it to TBO this year.  Hopefully we can meet you next year.

Before bending anything, and during the process, I would scale the kart to see what you have.

If a wheel has negative camber, AND it's light on the scale, then slide the pipe over the spindle and (this is the important part) support the kart where the axle meets the main fore-aft frame tube, and restrain the main frame tube on the opposite side from lifting.  Then use the bar to bend the axle where it meets the main frame tube.  Bend a little, check weight and camber, bend a little more, check again.  Make sure kart is steered straight while you're scaling.

On the other hand (!) if it scales OK, but the camber is a bit too negative, then do the same thing EXCEPT place your support directly under the kingpin of the offending spindle.  Have your buddy stand on the kart's main frame tube ON THE SIDE YOU'RE ADJUSTING.  Then when you push down on the bar, you'll be bending the spindle bracket, and NOT the axle.

Hope that helps.

[steve miller]

like I said ..it worked great ..it looks like someone landed kinda hard off a dukes of hazard jump.. but it went around track same as every other kart there...Lol...