front end geometry

[doug tenney]

Hi Rick,
Curious to hear what Dave L's source comes back with.  In the mean time:
Your original post (above) squares up well with the consensus here and in the thread from last September.  You did your homework (12 caster, 7 kpi, good choices).
The only thing I'll add: even if your original spindles are beat up, between the two of them, it should be possible to get a reading on the kpi (even Ray Charles could see the difference between 7deg vs. 0deg ).
In the earlier post, Brian Sheridan was clear on the GK-800 having some amount of kpi, so I'm predicting that you'll find that the article from 55 years ago was off-base.


Funny when you think about it... the guys pushing that magazine article out probably never dreamed that somebody would be debating it 55 years later!

Doug

[Rick Steed]

Well I wasn't home yesterday to measure, so I took a look this morning. The "bad" side looks like this:
caster 18
camber -3
KPI 5

The "good" side:
caster 12
camber 0
KPI 7

The spindle on the bad side must be tweaked by about 5 degrees, so new spindles it is! I'm thinking about milling them from bar stock and making them three pieces: kingpin barrel, spindle, and steering arm with bronze bushings on the KP. That way I can hone them to fit. I like the idea of removing as much slop as possible and it's not that much work. I'll go with 5/8 spindle and KP, which seems to be the standard.

[steve miller]

as far as I can tell from the few karts I fixed up.. none of them are square from factory ..lol.
seems like everyone the steering hoops are crooked ., seat backs crooked.,  uneven bends ..looks like they just eyed em up welded stuff on ..fox has worst welds .,gk  ..rupp ., few other depends some good some not so good ..hornets have nice welds ..
       

[doug tenney]

Talked to a full-tme aerospace weld inspector a couple of years ago. On the subject of "technique," he relayed this story:
He asked a nice older lady for her "secret" for making such consistent and accurate TIG welds.

She told him that she just thought of it like knitting, you know, make a loop, come back around, whatever-whatever. Funny, but no arguing with the results. No need for Orange County Chopper biceps!

BTW, in the general population, it's amazing what passes for "good" welds... i.e., all "reinforcement" with zero penetration.

Not that I have a good hands... my friends would probably be polite and say that I'm more of an "arm-chair welder"... lol