Chassis and tires

I’m going to be moving my son from a TritonJr to another kart before next year. Im trying to learn about some other manufacturers besides Phantom.

Can anybody tell me if any chassis manufacturer have designed their chassis for Burris tires? What chassis are the most tire friendly for drivers 140 pounds or less?

Suggestions
 
I know we've done plenty of testing with our Vector chassis over the years on Burris tire.
No major manufacturers that I am aware of, do factory testing with Burris tires. With that said, however, the manufacturers do work with dealers/teams who are running their karts on Burris.

Two major differences:
1 - the track surfaces and amount of available bite (ie none) for local Saturday night type stuff in the midwest, and
2 - the floppy sidewall construction of the Burris 33 tire.

Most manufacturers currently offer a small tube kart, or thin wall, etc. that's softer and flexes more for low bite weekly racing.
Pick a brand that offers good support and stick with them.
Honestly, the Triton Jr that you're on is still one of the best junior and lightweight chassis out there, even though it's a bit dated.
I wouldn't be afraid to throw some new components at it and let'er fly against any of the newer stuff.



-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
32 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
I know we've done plenty of testing with our Vector chassis over the years on Burris tire.
No major manufacturers that I am aware of, do factory testing with Burris tires. With that said, however, the manufacturers do work with dealers/teams who are running their karts on Burris.

Two major differences:
1 - the track surfaces and amount of available bite (ie none) for local Saturday night type stuff in the midwest, and
2 - the floppy sidewall construction of the Burris 33 tire.

Most manufacturers currently offer a small tube kart, or thin wall, etc. that's softer and flexes more for low bite weekly racing.
Pick a brand that offers good support and stick with them.
Honestly, the Triton Jr that you're on is still one of the best junior and lightweight chassis out there, even though it's a bit dated.
I wouldn't be afraid to throw some new components at it and let'er fly against any of the newer stuff.



-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
32 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
Thanks Brian!

We scale weekly before each race. I’ve noticed a shift in the severity at which our toe is moving. (New tie rods)

This week we won heat 1(started pole) Heat 2 we started last moved up five spots to 4th. As we left the track push the kart to scales I could feel it wanting to dart left by pushing. Brady was not comfortable by the end of the heat. Go to the pits and put the kart on the scales. RF read 1/8” In and LF read 1/16 out. I typically set toe at RF 1/16” Out and LF 0. Camber on RF moved from -2.70° to -2.5° but some how we went from 66% cross down to 62%. Tires were staggered.

we moved our last washer from each side RF moved bottom top to and LF moved top to bottom. This got out cross back to 64% which I could live with.
Started 16 kart feature in 5th slipped back to 9th and ran back up to 4th for the finish.

We bought the kart used last year and have put ~ 30 events on it maybe.

I know these small tubers flex a lot. We may have something bent. We didn’t have any crashes but the track was very rough. Seems like every week we are on a rough track.

I’ve never replaced spindles, tie rod ends, king pins or caster blocks. I’m sure it needs it.

I’d like to get something new for next year.
 
Your on probably the most user friendly chassis, plus good for smaller driver even moving into Sr classes
Yes. I’m mainly considering for next year but I need to start understanding what we need moving forward. This kid is 5’11” now and growing daily. Do these TritonJr’s ever flex out if that’s possible?
 
Yes. I’m mainly considering for next year but I need to start understanding what we need moving forward. This kid is 5’11” now and growing daily. Do these TritonJr’s ever flex out if that’s possible?
I'd say yes it's possible, but not as much as a lot of guy's think there flexed out, and that's with any chassis brand.
You'll NEVER rescale 100 % everything the same, especially setting scales up at the track or even different location for that matter.
While adjusting front end settings with kart setting on scale pads, are you picking front tires off the pads, or rolling kart forward after every tweak ?
If not that's part of your problem tires are gripped to the pads once you release they move more, adjust, release, check, adjust again if needed, release, check again.
 
It's not flexed out. (Unless it's been crashed hard at some point, or had heat taken to it.)
Maybe the heims, bearings, and spindles need updated is all.
Your toe change appears (to me anyhow) that the toe lock had moved slightly.
Keep in mind that when you're on the track, the steering wheel is rarely perfectly straight.
That may not completely attribute to your cross change, but it would some.
Roll off scales stands certainly help when making adjustments (as Ken pointed out.)
 
While adjusting front end settings with kart setting on scale pads, are you picking front tires off the pads, or rolling kart forward after every tweak ?
If not that's part of your problem tires are gripped to the pads once you release they move more, adjust, release, check, adjust again if needed, release, check again.
I was not doing that. This makes total sense.

This is one reason that I didn’t quite understand why people were adjusting the front end on the scales with the driver. It made sense to me for the wheels to be free while adjusting because of this reason. It seems like the tires are holding some stress until as you stated the wheels are lifted and rolled.

I wish there was something I could use as a datum to set at a 0 point on the frame to work off of. I do assure the scales are 100% level each time.

I’m going to rebuild all my front end parts and see if I can standardize my method for setting this front end up.
 
For me it would be easy to fix the racing on a rough track always, I would go else where.
We actually skipped our local hang out because of this very reason. In addition they wouldn’t answer my questions on rules. (Ignored) so we traveled to a big event in Ohio and they just missed on the track. Put down too much water. It took 3.5 hour delay for them to get the track raceable. Was still rough.
 
Replace every wearable item on that Triton and I think you'll find your numbers stay consistent and your kart gets faster. Tritons are still wicked fast here in the SE and certainly not too old to compete. Most karts in the last decade are so close, you aren't really gaining anything. Its the tires that make all the difference. We fully rebuild our chassis after every race season, i.e all bearings, tie rods, heims, spindles, etc.
 
Guy - here are a few comments:
  1. We bought a Triton Jr from a guy that's had like 15-20 of them. He shared set-up info and we were fast out of the gate and really couldn't find more speed than our initial set-up. He also showed me 4-5 frames that were bent from from he described as minor accidents. Some were bent up at the rear frame rails while others had front end damage at the caster block area. When we found that the kart wasn't any faster then the other karts we had we decided to sell it in fear of bending it. No doubt they are good / user friendly karts but I wouldn't be fearful of trying something new.
  2. Like Ken pointed out, make sure you unload the front end after every change.
  3. As Brian pointed out, you're toe isn't changing but likely the toe lock is moving
  4. You'll probably find consistency once the front end components are replaced
  5. I was interested to hear comments around chassis manufactures and Burris tires. I have heard rumor that the Rival and Pursuit were designed around Burris tires. I gather that is not the truth or at least the whole truth. I see a lot of Pursuits and Prodigy Cadets up front at Burris races.
 
Rivals and Prodigy's are top karts more often than not here in the high bite Burris country. After Missy Bootes cleaned house a week ago at Ashway now everyone wants a Slack Pursuit . Any reputable kart can win. If a chassis is a good design, it will work on any tire. there is a lot of adjust ability on any new chassis that you can fine tune for any difference in tires
 
I can tell you with certainty that the new Pursuits are working down here all over the SE on Vegas or Maxxis tires. Any good chassis will work with the right tire and a good wheelman!

Our Pursuit flat out rolls! It has so much corner exit speed my son had to learn to drive a kart again for fear of running over karts in front of him. He swore he was getting pushed until we showed him video... :)
 
Guy - here are a few comments:
  1. We bought a Triton Jr from a guy that's had like 15-20 of them. He shared set-up info and we were fast out of the gate and really couldn't find more speed than our initial set-up. He also showed me 4-5 frames that were bent from from he described as minor accidents. Some were bent up at the rear frame rails while others had front end damage at the caster block area. When we found that the kart wasn't any faster then the other karts we had we decided to sell it in fear of bending it. No doubt they are good / user friendly karts but I wouldn't be fearful of trying something new.
  2. Like Ken pointed out, make sure you unload the front end after every change.
  3. As Brian pointed out, you're toe isn't changing but likely the toe lock is moving
  4. You'll probably find consistency once the front end components are replaced
  5. I was interested to hear comments around chassis manufactures and Burris tires. I have heard rumor that the Rival and Pursuit were designed around Burris tires. I gather that is not the truth or at least the whole truth. I see a lot of Pursuits and Prodigy Cadets up front at Burris races.
I had a Slack Dealer text me yesterday telling me that exact thing. He wanted to call but I was busy at the time. Over the weekend we ran into many many many Pursuits in Northern Ohio. This is one reason I asked this question.

I’m going to update all my front end parts. Get my setup methods down and repeatable. I know we’ll run fast once we’re there because we hadn’t been worse than 4th place all summer. Never felt like we were out-classed.
 
Rivals and Prodigy's are top karts more often than not here in the high bite Burris country. After Missy Bootes cleaned house a week ago at Ashway now everyone wants a Slack Pursuit . Any reputable kart can win. If a chassis is a good design, it will work on any tire. there is a lot of adjust ability on any new chassis that you can fine tune for any difference in tires
Where is High Bite Burris Country?
 
Yes. I’m mainly considering for next year but I need to start understanding what we need moving forward. This kid is 5’11” now and growing daily. Do these TritonJr’s ever flex out if that’s possible?
I would run that chassis with new components until your son approaches the 350 weight class. It wont "flex out" per-se, but any more weight than that and it will stop responding to adjustments.
 
East TN. red clay and not a Maxxis track in site. Ashway, Dawgwood, Godspeed, Beaver Creek. all high bite and all Burris RIP Beechnut and Dumplin Valley
I would say that Beaver Creek is rapidly changing from its high bite status, at least for Saturday night racing.
 
We ran a Triton Jr in Sr Clone 375 with a 125 lb driver with no issues, until someone got sideways in the turn and we destroyed the frame.
 
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