Track Tac

Pill Front End Competitive

J

jtjr09

New member
Can an older champ kart from the early 2000's with a pill front end still be competitive now? Just curious what others think. Have an older champ and was wondering what people thought before I go cutting off the spindle mounts and putting on a new heim front end.
 
what chassi and are parts readily available as in spindles. they can be competitive but your limited to camber adjustments with just the pill. If you have access to another champ with casterblocksI would suggest making a jig off it to transfer to your chassi in making sure you get your wheel base and caster plates in the proper location.
 
I was told by several others that cutting the front end to update was a no no and that you were just asking for issues. I've spoke to several people running older pill type karts that compete with the latest and greatest karts weekly.
 
I don't know about that.
I've done several conversion front ends (flat karts and champs) and every time the customer loved it. It also took care of any "tweaking" from a crash because I use a jig table to set my wheel base and ride height when welding the caster plates on. Definitely more/easier adjustment options with the caster L block conversion front end....Now, is the price of the parts and labor (caster plates, L blocks, heim, spindles, king pins, tie rods) worthy of the conversion -- that's a personal choice. (For most, it is not.)

Parts are available from a number of chassis manufacturers, PMI, and I have them in stock as well.



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Maybe I was misled.. I was told the way the front ends are setup with the old style spindles there can be issues with clearance when turning and overall width.. I'm no fabricator tho!
 
No, not a problem. You can accommodate just about anything out there with the way the newer spindles have the steering arms offset so much. The older karts sure didn't.
 
Its all about knowing what you are doing !lol! A tool guy/fab guy ect. Is or should be the person you should talk to carlson seems to be on the right track !...
 
I would stay with the pills. Unless the chassis is bent you can get the numbers you need and be very competitive.
 
Run it with the pills and see how it turns. We had an Ultramax Centerforce Jr spt champ with the original pill front end. That thing worked awesome and I couldn't be tempted to dial myself out with extra adjustments. It worked good on asphalt and better on dirt. Give it a try (if you can still get the spindles for it)
 
I may be wrong, but I believe there are still chassis being made with some type of pill setup, either in the front or rear. I'm pretty sure my impulse has pills in the rear, but I have never messed with it so I'm not certain.
 
I have an older pill front end kart. I dont even know what year it is or who makes it but i beat brand spanking new chassis with state champions driving them all the time. If the set up is right and the tires are right you can make anything run upfront. I ran 20 races or so last year and have 6 wins on it.

Get your set up close and concentrate on tires. Drive it to the front!
 
its just like anything else it all depends on what you are up against you hear "I beat tritons all the time with my 1942 rupp" well that may be true but that doesn't say what the guy driving the triton knows and what kind of crappy track you may be running on. On a very poorly prepped track newer stuff isn't as good and a chassis itself still has to be setup and driven right. In the hands of somebody who doesn't have much knowledge a triton is no better then a wasp bug.. so if there are a lot of newbie fun style racers at your Friday nite track that is prepped about as well as a plowed field give it a try if you want to get serious and complete with newer stuff on a decent track then it may be worth the time and money spent to upgrade it or get a newer chassis.
 
Ive ran with the fastest guys at my track using adjustable heim fronts and all the newer kart chassis. I have a pill front end and straight chassis. Get tires prepped well and get a good setup. Cant beat that
 
if you can get your pill style front end to the caster/camber degrees you want to run then in all seriousness what is the difference if your running pill or hemi. hemi to me is just basically an easier tuning tool doesn't necessarily make the car better.
 
I dont believe its the way you adjust the kart alone that makes one faster or slower, whether its pill or Heim or a nut and bolt. I believe its more about the design and layout of the chassis, which bars and rails are where and how they are positioned, the degree of the spindles and the rake, wheelbase, even tubing thickness and diameter, those seem to be the things that make any given chassis fast or not. That and the nut behind the steering wheel
 
I have a 2000 millenium with a pill style front end. The insides of the front wheels hit the frame when turned too sharp causing them to skid. Great for learning steering input but you definitely can't put it everywhere you want like a newer chassis. On a large track where you don't get bent out of shape very much it's not too bad. On a bullring though people are running over each other, once you get outta shape recoveries are much more difficult. I'd say leave the pills if your wheels don't hit. Do the conversion if it's worth it to you. Pmi parts would most likely correct this problem for me but do I wanna put $250 into a $250 kart?
 
I had a 1998 Olimpic 007 champ, the front end had a tube with the pill assembly on it that slid inside another tube clamping it to the chassis, so we took another tube the same diameter and length and welded a plate onto it and went double heim like how Ultamax's old setup was. We even went old school and used made it drag link steering (one rod running from pitman arm to lf spindle, then a larger rod from lf to rf spindle). Only cost a few bucks in heims and metal, kart was extremely fast, won a heat at Atlantic City in 2009 with it and started outside pole in the feature, ended up and getting trashed in the feature, guy bought it the following monday bent for $500 and went to Providence the following winter and flipped leading the feature.

dont get me wrong, the kart wasnt bad with the one set of pills it came with, JP Curry won a PADS Pavement State series race with it. Had some extra parts, a few extra dollars, and gave me something to do. It was a convenience thing more than anything
 
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