too much caster

foreverfaster

foreverfaster

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one of my many karts has so much caster that when you turn the wheel in either direction is slows the kart considerably.. holds straight like a magnet to steel.

It is built in,.. NO adjustment what so ever... no pills, no heims, just a bolt through the spindle. bearings and everything is centered. in order to get less caster, do i need to purchase new spindles??? i can't picture in my head how different spindles would work... i'm on the thought pattern that i'll just hog out the bolt hole (elongate) it if i can.. the maybe a heavy washer that i can rivet in place with a tiny rivet or roll pin.. to get some caster out of it.

Any suggestions would be great.... i will try and figure out what brand and type of kart it is... it is a road course kart...

Thanks
Foreverfaster
 
Cut the arms off of the brackets top and bottom and weld new brackets on the flat pieces that are left. This will be better than cutting the whole bracket off, you'll be able to mark the new angle and it will save your camber angle and ride height. Before you cut make sure the king pin is parallel with the flat part of the C bracket on the existing one and the new one or you'll be changing the camber.

OR,

You could grind the hole farther forward on top and farther aft on the bottom then install pills or bushing washers. It would be wise to have the pills during the planing stage but, you'll have to make pills to fit the larger holes if you can't find the new size and you'll need longer king pins. Be mindful of how thin you make the metal between the hole and the edge. The holes need to be round so plan on finishing with a drill bit after grinding to the approximate size.

Sundog
 
As Sundog said . Or some variation there of.
New c brakets welded and bolted to the old flat plate after removing the c portion.
 
Add snipers for $58 each. You would need either 2 or 4 depending on whether you add them to the top or top and bottom. The advantage to this is infinite adjustability with minimal welding or machine work.
 
Are you sure its the caster slowing you down or is it scrub. check and make sure tie rod brackets are coming straight back and not at a extreme angle. I run alot of caster on a couple karts that have more horse power and alot of rear weight with no problem.
 
Gab507 said:
Add snipers for $58 each. You would need either 2 or 4 depending on whether you add them to the top or top and bottom. The advantage to this is infinite adjustability with minimal welding or machine work.
Click to expand...

what are "snipers" where do i get them.

- - - Updated - - -

i'm going to put some time in it today, maybe i can just add a hiems to the top and have all the adjusting i need... time will tell
 
You can open the hole on top and bottom of the spindle yoke and purchase a set of upper and lower pills to fit. They come in a bunch of offsets and will cost a lot less then the sniper pills that will probably crack if not installed correctly.

If the kart has a little age to it the Snipers will probably not fit. They require a wide top plate in order to mount and drill the small holes used to secure them to the top.
 
Another thing about those Snipers. You reduce the strength of the system from an 8mm king pin bolt down to the two little screws that hold it on.
 
sundog said:
Another thing about those Snipers. You reduce the strength of the system from an 8mm king pin bolt down to the two little screws that hold it on.
Click to expand...

Add to the screws, the friction between mated surfaces. If worried, clean paint. Roughen both surfaces. Make sure both are flat.

All these things need to be done, regardless of the material the adjusters are made of.
 
The screws don't hold everything. They just hold everything in place so you can do your adjustments. Then you tighten your kingpins like you normally would. This is what does all the clamping and holding. You will learn right away to make sure the top plate is sitting down into the teeth all the way. Otherwise you WILL snap one in half. But after that you will learn to make sure it's seated. Haha.
 
I added them to a Birel and the top plate didn't quite have enough room for both screws. It's quite large. I used a step drill to drill the king pin hole out then used the cap as a pattern for the small screws. One got one in each side. I had planned to add some material to the ear for a second screw but it was never needed.
 
The Sniper base plates have a shoulder on the bottom of the plate. the shoulder should fit snuggly in the hole on your spindle "u" channel. The screws only secure the plate to the "u" channel and see very limited load. With the spindle bolt tight it is a very secure installation. BUT the top surface of the "U" channel MUST be flat. Or the Sniper will eventually crack.

Do not tighten the I/B and O/B set screws hold the camber in place until the king bolt is snugged down. This will help prevent cracks in the base plate was well as what I stated above.
 
how do you measure caster on the pill/eccentric style chassis? I see one of the german sniper style lasers has a scale to check the angle but not seeing other systems. I have a larry jones fixture that slides over the yoke and holds a digital angle finder for my old bandit but dont know what to use on the newer style front ends?
 
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