Triton rear bumper , run a little loose or completely tight and how will it effect the kart ?

[kartracer_3]

I have been running mine a tad loose just because back in the day that's the way we ran them on a few different chassis. Will tightening it up make the chassis a little stiffer and help with weight transfer or should I just leave it loose and let it flex a little ? 2013 Triton , total weight 400 lbs.
thanks
KR3

 

[Kj26]

We have a 14’, ours is tight. Ran it loose the first year, tie wire broke off, cost him his first dirt win. Been running it tight since, with plenty of wins.

 

[paulkish]

Will tightening it up make the chassis a little stiffer and help with weight transfer

I will tell you yes how tight your bumper is will change things. We started out sprint racing, lefty righty karts, on one track which we spent many many hours and days at learning. I had the tightness of the rear bumper so fine tuned after hours of testing I would set how much my sons inside rear(left rear) would lift with an inch pound torque wrench for a hair pin turn at the end of the straight. If the track changed I knew exactly how many inch pounds of torque to add or remove from the tightness of his rear bumper. We raced a coyote with rubber inserts mounting the bumper and the tightness if i'm remembering correctly was also considered a factory adjustment.

So my answer is yes it will change things. But how tight or how loose I cannot tell you because there are many more things involved then just the bumper. Think of it as a timing adjustment determining when the LR starts to unload and load. Or you might think of it as the distance of travel you need your LR unloaded or partially unloaded. Again how much and when it needs done depends on the track and your speed taking the corner.

That's my thought process/theory on it.

 

[paulkish]

I had the tightness of the rear bumper so fine tuned after hours of testing I would set how much my sons inside rear(left rear) would lift with an inch pound torque wrench for a hair pin turn at the end of the straight.

Funny how one thing makes us think of something else.

Never thought about it until just now. I never tried tightening the left and right mountings to different torques. Even sprint racing there are usually more left hand turns then right and you normally would adjust to the most important racing corner. Maybe LTO dirt racing if you did use rear bumper tightness as an adjustment, it would make a difference if you did left and right bumper mountings differently? Thinking about it more you might even try locking down each side and then torquing the other to a speck? Might be something to look into for fine tuning because so often who's fine tuned the best will win.

 

[OVALTECH1]

Mine is on tight but it’s a loop bumper so it was made to flex a bit anyhow.