Where to mount weights

N

NCTrooper

New member
My 5 year old son will be running a red plate clone class this year. I have to add about 40 lbs of weight but I am not sure where or how the best way to do this is. What is the most weight you can put on one bolt without the seat getting damaged?
 
Yeah I have scales and by the way I had everything done I was within 1% of all my numbers I was trying to hit on front, left and cross. I went 3 lbs over in case the track scales are off from mine but I want to make sure I didn't do it in correctly. I had 2 pucks weighing a total of 10 lbs bolted to the left side of the seat, 2 more pucks at 15 lbs beside those on the left side of the seat and 10 lbs on the back left frame rail between the seat and wheel. It's a 2004 Nemesis.
 
Ok, that makes sense because the bolt holding the 15 lbs started to tear down through the seat today. I think it got loose but I figured I would have to break it up. With him being so short and the seat up so far would u hang them high or low on the seat?
 
My son is 6 and we are learning as we go. But I like them as high on seat as possible. My theory is to help transfer weight to right sides.
 
My son will be 6 next month and I am in the same boat as you. My daughter turns 8 Wednesday and she will probably not be allowed to run in peewee which is 240 lbs for our track. She will go to advanced peewee with a green plate which is 275 lbs so I need to get proficient at the weight game. She is currently at 225 without weight so that's 50 lbs I will have to find places to mount. Do you hang them on the back, left right etc ??
 
I'm gonna just play with the placements and see what the almighty scales tell me. I was just wondering how and where u guys put your weights.
 
Place your lead where you need it to get your setup correct. I have wieght on seat as well as between the front tires on the pan to get my son's kart to scale correctly.
 
Just make sure to check with your tech man also around here they have a minimum bolt size per amount of weight. I think its a 5/16 bolt in one five chunk double nutted. Anything more I believe we either have to run two 5/16th bolts or move to a 3/8 bolt. Invest in some of the nice elevator bolts. Most kart shops have them and Lowe's hardware has them in some sizes. They are a lot more comfortable and don't tend to tear up seat or pull out as bad. If you choose to run regular hex bolts always put a big fender washer under the head. Another thing that will help a ton is get some rubber grommets like they use on the nose cone and seat mounts and put one behind the weight on the bolt. This way the weight will match up to the seat better and won't be so solid breaking the seat when you tighten it up.
 
Lots of good info here. The one thing that I see nobody has mentioned here is the fact that you should scale the kart out to the percentages you are looking BEFORE you add lead.

The driver is still the largest piece of ballast on the kart and needs to be in the correct location before you add the lead. Then only after that do you add lead. The scales will tell you where it needs to be.

I have found with the JR's that most of the dads just mount the seat where jr feels comfortable then just stack the lead wherever to get the percentages correct. They normally end up with a "lead sled" that just won't handle right. It is because the percentages are right but the center of gravity is wrong.

Also with the JR's, you will not want to put lead ahead of the front axle and you will want to mount the lead that is on the rear of the seat as high as you can get it.

If you need set up numbers for that kart PM me. I have several championships and WKA national wins in '04 an '05 in the JR classes in those karts.
 
hey its a learning deal for the kids, as well as the dads. once in a while put five or ten lbs. opposite of where it should be. see if the kids pick up on the change, and what it changed. its about learning. have mom pick the weight change get her involved also.
 
I have a Red plate kart , with custom frt. seat slides that raised the seat up 2 inches and extra long seat struts for the sides. Then I have a 9.6 lb ballast bolted on the left and a 9.2 lb ballast bolted beside it on the left side of the seat . I then have a 7 lb ballast on the center of the back of the seat about 2 inches down from the top so its pretty high. I then have a thin but large diameter 5 lb on the bottom toward the front of the seat . I only have 1 weight on the kart frame itself and that's on the center weight tap on the rear of the chassis in front of the axle . Weigh kart out first then with driver in the seat place the weights. Then fine tune cross . When all done I then check center of gravity % just for reference and record.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top