Toe Sweep Alignment Measurement???

[Jerry Siano]

I am wondering if there is a specific measurement to make sure the toe sweep is at zero, no toe-in or out, the front tires pointing directly forward. I had a friend use a set of snipers on my kart at the last race and my alignment was still pulling my kart to the left and he said I had to check my sweep. I also got into a wreck that race and had to replace my steering shaft and tie rods, so now I’m at home with only the basic tools to check alignment. I know that when using the tape measure and and chalk method you want the front of the tire measurement to be the same as the back of the tire measurement but is it possible to have the same measurement on both sides of the front tires and still be out of alignment? Could there be a bigger issue with my chassis not being able to get its aligned straight?

[Eric Stevens]

I would guess that you haver a twist in the chassis causing it to be heavy on the side it  is turning towards.

While getting the steering shaft or sweep centered is improtant if the wheels are aligned the kart will still roll straight if the chassis is straight and weights are equal. The sterring wheel will just be pointed in the wrong direction.

To measure the sweep go to youtube and look at some of the videos there for instructions.

[Barry Hastings]

What he was saying to do was make sure the steering shaft was in the center, that both tires were pointed the same distance from each other when steering wheel is straight.  You can do that with a tape and tow plates and even with the line on the tires…

That said, you probably have some bend issues from the accident.  IF the toe was set straight or 2mm out or what ever your preference is, even if your steering shaft is say clocked 10 degrees one way or the other, on the straight it shouldn’t pull, but in the turns left and right there could be a difference in the turn performance from that steering shaft being clocked…

[FREDDY SANDOVAL]

Jerry

Eric and Barry are both right, By just reading your post and noticed you crashed, or even before I read the part where you said you crashed, and mentioned you had a pull, I knew right away that you had something bent.

Check your spindles, your king pins, check your caster adjustment

A bad toe setting will not cause a pull, only negative caster or set back

loosen up your king pin bolts, spin the bolt from the top  (head), if the spindle changes direction as you turn it, then you have bent king pins, replace them and check again.

It is very important that you buy a set of snipe lazer tool, or borrow one, that way you can be sure where your camber and toe is.

What kind of kart is this?

[Jerry Siano]

thanks for all of your information. My chassis is a 32mm FA kart, I think a 2013 model year. The karts alignment was drifting towards the left before the accident in the last race. I haven’t been back to the track since. I suffered a bent steering shaft, tie rod and axle after hitting the barriers on the right side of the kart… After replacing the steering shaft and new tie tod i did a basic measurement of the front alignment and have both the front and back of the front tires at 41 and 3/4 inches, so they should be roughly straight. I really hope my chassis isn’t bent because I definitely wont be able to afford a replacement. Once I get a new axle I’ll take all your information to the track and see how it goes…oh and are kingpins the bolts that hold the spindle to the chassis through the caster pills? Thanks again for your help..

 

 

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[Chris Hatch]

On your snipers, you can have zero toe and equal weight left to right and still have a pull.  What you are wanting to do is “square” your kart.

You will need a long carpenters level, or string, or another long but very straight object.    Place the level so that both edges of the right rear rim are touching it.  Measure the distance from the level to the front of the right front time and the rear of the right front rim.  When those measurements are the same, the right front is now “square” with the rear of the kart.  From there, set your alignment to the left front with zero toe.  Now your kart is completely square.  From here you can set toe on each front wheel.

[Ron Towles]

If the chassis is not bent, I would suspect a caster misalignment from one side to the other. Caster split will cause a kart to turn towards the side that has less caster.

[FREDDY SANDOVAL]

Once you do all those repairs, and the kart still pulls to the left, there is hope

Send it in to be put in a table and they’ll fix it, this happens a lot even during major events some shops show up to the track with table straightening services, as karts do get bent just by going over cerves.

And yes, your king pins are the bolts that go through your spindles, pills and yoke.

Now this is gonna sound stupid but swap the 2 front tires just in case one is smaller than the other, but you should still check the geometry of your chassis.

[Randy McKee]

Chris H is right. The kart can pull even with correct toe setting.  Set steering straight ahead, square front to rear, then set toe.  Obviously, you’ll need to do any repairs to bent bits before all of that.

BTW: zero toe on the stand isn’t zero toe on the ground with you sitting in it.  Most karts toe-in considerably when placed on the tarmac.  I usually go for 2 – 4 mm toe out on the stand, but every kart is different.

[Tim Koyen]

Given that your kart is an OTK product, and you suffered that much damage in a crash, you can probably assume that is has a bend of some sort in it.  Usually a hit that’s hard enough to bend a steering shaft is going to tweak the chassis somewhat.  The good news is that the OTK karts bend back fairly easily and once straightened, should be just fine.  Someone with experience with those karts should be able to get it straightened back up fairly easily.  Snipers can detect misalignment, which can sometimes be due to a bent frame, but OTK karts bend at the waist frequently and it isn’t always visible on the lasers, yet the weights will be way off and the kart will pull to one side.  Find someone with OTK experience, as those karts don’t scale the same from corner to corner and don’t laser equally from side to side when they are new, so you need to know what you’re doing to get it back to where it once was.

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