Struggling with front grip on a 2021 OTK Cadet running LO206 Jr. Sportsman. 265lbs min weight with green slide.
Started with factory recommended settings and been making changes to try and improve.
Looking for advice. The front tire wear looks much different than the rear tire wear. We always seem to have what looks like pickup on the fronts but not on the rears.
2021 OTK Cadet
MG Red SH2
13.5 - 15 psi cold
14.5 - 17 psi hot
40mm spacing inside each front wheel
max castor added
0 deg camber
0.5 deg total toe out
1000mm PKT stiff axle with hubs full width
middle ride height front and rear
The front tires don’t show understeer (longitudinal graining pattern), but the build-up on the edge is likely front excess caster. Pick-up like that is usually from the tire heating up but not scrubbing and cleaning off. If the fronts are picking up rubber and the rears look fairly clean, that would indicate oversteer to me, not understeer.
Where is the understeer happening? Turn-in, apex, or exit?
Understeer on turn in. Typically leads to exit oversteer. We widened the rear and that helped the exit oversteer but I think we need to solve the entry and that may fix the exit.
We tried taking the caster out a week ago and the understeer got much worse so I put it back in.
Seat is as far forward as I can get it. 7 year old in a small OTK seat.
A few people have suggested scaling which is something I’ve not done yet. I’ve got 55lbs of lead on the seat and 5llbs between the pedals. Possible that there is not enough weight on the front.
I know for full size somewhere around 43% front weight is ideal. For a cadet running the same size tire all around do you still aim for 43%?
So I put the kart on scales last night and it is heavy on the rear. Also heavy on the RR with the LO206 on there.
Front: 54 / 57 lbs
Rear: 75 / 83 lbs
That gives 41% front. I’ve got 55lbs on the seat so I’ll remove 15lbs from the right rear of the seat and try to get it to the front of the chassis.
Is 43% a good front target for a cadet with equal tire size on all four corners and low 206 power? Wondering if I should aim for even more front weight like 44-45%?
Might as well go big and then dial it back if you need to. Since mostly just one rear wheel does the work in the turns while (ideally) both fronts share the work, the rear is under-tired. This makes me think KK and Cadet need more forward CG than full-size karts with twice the rear tire.
