2020 k&k Kobra chassis (Righetti Rudolfi)
My steering is VERY tight to the point it feels like I’m driving a concrete truck. Drove a friends CRG the other day and it felt SO MUCH more comfortable to steer. What are things I can do to not only loosen my steering (I know moving spacers from inside to outside will help), but what other things can I do for a more enjoyable driving experience?
Take out some caster.
Would Ackerman change make it lighter? Or just quicker?
Years ago I crashed a kart and bent an axle, broke seat, bent steering wheel, and more. I was not able to get my kart ready for next week, and borrowed someone else’s kart. The steering was so much heavier than mine. I was so discouraged with how it felt. Right up until my brother told me it was the fastest lap I ever ran. And by quite a bit.
Fast is fun. That said the kart that I was fast had less ackerman than mine and the steering was heavy. I do not know if the ackerman was why, but increasing it may help it be lighter, but may or may not make it faster
Moving the front wheela out would likely make the steering heavier as you are asking the front end for more mechanical jacking/leverage.
Generally the steering “weight” is down to caster. Do you have an adjustment for that?
Try adjusting caster first, since it has little effect on other parameters. Narrowing your front track will have the effect of making steering easier as James says, since you will be asking it give less jacking effect. Bear in mind front track adjustment will induce understeer. I too drive a CRG it has the sniper kingpin, easily adjustable. I drive it with a notch less caster than stock, feels great.
Add to the above. Moving the inner track rod ends/ heims to holes on the ‘spade’ nearer the column centre will lighten the steering as would a larger dia. steering wheel.
First things first, make sure your spindle bolts and steering column/fairing support bolts aren’t so tight that they are making your steering physically hard to move.
Hi,
I know this is an older conversation but I have a question in the same sense. I have multiple Karts, among which a Birel from 2015 and a CRG Heron from 2019, both with a Rotax Max Evo engine. We are three friends and drive both of them always together so we also switch regularly during the day from one Kart to the other. The Birel feels so much easier to steer than the CRG. If I would have to put a number to it I would say between 70-80% lighter. The difference is huge.
I removed caster completely from the CRG, I have camber set to neutral and the Ackermann in the highest and closest position to the steering column. Only option left would be the width of the front end but it is already similar than the one on the Birel.
What causes this heavier steering input needed for the CRG. Setup wise I have no clue…
Kind regards,
Max
Before you do anything and chase down geometry, check the safety collars around the steering column support. Do a test by moving them away from the bushing, leaving plenty of clearance. See if it changes anything.
Some karts just have heavier or lighter steering, depending on frame material, tube thickness, front geometry etc.
CRG is usually noted to be a stiff kart, so that could be why it feels heavier.
The safety collars around the steering column are not the issue. The CRG Heron has a specific chassis design in the front, perhaps this is the reason why it steers so heavy.