I have had people tell me they went through scaling karts and will never do it again. I also know guys that swear by it.
Turning the kart around backward on the scales should illustrate any errors in scale setup. That is not saying you can just average your results and use them.
This might solve your problem keeping it level. My latest innovation. And it unbolts for packaging and shipping. About eight major pieces plus bolts and nuts and such. I haven’t built one yet, but I could?
Cross is important, but I find it hard to believe it’s more or less important than several other points on the kart. Stagger, to fit the track your racing on, is important. Weight, front to rear, is important. Camber/caster is important. Individual corner weights are important. Gearing is important. And I’m not even going to get into tires and tire pressures.
Alvin, I’ve considered getting something custom built, but for just one kart one time it doesn’t make financial sense.
I hear that, but are you only going to weigh it once? From what I understand, a lot of people scale their kart after every race. It seems they make changes at the track and they want to know what the changes did to the corner weights. Then there’s always the possibility of doing it for your friends, whether you charge them or not.
Yeah im going to be getting a new set of scales and I will build a table for them. I hate paying people to do something I am more than capable of. So it will come. In time
Yea agreed, I’d have probably considered your jig if i wasn’t all the way in Trinidad… would still be interested in knowing how much it’d cost though.
I really have nothing to tell you on the cost yet, I’m researching it. It won’t be cheap I can tell you that. Maybe in the range of $1500-$2000. But I’m not really sure about that even. I’m hoping the fact that it can be disassembled for shipping and reassembled/disassembled on-site. That’s got to be one big advantage. The rigidity and the ease of leveling the unit are a big plus. Thanks for your inquiry.
“Almost no one has a 100% level floor” (chris 1388)
My procedure for providing a ’ level’ area for checking kart…
Paint 4 rectangles on your floor where the wheels /scales are going to sit.
Make yourself a simple water gauge to level the 4 rectangles.
Water gauge consists of a reservoir connected with a length of rubber hose to a receiver unit.
My reservoir was a 4 inch length of 2 inch square hollow section steel welded on to a 6 inch square baseplate with an outlet connection for the receiver hose.
Receiver unit was an angle bracket similar in size to reservoir with a clear vertical level indicator and a scale (bit off old steel measuring tape) . Get the idea??
Place the reservoir in the middle of the 4 rectangles (around where the centre of the kart will sit)
Connect the reservoir to the receiver using rubber hose, 3/8 inch bore or similar and long enough to move around to each of your 4 rectangles.
Put some water in the reservoir, place the receiver on rectangle 1 and read the level off the scale on the receiver.
Move receiver round to rectangles 2.3.4 and read the variation in level from 1.
Use packing (thin ply, al.sheet etc).to level up your test area .
IMO it isn’t necessary to have all 4 areas at exactly the same level just that the test area is free from ‘twist.’
This condition can be achieved by packing one rectangle only, in my case 1/4 -5/16 inch required.
Label the appropriate rectangle with the thickness required and you have a ‘flat’ area for your tests.
Clear as mud?
FWIW I’ve used floor tiles under the scales to level them in the past with decent success. Typically get a bunch of thin and cheap ones. I’m not scaling karts often enough to justify the adjustable setups.
I use a chassis flat plate at the shop generally to scale the kart quick and easy, sometimes you have to sneak it in… haha
I have had success with various weight distributions. Every kart I have ever driven has wanted much different setups but are fast and can go to the winners circle if driven correctly.
My Biesse vs my SKM Trackmagic is almost 8% different front to rear weight distribution.
My 206 kart is on a scale set multiple times a day some races, but for sure before every race.
My 2 cycle stuff, not as much, if ever aside from making sure I got the minimum weight…
That’s quite a garage you have there. 
Is that a C2 Vette with a splitter?
Is there any way to do this even if you can’t add much weight to the kart if you are already near the class minimum. Seems like it will always be off because of the engine weight.
It’s still useful to check to see if your chassis is bent, check seat placement, etc. Also, you could play around with ride heights if you really want to dial in corner weights.
If you have the right kind of bearing hangers, they make an adjustable cassette for weight jacking. Also can move right front spindle kingpin washers to move the spindle up and down.
I always wondered why you never see a set of scales at a 2 cycle race, it at a 4 cycle race you can’t find a tent without them. What is your reasoning for using them with 1 but not the other?
A good question. I dont think I ever had my kart scaled.
Perhaps because most 4 stroke engines are a boat anchor compared to their 2 stroke counter part. (LO206 in particular). Balancing the kart is a little more difficult with no radiator on the other side to counter some of the engine weight if not all of it.
