So I thought I was more prepared for this. Been taking measurements for about an hour now. And realizing that this task is a little more difficult than I originally anticipated. I have the flat bottom against the jig I built. its flat and square to the frame. To get my measurement from the axle to the seat back I will lose my flat spot being parallel to the ground.
I am working off the factory seat settings. Front was pretty easy to get. Need to order some more delrin to make new spacers.
Currently watching seat install videos to see if I get more answers there.
I had leftover particle board that I laid on the kart stand then put the frame on there. Then stacked gears under the chassis to get the correct amount of seat under the frame rail. Then from there I was able to move the seat around and get it where it needed to be. It was easier with a flat bottom seat and a 5 lb puck in the seat.
after watching some videos it seems like the rear axle spacing is less important when using a flat bottom. If that’s the case I think I got it pretty dialed in.
spaced it from the frame for height. then set my left right distance. Seems pretty straight forward if that’s the case.
The distance from the top of the back of the seat to the top of axle isn’t as important when you have a flat bottom because the flat does tilt for you. But getting the distance from the front edge of the axle to perpendicular on the seat is important. It will give you seat placement forward/backward relative to the chassis. Getting the seat in the wrong place will give you lots of handling headaches.
I’ll echo Zach on this. Unless you’re over 6’ tall and/or have a lot of upper body mass, then just mount the seat flat, and don’t worry as much about your measurement from axle to the top of the back of seat. Keep in mind that seats will vary a bit, so your measurements may not always be exact. Nine times out of ten I mount my seats even with the bottom of the frame rails, which will eliminate the issue of the seat dragging/scraping.
So we recently mounted a seat on our OTK kart with no real issues, but I am a taller driver and we can’t find any way to push my legs further out. On the OTKs there is a small piece on the seat strut that limits how far back the seat can go so even though I am only 5’ 10" my knees almost hit the steering wheel because I have long legs. Does anyone have an ideas of how to fix this issue?
We’ve had taller drivers who were all legs have no issue. Can you send a pic of your seat setup? Might just be a matter of bending the struts out a bit more and using some spacers to give you more clearance to move the seat?
Hey Gage, you referring to the extra bracing on the engine side rear seat mount? Mine was tight to the seat as well. I was still able to get the seat to about 635/630mm measurements and keep it off that bracing bar. Anything further and it would rub during flex while driving.
You can try bending that seat mount but I worry about the welds if you’re cranking on it too hard.
Double check where your heel brace is mounted and that it’s all the way forward. It can also be flipped to have the brace on the forward side of the mount. Also check that your steering column is adjusted to its highest level to make sure you’re giving your knees enough room. Last resort you can also buy a longer steering shaft to give you extra leg room, but at 5’10” I think you should be able to adjust the factory stuff to work.
I always put a base setup on the kart and then get the seat close using an old seat. I mount the old seat, drive the kart and try a few different positions to see what effect the movement has on handling. I have found seat mounting makes a larger difference in setup then many other things for a larger driver like myself. So I find the money spot and unbolt the old seat and mount a new seat accordingly.
Honestly, I don’t know how people really dial in a kart without putting lots of time on the chassis that might just be me. Then again, I never have the same chassis twice because that never made sense to me so if you already had X chassis and got another X chassis you might already know exactly what you need to do to make it perform optimally.
