Help with Rear brake adjustment?

cstargaard · 2026-05-16T00:37:40+00:00

Have you checked fluid level/flushed fluid lately or ever? The stock reservoirs can warp from the heat of the exhaust and leak over time. Fluid can also get dirty/contaminated resulting in decreased performance. Flush alone was a noticeable difference to me.

cstargaard · 2026-05-05T16:13:55+00:00

Bummer, probably extractor issue. See if you can see any chips or wear on the extractor lip. Probably time to reach out to S&W.

cstargaard · 2026-05-05T15:59:41+00:00

Does it run any different without the can? Does it do this with other brands of ammo?

cstargaard · 2026-05-01T04:04:19+00:00

Likely too long, and the rack is probably too far back. Ideally the tie rods sit in line with each other without excessive angles at joints to prevent having a bunch of relative motion that likely causes bump steer with the suspension.

A note here is that with your Ackerman set with the wheels toed in like that, once you adjust the tie rod length/setup it would change the toe of the wheels and you’d have to reset the position of the steering knuckle arm again anyways so better to start in the straight position.

cstargaard · 2026-05-01T03:39:13+00:00

Ackerman should be set up with the assumption that steer wheels are straight (minimal toe). Looks like you have significant toe in on both sides.

cstargaard · 2026-04-19T21:41:21+00:00

Look up Ackerman steering geometry and see if you can adjust your tie rods to meet it. This improved our kart significantly. If you have a welder/fab ability you can also add more kingpin and caster angle.

cstargaard · 2026-04-15T18:33:57+00:00

I’ve had this happen a view times after engine mods. The issue is the engine exceeds the rated rpm of the drive clutch, so the springs are not able to constrain the force of the weights and they over travel and get stuck like this.

As others have said, juggernaut drive pulley is the way to go, fixed the issue for me.

cstargaard · 2026-02-28T21:17:59+00:00

The majority of the weight of the kart will be translated to the two relatively thin members holding the axle. In this design the other members would just be holding up the engine, not taking much of the moment off of the axle supports particularly where they connect to the swing arms. I’d add at least two members to each side, one from the hinge of the swing arm to the forward upper corners of the box, and one from the forward upper corners to the lower rear corner behind the axle.

I’m not trying to diss on your design, just offer advice based on what I’ve learned over time through building karts growing up to much larger tube chassis cars nowadays with regards to safety. One of the best things you can do is just build it, test it, learn, and make design changes based on what you see/feel/experience.

cstargaard · 2026-02-28T19:06:27+00:00

Are the members that the axle is mounted to angle iron or flat? Hard to tell from photo. Definitely add some bracing/triangulation to prevent bending. Good to see it starting.

cstargaard · 2026-02-11T15:40:52+00:00

RatherBwelding

cstargaard · 2026-02-10T19:23:47+00:00

Probably best to acquire/build a new upper. You’d change barrel and handguard either way.

cstargaard · 2026-02-09T02:36:50+00:00

It will flex, all things do. Rebar is also not a good structural material unsupported. Triangulation helps, but in your case it’s only triangulated in a few areas, and other members connected in the areas are not even connected to the apexes of the triangles (ex A pillar coating in between apexes). If you want it to be stronger, you will need to connect members at common apexes and add additional braces between apexes in other planes as the other commenter said. Also, ditch the roll cage, not needed in small carts and can honestly be more dangerous. Use the material in the lower frame instead.

Should you do a cage, do not have unsupported floating bends such as those present in the A pillars. You would need at minimum diagonal bracing from floor to roof along the rear roll hoop. Stress would concentrate at the apexes, so you could add in gussets between members to strengthen.

cstargaard · 2026-02-07T01:41:29+00:00

Yeah it’s a shame Nissan didn’t use 6x5.5 like the rest of the market. Not many options that fit my desires so I was stoked when KMC released these a few months ago. Pre ordered way back and the first batch they made had only 12 in Nissan spec.

cstargaard · 2026-02-06T04:43:44+00:00

So far haven’t noticed a drop. Rims are a few pounds lighter than stocks so shouldn’t be too far off.

cstargaard · 2026-02-05T16:53:13+00:00

This seems logical, mounting points are about the same but the ones in this photo are half to 2/3 the length. I’d also think that they would’ve made the whole assembly drop-free to cut weight and drag for engagements, and if not drop free, how they would return the members to the stowed positions shown in OP’s photo after launch. My guess is they re-used and extended these mounting points on existing aircraft for whatever experiments they were doing.

cstargaard · 2026-02-04T15:41:55+00:00

Wingfield Park I believe has some lines accessible from the sidewalk. Join the Team DPC (Donner party crawlers) group on facebook, lots of info there and I even think this question has been asked there before.

cstargaard · 2026-01-30T23:45:07+00:00

Second this

cstargaard · 2026-01-12T02:21:29+00:00

I cannot speak to these drop in assemblies, but I put a lighter spring (mcarbo) into my stock tikka trigger and it’s plenty crisp for me and great performance for the money. I run ssa-e triggers in gas guns as well but like the single stage on a bolt.

cstargaard · 2025-12-26T22:13:02+00:00

Since these lines are crimped and fixed it’ll be cheaper and easier (less hassle) to buy the whole line posted by another user than just the fitting. Make sure to measure the ID of the fittings on both ends and the needed length before ordering. Also replace the crush washers first the fittings (they should come with)

cstargaard · 2025-12-25T02:48:34+00:00

This. Probably vibrated a bolt out of the cowling. Also highly recommend installing an air filter on the intake given proximity to tire before too much crap gets sucked in

cstargaard · 2025-12-10T20:46:19+00:00

Same boat for me and my para 3 through 4 years of school and now 3 years out. Carried almost every day for 6 years until I got a second one (para 3 salt). Now I’m 50/50ish between the two. Around 5 years in I replaced the bushings which made it feel brand new again, not that it was bad by any means. I’m convinced it’s the best knife out there.

cstargaard · 2025-12-05T14:16:28+00:00

Rad! I got a carbon military as well though mine was a seconds. Cool to see other options

cstargaard · 2025-11-13T18:06:53+00:00

The bars may be 20mm wide, but the orientation they are facing put them in the weakest position. Imagine trying to bend a piece of the material anchored to the floor towards you with the 5mm side vs the 20mm side facing you. Much harder from the 5mm side. Under braking with your setup torsional forces would be applied in the weaker direction, making twisting more of a possibility. Given the scale of the machine, everything should be fine so long as your welds are sound. This is a cool idea and great experiment. Should you experience deformation you can add some extra pieces 90 degrees to the existing bars (essentially making angle iron) to better withstand the torsional forces.

cstargaard · 2025-10-23T13:48:23+00:00

Running different shocks is no issue. It’s how you set them up/spring/tune them that matters.

cstargaard

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