First off... Congratulations on your purchase of the Ultramax Racing Chassis! And welcome to the Owners & Setup Area of the Ultramax website. We'll help you get started off with your chassis the right way. Even if you are an experienced racer, you should be able to go even faster! Owners Manual Page 2: Step 4 – Setting your Ackerman For this season, Ultramax Racing Chassis has implemented Ackerman adjustability on our chassis. The function of Ackerman in front-end geometry is to turn the inside tire at a higher rate than the outside tire. This is based on the geometric understanding that the left front tire is traveling on a tighter arc than the right front tire. In most cases your desired Ackerman setting will be with the left front tie-rod end one hole closer to the king pin bolt than the right front tie-rod end. In unison with the correct Pitman arm angle, this will give you the correct amount of left front steering lead for most conditions. Although this setting will be ideal for most track conditions you may encounter certain situations that you will benefit from a change in Ackerman. On a fast, hard biting racetrack, moving the left front tie-rod end forward another hole may free the front-end up from the apex to corner exit, allowing for you to exit the corners lower without binding the chassis or engine RPM’s (picture above). Likewise, on a slower racetrack that lacks bite, you may find it helpful to move the left front tie-rod end back a hole to stabilize the chassis on corner entry to the apex. As with all adjustments on our chassis, if you are not comfortable with the adjustments or just like to keep your adjustments simple, we recommend that you run the settings that we recommended above. These are settings that will be ideal for all situations and will not hinder performance under certain track conditions like the other settings may, if the wrong adjustment is made. Now that we have discussed Ackerman settings we are ready for step 5, squaring the chassis. Step 5 – Squaring your Chassis With all of our front-end geometry set we are now ready to square the chassis. We recommend using the Square-N-Toe by Ultramax Racing Chassis to ensure the most accurate alignment possible. First, with the steering locked by the steering pin, we need to remove the right rear hub and apply the squaring arm to the axle as shown below in the picture on the left. Next we need to loosen the right front tie-rod and lengthen or shorten it until the locking arm falls onto the spindle arm as shown in the middle picture. With the spindle arm in place, we can now tighten the right front tie-rod. Next, apply the toe plate to the left front spindle and lock it in place as shown in the picture on the right. After this is done, check the toe and adjust it to 1/8" out by lengthening or shortening the left front tie-rod. Then, tighten the tie-rod. This process should be repeated during a race weekend if any changes in front end geometry are made, or in the case of an accident that may have slightly bent any front-end components. Once we have the chassis on the scaling plate and have applied the correct camber settings we will again adjust the toe to ensure correct alignment. With our squaring and alignment now finished on your new Ultramax Chassis, we can move on to the rest of your chassis preparation. 3 – Axle Preparation The axle in a chassis is a very important structural component. It is very important that the axle is secured in the chassis and that it is in the least amount of bind that is possible. In order to complete this step, you will need 6 axle locking collars, lock tight and a set of sprocket guards. First, remove each set screw one at a time from the axle bearings, place a drop of lock tight on them and place them back into the axle bearings tightly. Next, make sure that your brake rotor is spaced evenly away from each brake pad to ensure free rotation without drag. Once this is done, make sure the rotor hub is tightened securely. It is now recommended that you place sprocket guards on your sprocket hub to ensure that the chain stays in position even in those tight altercations that we all tend to get into from time to time on the track. Finally, we are ready to install the axle collars. One collar should be placed on both sides of each axle bearing and tightened securely to assist the set screws in ensuring the axles position in the axle bearings. Next, set your right rear wheel hub spacing by placing a 10" wheel on the right rear and moving the hub to where the wheel is a ¼" off of the frame. Once this is done, place an axle collar just inside the hub and tighten it down securing your hubs position on the axle. A collar should be placed just inside the left rear wheel hub to ensure its position on the axle. Its spacing will be discussed later in the final setting up of the chassis. Once your axle work is complete, it should look like the picture above. We are now ready to move on in our chassis preparation. 4 – Mounting the Seat Another very critical step in your chassis preparation is the picking and mounting of your set. The seat holds the driver and in karting, the driver is the single biggest piece of ballast and therefore, the largest portion of weight transfer on the chassis. With this understanding, it is clear that the type of seat used and its position on the chassis is very significant in your chassis handling characteristics. We recommend using a heavyweight seat with a good lip around every edge. This lip and thickness will prevent a large amount of flex in the seat and give the chassis the amount of stiffness and stability that it needs to perform at its optimum level. We recommend using a heavyweight seat with a good lip around every edge. This lip and thickness will prevent a large amount of flex in the seat and give the chassis the amount of stiffness and stability that it needs to perform at its optimum level. Go Page Three... or Go Back to Start
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