Bob and I know how to set the Camber.... caster is not so easy........ However, caster is (usually) adjusted in steps. If your 'steps' are 'out' then the chassis needs re-jigging.... or the stub axles do.
Yes, sitting in the kart will give you a more precise measurement of toe-in while you are sitting in the pits...... it will NOT tell you how your toe-in will be once you are moving because the chassis is dynamically flexing.
In reality, set on a stand or set with you on the kart makes b*gg*r all difference..... Why.... I'll explain!
I assume you don't just 'guess' your toe-in or camber settings, right? What you do is dial in a setting, drive the kart and see if it improves the handing or not. You then move the settings again and try again until you have a clear picture of what setting works best. That's the concept of testing.
So, using your method of sitting in the kart will usually increase the toe-in compared to 'on-a-stand'. Let's assume sitting in the kart moves the toe-in by 1mm (highly possible) (please note, these are just example figures: they are unlikely to be the RIGHT settings).
You set yours in your way and find the optimum is (let's guess) 2mm. I set mine on the stand and find the optimum is 1mm toe-in. And when you look at it, that means we have set the IDENTICAL amount of 'effective' toe-in. If you now put your optimally set-up kart on a stand and measure it, your kart find 1mm of toe-in, the identical value to mine! The reason is that we have both set our karts to the optimum performance based on testing. If that works at all, then we MUST arrive at the same optimum no matter if we measure it while hanging the kart from a hook, measuring it on a stand, with you sitting in it, or a great fat lump like ME sitting in it!
If you DON'T set you toe-in by a process of trial, test, change, trial again.... then you have no business claiming that setting your chassis to 2.0mm is any better than 0.0mm and you don't need the accuracy of a laser at all!
Guys, all I am trying to do is to save you money! If you like your laser.... use it... that's brilliant! But, if you are a newbie, I'd argue there are plenty more things to spend money on before you need a laser.
It's STILL your choice no matter what I say!
Ian
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