Take the best possible care of your go kart by following the advice from the experts. Official Service Bulletins give you the information you need, straight from the GoKartMasters. Before you know e everything is in order, the kart needs a break in period. Follow the instructions here within the first 5 hours of riding your new kart to prolong the lifespan of your go kart!
Official Service Bulletin: The Break-in Period
Buying a Trailmaster go kart online can be a little bit tricky because it’s a large purchase and you never know what to expect. That’s why TrailmasterGoKarts.com provides so much helpful information on Go Kart Tutorials! The break in period is an important transition between the factory and the new owner.
Just like a good pair of shoes that are a little tight at first, but eventually conform to your feet, a new go kart will get used to running outside the factory setting. Eventually your kart will conform to the real world situations it’s made for. Before you’re ready to fully embrace the extremes of off road karting, give your kart 2-5 hours to break in.
Within the first 5 hours or so of riding your new kart, you need to give the kart a quick makeover just to adjust everything. There are a lot of precision moving parts on your go kart that require the kart to run for a while before they can be precisely adjusted. Plus, you will know exactly what bolts are loose after some rattling and bumping around.
Change your oil
The first step is to check/change your oil. Some people change their oil during the initial assembly, so if you already put new oil in it, just make sure you check it and top it off. Undoubtedly the new engine will have used up some oil in the breaking process. If you left the factory oil in for the break in period, go ahead and change the oil and replace with a good quality synthetic 10W30 small engine oil.
You will want to regularly change the oil about every 10 hours of riding, or at least once per year.
Clean and Lube
Next, clean and lubricate the drive system. That’s where the kart creates the most friction. Service your clutch and lubricate your chain well. If needed, you can find the OSBs for those steps here.
All shook up!
Now that the karts had had a chance to wiggle and jiggle and break loose any tightened hardware, you can give it good comb-thru and tighten up all the hardware. Even if you tightened things well initially, the break in period allows lots of things to move and twist and settle into place.
Essentially, you’ll want to tighten frame bolts, lug nuts, caliper bolts, etc. Anything that you wouldn’t want falling off of your kart-tighten down. After this, everything will remain secure. No need for locktite or any other sort of glue.
Break-in period may get shifter out of adjustment
Finally, you may need adjust the shifter cables on the gearbox if you have a kart with reverse. The cables can stretch and slip during the break-in period, or just maybe the gearbox wasn’t exactly adjusted yet. It’s a quick and simple process that will make your riding time more fun and avoid future issues.
The video below shows the process on a larger kart, but the technique is the same on your Mid size kart!
