Does anybody have a golf cart besides me?

Now that unit looks better than new!  It certainly looks worth the effort.  Lucky dog.

I'm going to try to post some pictures.  Please bear with me.......



I see that did not work.  One more time......

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You will see Bentley sitting on the seat of his buggy.  He is cool with how it turned out, but he does not like the horn.  And he does not like acorns falling and hitting the top.

Dogs are suckers for that new car smell.  At least you have some summer left to have fun in it.

We finally got the seats back from the upholstery shop at 5 pm yesterday.  We were burning up the streets in our complex by 6pm.  I have a contented dog.  I used the golf cart to pull my yard cart with.  Bentley spent the whole day on seat of "his" buggy.  It was pretty warm and humid outside, but he did not care if it was 150 degrees in the shade.  You could not pry him from the golf cart seat.  I cut the grass and he never moved a muscle.  It has been almost a month putzing with those stupid seats.

My wife was in charge of upholstery.  That is a long story.  Wife helping, happy wife, happy life, yadda, yadda.  She did not like the first job, took the seats back.  Made the guy do it over and "do it right this time."  He is taking his old sweet time "doing it over and doing it right."  The seams were crooked to her way of seeing things.  Remember, dear, this is a GOLF CART, not a Senior Packard. 

Upholstery and body work, along with working on two-cycle engines, guitar amps and church organs are activities I refrain from participating in.  A man's gotta know his limitations.......

You could have even done it yourself,  Here's how.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I am waiting on the seats to come back.  How long does it take to upholstery a golf cart seat, for pity's sake? 

I have ONE mirror on, NAPA did not have TWO.  The other will be here Saturday morning.  I am ready to go "buggying" when I get the silly seats.  I have a few little mop-up things to do, but what I need to ride is done.

I would keep copies of all the receipts for the road safety items in a envelope and keep it with the cart in the event any LEO's decide to err on the side of caution and try to sideline it.  Just having it should demonstrate your compliance and your willingness to do so.

Tires and wheels are on.  I had to abandon the aluminum trim project.  The welding shop that was working on it got behind on their "real" work and put my project on the back burner, understandably.  So that will wait until spring.  They have all winter to do it.  I will put the original bumpers and rubber trim back on and get this buggy back on the road.  The material they put on the seats clashed with the "Plum crazy" metal flake, so that had to be done again.  I was adjusting a brake switch when it fell apart in my hand.  They sent me a new one, no charge.  Apparently they got a bad batch.  The switch I broke was not making good contact with the brake lever.  I finally fixed it by putting a small hose clamp on the thingy that pushes up to open the switch.  This gives more contact surface and makes the switch work more reliably.

Vaseline, huh?  Thanks, Cliff, I'll give that a try!

MEZ, I have had a ball (when I was not pulling my hair out) working on our old golf cart.  This started out as a "no big deal, honey" project and has turned into a frame-off, every nut and bolt restoration, exactly what I told the wife it would NOT be.  I have used and abused the thing since it is handy as a pocket in your shirt.  I pull my yard cart with it.  I haul all kinds of lawn debris.  It runs cheaper than my garden tractor.  I did not want it so nice I was afraid to use it.  I'm still gonna use it as a utility runner, but its abuse days are over.  The local law is coming down on golf carts and ATV's unlicensed, no safety equipment and driven by less than a licensed driver.  So I added headlamps, tail lamps, stop lights, turn signals, hazard flashers, seat belts, mirrors and DOT approved reflectors.  Technically street legal.  There is no such thing as a street legal golf cart in Missouri, I have recently learned.

My golf cart may be driven by a licensed driver (me) on Missouri roads with a posted speed limit of 35 mph or less.  It is considered a "low speed vehicle" if it will run 25 mph or less.  Over 25 MPH it would be considered a "motor vehicle" subject to inspection, registration and insurance laws.  (Although our newly-elected sheriff denies it, THIS is the part that has the cops in a tither).  NHS tires are correct for my old buggy since it runs less than 25 MPH.  To make a long story short, my adaptation of this old buggy with "approved safety equipment", per DOT specification will allow me to operate it on the roads in our complex without fear of the cops.  The people around here who are ignoring the warnings we have been given are doing so at their peril.  The day is coming.  A couple kids got hurt on a golf cart this past weekend.

The best remedy for corrosion I have found is vigilance.

I couldn't agree more! 

Now I'm getting interested in getting a golf cart! 

Fortunately, at our Wallmart we have two good size self-checkout areas, one has about 8 scanners, and the other 4. 

Most auto parts store carry thick felt washers that fit around battery terminals, they have some chemical that helps prevent corrosion.

Me on the other-hand, use vaseline jelly, clean up the corrosion, on the terminals and clamps, then a little baking soda and water. then grease the snot out of them with vaseline.  Been doing that for over 55 years, and not a lick of corrosion.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, my wife got a similar response at the upholstery shop.  They do boat upholstery, and felt underwhelmed at the prospect of doing a golf cart seat.  They could have said no easily enough.  They want the money, but they feel obliged to make you feel like they are doing you a favor.  Just the way it is around here.  I have had my body back from the painter for over a week.  Every day, he stops by to tell me how hard he worked on it and how lucky I am that he did it.  I guess I need to show more gratitude along with the check I wrote......

The guy could have put it more tactfully than that.  Now it's down to which one won't come back again.

I have my order in at the welding shop to get the brackets and material cut and formed that I need to finish.  This project will be a tad spendy, but necessary to complete the look I want.  I was told anywhere from two days to three weeks, depending on work load.  When queried why I never see anybody working, I got this reply.  "When you go to Walmart, you have to stand in line, whether you have one item or a cart full.  Why would I mess with that little job and piss off our regular customers by putting your project ahead of theirs?"  I was not asking for special favors, just an idea when I needed to arrange my schedule to accommodate their getting my job done.  Jeez.  This outfit has been really good to me in the past, but I got a different guy this time.  Perhaps his customer service skills are not as good as his fabrication skills, one can only hope.

I used those treated felt washers, WD-40, battery spray.  Nothing seems to work dependably.  The best remedy for corrosion I have found is vigilance.  I check every time I hop on for a ride.  I'm not familiar with NoCo washers.

Every convenience probably means topping them off when possible.  Does NoCo washers help any with the corrosion?

I don't always follow the same charging schedule.  Sometimes I go too long and pray I'll make it home.  Other times, I recharge when it "feels" slower.  The book says to run the batteries down before you charge them.  We have electric "shoppers" at the store that recommend the batteries be charged "at every convenience" whatever that means.  Our electric forklifts and pallet jacks are on the charger whenever they are not being used.  I'm sure they never get to set long enough to get fully charged.  Batteries and applications are different.  Keeping the terminals clean and keeping water in the batteries is as important as anything.  Golf cart batteries suffer from a lot of corrosion.  Bouncing and sloshing around all the time, I guess.

Handicap scooters are kinda the same concept. My wife had two different brands, and two different custom electric wheelchairs. Electronic controller's are nice as they monitor battery condition also. However, my point being that we had them serviced including batteries. It was recommended from the getgo that they be charged EVERY NIGHT, we also noticed a 7 year lifespan, before replacement was required.

I'm sure the work will pay off as time goes by.

Our terrain here is hilly, and my 31 year old, 36 volt Club Car will run about 20 miles on a charge.  That does not sound like much, but on flat ground it might run 50 miles or so.  Cable tightness and condition, as well as the condition of the batteries is key.  Gold carts are as expensive to work on as a real car.  Just because they are little does not make them cheap.  I'll have three grand in my three hundred dollar golf cart by the time I'm done.  It will be quite nice, but still......

If you buy a golf cart to fix up, consider what the body is made of.  My '86 Club Car has an all-fiberglass body.  The '82 thru '93 Club Car DS series all had fiberglass bodies.  They went to all-plastic in 1993.  The older fiberglass bodies are easier to fix.  They all get broken, primarily in bolt holes and where they have been impacted.  The plastic bodies suffer from material fatique and can be challenging to repair.  Club Car is the Cadillac of golf carts.  Yamaha probably second, with EZ GO primarily being an entry level "fleet special."  The suspension on a Club Car is quite robust and fully rebuildable.  I like electric because they are quiet.  Batteries are about $100 apiece, and mine has six.  Gas buggies have clutches, starters, carburetors, reversing switches that all cause trouble, expensive trouble.  If you keep the batteries full of water and keep a handle on corrosion, the last set of batteries in mine lasted seven years.  Deep-cycle batteries work best when you run them down before recharging.  I've had mine all apart, every part was off that was not welded together.

I would guess that would depend upon the motor and drivetrain.  The company I work for many times gets its lead acid batteries through Batteries Plus and seems to get a pretty good price through them.

Well hello gentlemen!   Golf carts.....what an interesting subject.    I've been thinking of getting one myself.   We have a couple of places that look like a used care lot for golf carts, but I haven't stopped in yet to get any pricing.  I'll bet new batteries are a big expense, how long will they last on a full charge?

I'm down to the part where patience is a virtue.  I can mess up the whole thing by getting in a hurry.  Patience is a virtue, but harder as the project nears completion.  The welding shop where I buy aluminum is welding bumper brackets and bending other brackets.  All the aluminum is polishing grade, although not necessarily marketed as such.  These guys have been very accommodating, although they believe I'm a kook going thru all this trouble for a golf cart.  They were impressed with my plans, how I had them drawn.  Not quite up to engineering specs, perhaps, but I remembered my mechanical drawing class in high school which gave them enough information to work with.

Don't get overheated finishing up fast.

I messed up the paint on one of the wheels (bug?) so had to sand and re-shoot it.  Might have wheels ready for tires by Thursday.  The motor runs in both directions, the electrical system works as designed and both horns honk.  I have them on a DPST switch and can switch to either the ooogah horn or the city horn, which sounds like a French taxi.  The body is on the chassis and the top and uprights are now one assembly.  I need to make a couple brackets before that can go on.  I need to wire the volt meter where it works with the switch.  All the switch does is provide ground to a micro switch, which powers up the "go" solenoid.  The volt meter is typically wired "hot."  I don't see why I could not connect the negative side of the voltmeter up to the switch to provide the connection.

Maybe.  Finally.....

Looks like it is working out for you, with alternative ways of getting there.