cart jerks forward and reverse when first taking off

T Man

I noticed my cart makes a slight squeal and lunges forward or reverse when you first take off. The belt is new and is the correct belt for the cart, the clutch has been inspected and has had the oil changed.

I don't know if this is related or if it is normal, but the side of the clutch furthest away from the motor (looks like a pot) has a coat of what seems to be grease on the area where the belt makes contact. I can't tell if this is just from the belt itself wearing in or not, again the belt is brand new.

Any thoughts?

BGW

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cowboysclassics

T man, it sounds like whats on the clutch might be remnants left behind from the old belt, as they wear down they leave a powdery gummy type substance on and around where the belt rides. I would bet thats where the squel is coming from.

I would slip the belt off the clutch side and use a aerosol brake cleaner to clean it off real good, I use carb cleaner myself but you have to be carefull as it will eat paint off anything it gets on. Also dont let it get in between where the oring seals the two parts of the clutch, it might cause it to lose its seal.

Also I have noticed there are two different length belts depending on where you buy them online, if I remember right they are only 1/4 inch difference. I got the shortest of the two belts the last time on one of my carts and it really grabs hard when I take off, but it doesn't really bother me enough to make a change.

Did you ever get your rear springs changed, if so did it raise the height up to your likeing? BTW good job on the resto, cart looks great.

Ron Benedict

I believe the area you described should be dry. Sounds like a seal on the clutch is leaking and coating the surface which causes slippage.

T Man

Thanks for the reply, what you describe about old belt residue makes sense, I'll see if I can slip the belt off and clean that area. It does really grab when I first take off, and I'm not sure how much play there should be in the belt when it isn't engaged but it is pretty snug. As long as it is won't hurt anything I'm not worried about it.

That part of the clutch that is furthest from the motor, that looks like a pot, I think somewhere along the way someone sealed it around the outside with some sort of caulking, but I don't see any leaks of any kind anywhere.

Regarding the springs, I actually did order and try a different set of used springs and they were no different. Now I have an extra pair , still looking for some way to raise the back end up just an inch.

Craigs carts

check the nylon rollers in the secondary

T Man

I wiped the inside of the secondary clutch down, that side of the belt actually looks slightly damp even on the ribbed portion of the belt. The secondary is the "wet" part of the clutch right? I wonder if I have a leak somewhere but I don't see anything leaking.

Attached Images

clutch.jpg (97.7 KB, 0 views)

cowboysclassics

The secondary clutch is on the rearend T Man, it is a dry clutch. If you dont see anything leaking, it was more then likely from when the primary clutck leaked before and they just didnt clean anything up.

Its possible the rear seal on the moter is seeping a little, (behind the crank pulley that has the generator belt on it) and the belt is sucking it in but it looks pretty dry, hard to see from that pic though. Might try to rub your finger behind that pulley and see if there is any fresh oil. Personally I wouldn't worry about it though.

Did it seem to help the squeal or lunging? I would still bet you have the shorter belt that grabs a little quicker like on one of mine which wont hurt anything IMO.

BTW, I do have a good set of rear springs out of an electric cart that seem to be stiffer then the ones out of the gassers, if you would like I will take a pair out of a gas cart I am parting out and compare them to see if they might help your sagging like I had mentioned before.

T Man

I called the guy who had done the motor rebuild, not sure why but he sprayed graphite on the clutch and that is what the residue was that I saw. I wiped it off but there is some on the belt still. Won't hurt anything I'm sure. Might also have that slightly shorter belt, but oh well.

Cowboy, sure if you don't mind I would be curious to see if the springs you have from an electric might help. My current springs are 3 inch diameter and 12 inches long. Thanks.

cowboysclassics

T Man, I just measured them and they are 3-3/8ths inch diameter and 13 inches long, the coils are also a little thicker material. I need to remove the shock on my gas frame to see if they will even fit in the upper and lower spring pockets. I'll let you know what I find out later today.

cowboysclassics

T Man here are a couple of pics hopefully you can see the size difference of the coils and the measurements are in the other post. I took the top shock bolt out and removed the old springs, put the heavier ones in to make sure they would fit and they fit both the top and bottom spring pockets on my frame.

I had to push down on the back a little bit to put the shock bolt in and of coarse its a stiffer suspension, with no real weight its hard to tell just how stiff it might be. The electric cart they came out of had 6- 6 volt batterys with 3 behind the axle and 3 in front & all of my carts are the 3 wheeler version. Not sure if there is any difference in the frames on the 4 wheelers. I hope that helps.

Attached Images

	springs & tractor seats 008.JPG (167.8 KB, 0 views)
	springs & tractor seats 009.JPG (172.6 KB, 0 views)