Madjax 16-020 5" drop axle, improperly drilled

wldwilliam

My Cart: 2001.5 EZGO TXT w/4-bolt steering column

I have rec'd 3 kits in a row where the 5" drop axle is not properly drilled with the holes needed to attach the steering rack & pinion. There are no combination of three holes that line-up with the steering rack.

I have successfully installed a Madjax 4" drop axle lift on this cart which had a different bolt pattern in the axle.

The Madjax installation video for the 5" drop axle even mentions that the front bolt for the steering rack must be installed prior to attaching the spring plate. That hole was not present in the axles included with any of the kits.

The photo attached is a side by side comparison. The arrows on the 4" show where the rack bolts up. The circle on the 5" is where the missing hole should be. Even if the missing hole were present, the other two holes are not in the right spots. If it was designed to use the front spring plate hole to double as the steering rack bolt hole like the factory axle did, the other two holes do not line up with the rack either.

The first two kits were ordered through Amazon from Golf Cart King and the 3rd was direct from GCK. All these kits were factory sealed so GCK is not at fault.

I called tech-support at GCK with no response. I did get in touch with customer service at GCK who then checked with the Techs but neither had experience with this kit. The CS Rep then said she'd reach out to Madjax directly. I am still waiting to hear back from her. I also emailed CS at Nivel, who I believe is now the parent company of Madjax, with the same picture and questions but have received no response from them. I'm hoping GCK's status with Madjax is such that they'll respond to them soon.

In the meantime, I'm here to tap the knowledge base here for your thoughts. Is this kit truly drilled incorrectly or do I have some kind of oddball cart with the one steering rack that has a different bolt pattern? The fact that the same manufacturer's 4" kit bolted up no problem leads me to believe it's the former.

I'm getting impatient. My cart is in pieces in my garage. Should I just transfer the bolt pattern from the 4" to the 5" and drill it myself? I'll probably have to weld-up any existing holes that are too close to the new ones that might affect structure.

A two-hour install shouldn't be this much of a pain.

Thanks for reading BGW

Bill

Attached Images

drop axles.jpg (112.0 KB, 0 views)

BGW

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SmeltShackBBQ

My gut says there was a bad batch of products that sneaked their way right thru QC. Esp. if you had a MJ lift that came off there. But I don't know that.

My only other theory is maybe you got sent kits for a different year/ model... but 3 times?