Tire size question.....

shoelessjoe

Hey fella's! I just picked up a 95 Club Car gas cart and am getting ready to get it set up. This is my first foray into the golf cart world but I have been in the motorsports family for a while (have a 69 Firebird, snowmobile, sport quad, Mule, etc etc).

I did a few search's on the site for lift kit information and have decided to go with an All Sports 6 inch A-arm lift over a Jake's spindle kit. Main reason for going with the a-arm set up is I liked the idea of all new suspension components up front since this is an older cart.

Question I have is about tire selection for the lift. Cart will be used for mainly cruising on our property/two tracking/lighter off road playing. I am planning on going with a 12 inch wheel and either 22 or 23 inch tires. The prices for the two are the same and I am leaning towards the 23 inch tires but am wondering if the 23's will be an issue with the stock powerplant/clutches? Don't want to rob too much power/torque and not be able to go up a hill or cruise at a decent speed.


Also, if you have an opinion/experiences on the A-arm vs Spindle lift question I'd be interested to hear it but I did the search and saw most of the usual responses.

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

scottyb

The bigger tires are about a 30-35% increase in the final drive ratio.
No way the cart can absorb that type of gearing change without suffering in the torque department.
You need 30% more torque just to break even... let alone take you where that lift & those tires will be beggin you to go

shoelessjoe

^^^

So what do guys usually do when they go with a 6 inch lift? Do they just deal with the loss in torque/power? Do they go with smaller tires? Power mods?

I will be opening up the govenor a bit to allow a little more speed, do people also re-gear to make up for the loss from the bigger tires?

joemama16341

I changed the drive spring and the driven spring as well as put a severe duty belt on and I am happy with the low end I gained back

shoelessjoe

^^

That's good to know. I had seen some talk of changing springs and saw the springs for sale, was wondering if they made a difference. Good to know it helped. Thanks


So going with the 23's will rob a good amount of low end grunt. If the govenor is opened up will cruising speed be decent still? Meaning I could still drive the cart around with the lift and tires but would want to change the clutch springs before doing any trail riding, etc?

Also, would it make a noticeable difference going with 22 inch tires instead of 23 inch tires?



Sorry for all the new guy questions, just want to get some info before I lay down the cash and make purchases. Thanks guys!!!!

sho305

The 22 to 23 tires is not going to be much difference, not like 18 to 22 is. It might add to the top speed a little and cut torque a hair. Some 22/23 atv tires are not exactly the size they state anyway so it may depends on what one you get and what air pressure you run. I have to run 14-15psi in the rears to get top speed and to carry loads in my box. The deal is your takeoff and towing, climbing power takes a big hit with the gearing. So you can mod the clutches to get some back and make it work better. When I had stock tires on my G9 I could do donuts from a dead stop in a gravel or dirt drive, peel the tires like nothing. Put the big bologna tires on and it grips and geared higher....no spinning those lol. But with no governor I can hit 30mph gps on the road with no other changes or mods.

A cut sheave on the secondary gives a little lower initial gear that helps, changing the springs can help get more rpm especially at take off or when climbing. It depends on what clutches you have what works better for them. What really works is a larger engine, its amazing fun then and you don't need much in clutch mods because they just spin the tires instead.

I put a clone 16hp in a cart and one day he tries to pull another cart out that was stuck in a boat ramp in the sand. He hit the gas and dug holes with big knobby 22s. He put another strap on and got up in the grass and pulled that guy out like nothing. A stock cart would not have budged him. So you can imagine what the 23hp v twins do in carts.

So if you think you might eventually do that, I would go large as possible tire size now and suffer slightly more until you get more power. I wish I had put 25s on my cart, but a G9 needs significant mods to the cradle and rear bumper to fit them and I didn't want to get into it when I welded up the lift. I'm not complaining though, its lots of fun to screw around on. Its just the hills and towing kill you with stock power. I worked on my clutches and managed to pull up to a 17' boat out of a lake. But I found with stock clutches and the clone engine the cut secondary still helps because it lets it rev faster out of the hole. Stock clutches are slower to react. Most people do remove aftermarket secondary springs though you just don't need them with more hp.

If you just drive around and don't offroad hills and whatnot, its not such an issue stock power is tolerable.