The Clown Cart Build.

Carlo C.

Guys,
Figured I would post the build of my 2006 EZGO TXT. This all started when I sold my lifted gas 2001 TXT. I wanted a cart that was not lifted and much easier to get in and out of the car trailer. I searched everywhere and could not find anything that was not slap wore out for a decent price. I finally found a beat up 2006 EZGO that looked rough but started and seemed to run pretty good for $600. I was not all that concerned with how it looked as I had a good friend that had a couple bodies that he said I could have. So when I found this one I figured as long as it ran OK I could switch the body put some wheels, Rear seat and roof and be good to go. Yeah, that was a good dream. It was about this time that my wife came outside and asked if it was a golf cart for clowns and asked if I had a cover so the neighbors would not have to look at it.

So here it is when I picked it up and was heading home:


The next morning when I really started to look at it good and assess the trouble:



I had bought a set of wheels off of Facebook Market place sight unseen for cheap and I got what I payed for. I did not keep them very long:


So it was time to take the clown body and roll bar off and get it out of my life:



To the local Dump we go:



So me and a friend got up early on a Saturday morning and drove about 45 minutes to a old closed EZGO dealership that had been flooded years ago that still had some parts laying around. I managed to pick up a bunch of small parts and a roof that I badly needed:



On the way home I stopped at my buddy Jeff's shop and picked up one of the white bodies he had and then gave him the other white body to paint for me:


I could not get home fast enough to put this stuff on the cart and take it for a ride. Well all the new found used parts made it at least look respectable. It now looked like a decent worn out golf course cart:



Well after I fixed the starter solenoid I decided I was going for a ride. It took off rather smooth and to my surprise it seemed to have decent power. so after a little short cruise I decided to see what the old boy had in it and put the pedal to the floor and caught up to the car in front of me pretty quickly. I decided to slow down and press the brakes, that is when I found out the firm break pedal was not because the brakes were good it was because the brake cables were frozen. So a quick right to avoid the car in front of me and on the sidewalk I was laughing and hoping nobody seen the goofy bouncy dead shock and wore out suspension maneuver I just pulled. This is when I decided that the easy makeover I had planned was going to be a little more involved then I had originally planned. At least the wife would stop calling it the Clown Cart now.

******More to come***************

Carlo

BGW

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Swan

looks better , need smaller pics lol

kgsc

You should have snagged that ST cowl also. Those are getting tough to find..

Carlo C.

Well after my exciting 1st ride I knew I was going to have to spend a little more time on this cart then I originally planned so I just started collecting parts. I knew I was going to need a receiver hitch to hook up my retractable strap for the race car so I posted on this site looking for one and a local guy Eddie told me he had one and said come get it. Well Eddie was awesome and had a very nice electric cart that he had redone from a junker. He showed me pictures of what his cart looked like when he started and it was amazing. I noticed he had the frame powder coated and asked how expensive that was and he hooked me up with a local company that was very affordable. So to get the frame powder coated meant that the entire cart needed to come apart so I spent the weekend pulling it apart.

Apart it comes:





Frame


Frame and parts going to get sand blasted and powder coated:


Modified trailer hitch for cart with rear seat off to the powder coater:


So once everything was dropped off I took all of the parts I had on hand and bead blasted everything then painted and started rebuilding. I bought new kingpins and put new bushings in the spindles. New bearings and seals in the front hubs. New ball joint on the rack and both tie rod ends. I disassembled the rack cleaned everything re-greased everything and put a new banjo boot and clamp on it.



A friend who buys and sells carts knew I was building a cart gave me a very clean engine and mounts off of a wrecked cart he had found. I cleaned everything up and ordered a tune up kit, new carb and blasted all the mounts.



A few days later I got the call that the frame and parts were done and I went and picked it all up from Industrial Blasting service:


When I was rebuilding everything I noticed the front Axel was bent a little and found a brand new take off from a semi local cart shop. I also bought a brand new set of front leaf springs. I could not wait to put the front end together:


I also Picked up a nice set of wheels for a good deal:


Here is the front end completely together:


***Continued on next post***

Carlo C.

Even though the entire column will be covered I bead blasted and painted the entire thing:


Every single bolt that is going back on the cart is Stainless steel bolts with the only exception being engine bolts that need the extra grade 8 strength.

I ordered new brake cables and I replaced every bushing and clevis on both pedal assemblies as well as bead blasting and painting both:


I ordered a new floor-pan as the old one was just too beat up even after it was blasted and coated I tapped every hole 1/4-20 and used stainless button head screws with built in washers to bolt down the floor pan. I can not stand the rivets holding everything together:




The floor-pan looked so good I hated to cover it with the new Rubber Mat:


During the down time I ordered one of those Carbon fiber looking dashes that hold the radio and speakers. I also ordered a stainless column cover and steering wheel to make it all come together:



I picked up a very nice like new Kenwood radio still in the box with all the options and remote for $40 on Facebook market place. I also installed a power antenna that could stay under the cowl neatly.


If it is one thing I am very picky about it is wiring. I can not stand wiring that looks like a spiders nest so I spent a bunch of time making this very neat and functional:



Well I finished blasting all of the aluminum mounts for the engine and my heavy duty rear leaf springs and bushings showed up so it was time to install the engine and rear assembly:


Engine in and cleaned up:


Well I still have a pile of parts that I would like to install, but now it is time to wait for the painted body to come from my buddy Jeff to try and start finishing this project. I figured I would put the white body back on just to see what it will look like when it is together:



*******More to come from when I get the body back*******

Carlo

Skoal82

Wow u have been very busy!
That is as nice or better than a new cart!
Good work

Carlo C.

Thanks Man, after all this work I would not trade it for a new one. The one thing the pictures and the story does not tell is the hours of work in between. I am very happy with it now and plan on keeping it for a long time.

Carlo

Swan

keep up the good work

MILLERTIME

Looks great from here.

Dennisneri

much better than a new cart wow great work congratulations you have a winner there thanks for sharing