After scoring my 2010.5 Workhorse MPT, I was noticing that my drive clutch was sticking a bit and not disengaging correctly ... I ordered a set of TEAM clutches and belt from EZGO, only to find out that they were backordered (go figure) - well, in the interim, after using the cart for a couple of weeks the stock clutch freed up and started to work just fine, however the tEAM clutches came today and I couldn't resist popping them on to see what all the hype was about ...
The Existing Clutches (keep in mind this was a privately-owned cart that never saw a course with less than 200 lifetime hours on it - they still have the original factory stickers, LOL) before removal:
Now, the brand new, installed TEAM clutches (total swap time front to back was about 15 minutes):
Note the fact that the clutches are literally less than 1/8" apart from each other - I almost thought something was wrong at first, LOL:
The original driven clutch has "10-28" on it, so I'm assuming it's a 28deg clutch - the belt (when the clutch was closed) rode at the very top of the groove ... The new TEAM setup rides much lower, almost to where I'm thinking some machining to allow the sheaves to close a bit more might not be a bad idea, and would add some more torque. As to the ride, the TEAM clutches are a whole different animal, and to be honest I'm not sure I really like them. The supposed "60%" torque increase is definitely NOT noticeable, in fact the cart lost quite a bit of acceleration. The accel curve is smoother, yes - but it takes much longer for the cart to get up into the powerband. I loaded up the bed with 200lbs of blasting sand and the front with a passenger, and gave it some test time on the hills around here, etc to further figure things out, and to be honest, the cart pulls with more authority up the hills from a dead stop, but WOW does the accel suffer. In normal (for me) higher-speed riding, it seems to tame the ups and downs a bit better now - it's just again, a weird, different curve.
So to conclude, is there more pulling power, likely yes, although the cart actually FEELS weaker due to the slower accel curve (which almost makes no sense, You would assume a huge torque increase would make it peppier, but it definitely doesn't) ... One good thing though is that the TEAM clutches react a lot faster when going say down a hill at high speed and You let off the gas - where the Kawi clutches stayed engaged a bit longer (almost like a light engine braking) the TEAM's allow the cart to keep its' momentum a bit better. Aslo, I'm assuming it's because they are brand new, but the TEAM clutches are considerably louder than the stock Kawi's, they definitely have a distinct "whirring" sound to them at higher RPM's (although this again could be the new belt and clutches being cranky until they wear in a bit).
Anyone else do the swap and have these same results? I hate to say it, but I'm definitely NOT sold just yet on this being a good $400+ upgrade, at least not for MY riding habits. Opinions?