So I've been doing some more research on drive clutches since I had to replace one in my 1990 DS. I bought a 1997+ clutch and just swapped the smaller s/g v-belt pulley onto the new clutch and it worked like a charm! Here's a video showing my swap:
After I made this video I was wondering if the smaller pulley that was on my original 1990 clutch was also used on the counterclockwise FE290 motors (1992-1996). I did an informal spot check of some golf carts in our campground. It seems that the drive clutches on all of the 1992-1996 carts I looked at have a s/g pulley that is the same exact diameter as the inner sheave (which sits right on top of the s/g pulley). This pulley is larger than the one on my original 1990 drive clutch.
So from what I can tell, Club Car used the same exact drive clutch from 1988-2014 on their gas DS carts, but used three different s/g pulley sizes:
- 1988-1991 used a small pulley that is smaller than the inner shave
- 1992-1996 used a larger pulley that is the exact same diameter as the inner sheave
- 1997-2014 used an even larger pulley that is slightly larger in diameter than the inner sheave
I'm still researching this information to confirm it. But it's already been established both in my video and elsewhere that you can buy a 1997+ drive clutch and use it in your pre-1997 gas Club Car as long as you swap the s/g pulley from your cart's original drive clutch.
