Quest for smoother ride

[interstate]

Stock 87 club car DS. Stock rims/wheels. Used on streets. Rear seat kit installed. Batteries added in bagwell.

At cruising speed many of our local roads are rather rough with poor patch repairs. The cart gets jarred pretty badly. A few rough spots are not where I feel safe slowing traffic down behind me to get through the potholes.

What is the best way to smooth out the ride and make it handle the rough stuff at 20mph?

I don't want to loose too much torque/power or risk burning up my motor with 23 inch tires. Yes, expense is a major concern.

[shadowman]

thats a major problem if expense is a concern however i understand completly......................there are no cheap fixes you can do unless you can fabricate your own lift you would need bigger tires/wheels..........you might be able to find a set of air shocks that would bolt up and work but your into the price of shocks and you doing the install...........HD springs i think will make it worse not better........if i had 100.00 to work with i think i would look into a set of air shocks biggest issue is going to be finding a set that bolt up...........................

[interstate]

I appreciate your sensitivity to my comment about expense, but just to clarify I feel that a $1K long travel lift kit is way to expensive. $300 would hurt but is doable.

Thanks

[shadowman]

well a jakes 6 inch spindle lift is 250.00 but you still need tires and wheels......i mean you don,t have to if you don,t mind people pointing and laughing at you..........lol..........honestly if you don,t want to get into that than i really would look into air shocks......its going to improve the ride and give you a little lift...........................

[OLD MEC]

How high is tire pressure now? I would try 5 pounds COLD as this would soften ride some.
With rear seat installed do you have multi leaf springs installed on rear? I find many dont like stiff ride and if so you can remove 1 or more of leaves to soften ride.

[rabbitreborn]

Originally Posted by shadowman

well a jakes 6 inch spindle lift is 250.00 but you still need tires and wheels......i mean you don,t have to if you don,t mind people pointing and laughing at you..........lol..........honestly if you don,t want to get into that than i really would look into air shocks......its going to improve the ride and give you a little lift...........................

am I incorrect in thinking that the Jakes Spindle lift requires 10" rims?

Club cars generally have the softest ride out there although I know some people swear by a Yamaha ride....

The suspension on a cart wasn't designed for high speed (20 MPH) travel over rough terrain, about the only way I can see you getting a smoother ride is gonna be a LT kit of some kind and with the added weight in the rear (seat kit and extra batteries), even that will be suspect since you will (at least I hope) have HD rear leaf springs which will stiffen the ride.

Normal HD Springs are designed with 4 leafs, I have seen some for Club Cars that have 3 leafs in them that MAY smooth it out some.... You would have to find a dealer that deals in products from Red Hawk (I think ScottyB from CartsUnlimited is a dealer of their products) in order to try that route.

[interstate]

I believe I could upgrade to 20" tires without sacrificing too much torque, but I don't think I will be happy with 23" tires. Having said that, I don't know what the numbers mean when shopping for tires. Also, how important is the ply ratings? I definately want tires that are efficient of streets.

Spindle lift, A-arm lift, long travel lift? Do they help with ride quality or simply add room for larger tires/wheels?

I do not have heavy duty springs on the back, single leaf. I do have a steel rear seat kit and batteries in the back well.

I will not be going "off road", but winter damaged and repaired roads may not seem rough in a car, but a club car at 22mph is a different story.

[shadowman]

rabbit, i don,t know?? they may reguire it but do you have to ?? i,m thinking of the hillbilly thing know what i mean.....lolol...............

[scubabud]

Originally Posted by interstate

I believe I could upgrade to 20" tires without sacrificing too much torque, but I don't think I will be happy with 23" tires. Having said that, I don't know what the numbers mean when shopping for tires. Also, how important is the ply ratings? I definately want tires that are efficient of streets.

Spindle lift, A-arm lift, long travel lift? Do they help with ride quality or simply add room for larger tires/wheels?

I do not have heavy duty springs on the back, single leaf. I do have a steel rear seat kit and batteries in the back well. I will not be going "off road", but winter damaged and repaired roads may not seem rough in a car, but a club car at 22mph is a different story.

Is the rear of your cart bottoming out because you have it overloaded without proper spring compensation? In other words are your shocks in the back bottomed out or almost with 1 rider on the cart? How much play is there?

[rabbitreborn]

Originally Posted by scubabud

Is the rear of your cart bottoming out because you have it overloaded without proper spring compensation? In other words are your shocks in the back bottomed out or almost with 1 rider on the cart? How much play is there?

wow Scuba, I completely overlooked that line in his post..... Yeah, I would be shocked if it isn't bottoming out on him....