EZ-GO TXT Hill Climber Advice

[RHS1178]

I have a ~2006 EZ-GO 36v TXT (series). It is used almost exclusively to haul people and coolers from the boat to the lake house. This trip is a 350' long concrete drive with grades between 15-20%. I bought the cart used - put new batteries in it and it did fine for the first year.

Last weekend it gave out half way up the hill and rolled back down. One of the cables (6 AWG) from the FNR switch had melted through. I spent some time learning and looking and determined that it had a HD FNR switch installed as well as a 400A HD EZ-GO controller. I also managed to blow the solenoid. Now it is running again for the rest of the summer.

I want to plan a project for the winter to rebuild it into a hill climber. It is not uncommon to have 4 full size adults on the cart so it pulls some weight. I am looking for advice on what to replace to make it reliably and consistently climb the hill without breaking the bank. I am also curious about swapping to a regen cart as added safety going downhill. I have a 16 year old that I don't want loosing control and driving into the lake.

All comments are appreciated. I am new to golf carts so don't assume I know anything of substance.

Rob

[scottyb]

Welcome to BGW.
The cart is engineered for 2 people traversing a golf course.
Ideally the whole drive system would be upgraded to pull double the load up double the incline.
Ideally it would get a 500a controller, 400a solenoid, 2g cable set, HD F&R, and a Admiral B1 torque motor.

[yurtle]

Also, I'd get a DPI charger, which keeps your batteries fully charged, when not in use. If you don't want to, unplug and replug the charger from the cart AT LEAST once a month.

[Gregorio]

Regen is a great safety feature that I cannot live without in the hills. They average 20% with the steepest hitting 30% around here. I did some testing with regen off my cart and it was a white knuckle/brown shorts experience at speed. Not sure what else it would take to convert yours but the cost of the Alltrax controller and Admiral motor are the same either way.

[scottyb]

This is a series cart. It does not have regen braking.

[Gregorio]

Originally Posted by scottyb

This is a series cart. It does not have regen braking.

Yes, but I'm sure you know how to add it, right?

[RHS1178]

Originally Posted by scottyb

This is a series cart. It does not have regen braking.

If I replace the motor and controller anyway, can I convert it? Will the differential be compatible?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[yurtle]

I'm not speaking from experience, I only have a series, but you'd have to be able to read a wiring diagram and add wires for a speed sensor on the motor, a dash mounted FNR toggle switch, backup beeper, and solenoid activation circuits are different. I'm sure there's more, but it's definitely doable. If I were to do this, I'd want all my "new" wires to be nicely tucked into existing wire loom, where possible, and new wire loom for places like the dash FNR and the motor speed sensor. While you currently have 4 cables that go to your motor, you'd end up with 2 large cables and 2 smaller cables, going to the controller. Your old FNR basically gets sold, along with your motor and controller, and I'd upgrade to 48 volts, so bye bye charger, hello new charger.

Just trying to give you a basic idea of what's involved. If you really want to go this route, JohnnyB or ScottyB could tell you whether a DCS or PDS system is the way to go, given that you're buying a new controller anyway.

If braking is your main concern, I can lock mine up with 4 people and 2 extra batteries, going downhill at 35+ mph with stock brakes and stock tires. It took some playing and replacing of several old parts. Disc brakes are also an option. I don't see the need for my current setup, but if I get larger tires, I might need them.

[yurtle]

Regen isn't really a big deal for me, but if you had long stretches of downhill, it would definitely be easier on your brakes, and you recoup all that potential energy.

[JohnnieB]

Let's get everybody on the same page.

First of all, the max recommended incline for a stock EZGO cart is a 25% grade, so the 350' drive with 15-20% grades is within stock performance specs. See attachment-1.

However, if the grades are 15-20° rather than 15-20%, they are steeper than the stock 14° recommended max. See attachment-2.

Also, the load capacity is 800 lbs (rear seat weight + people + cargo), so with 4 adults and a cooler or two, you might be exceeding it.

------------
Another possible area of confusion is this statement: "I am also curious about swapping to a regen cart as added safety going downhill."

Does that mean swapping the series drive cart for a sepex drive (DCS or PDS) cart, or does it mean converting the series drive to a sepex drive?

Converting a series drive cart into a sepex drive cart is doable, but it is neither easy or inexpensive. Building a sepex drive cart that can climb steep hills routinely and reliably is fairly easy, but will still cost a bit.

-----------
FWIW: The setup I'm running would most likely work very well on your 350' drive.