PDS won't climb driveway hill

[Perryb]

Please help! Enjoyed reading threads for weeks now but haven't seen my specific problem. 02 PDS, stock motor, controller, solenoid, 6" lift, 22 tires. Bats one year old. Cart previously worked fine but all of a sudden won't climb up my driveway. Sent it for repair. Tech load tested bats-fine; solenoid- fine; he replaced stock controller with stock controller-said it was "burnt up" but obviously wasn't the issue. He also replaced the rear end because he said the gears were stripped. Anyway, problem still persists. I haven't paid him yet. Not sure if he's dishonest or the problem is beyond his expertise. Any ideas? Thanks everyone!

[sportcoupe]

Couple questions right away.

Did the cart used to climb the hill? If so what changed when you noticed it not climbing? Was it tires and lift kit that were added? Maybe shortly after that you replaced controller?

Does the cart get up to speed on flat ground well?

[Perryb]

Had cart for one year and lifted before I bought it. Previously climbed hill with no problem. Nothing changed from then till now. When cart won't climb, there are no noises, clunks, etc. it just stops. Don't know if this is normal, but after a full, overnight charge, I ran it for about five minutes and hooked it up to charger. Took four hrs to top it off after five minutes use.

[Perryb]

Sorry. Yes, fine on flat ground. Controller was replaced as part of an attempt to fix this problem- to no avail.

[sportcoupe]

If you have a voltmeter the best thing you can do it load check each battery. Record the at rest voltages of each battery then with the meter connected to each battery one at a time. Attempt to go up the hill and record the lowest voltage reached. Under load they should not drop below 5.25v for a 6v battery.

[sportcoupe]

Another thing to check with voltmeter is total pack voltage 12 hours after charger cuts off.

[Perryb]

I don't have a volt meter but the tech load tested the bats said they were good. He even took the cart to the place where I bought the bats and they said they were good as new.

[scottyb]

Is this a problem which started suddenly or did it get worse over a period of days or weeks?

[sportcoupe]

Ask the tech how many minutes the batteries ran for. If he can't answer he didn't load check the batteries. To help you further we (I) need the data. I'd prefer volt readings over load minutes though.

[Perryb]

I'll find out. In the mean time, can you take a stab if we assume the bats check good? The place I bought them load tested them so, until I get the numbers, can we assume they're good? Any ideas beyond bats? I really appreciate it.