1997 TXT Rebuild

[DaveTM]

Well.....I think it's going to depend upon what your primary use is going to be. My cart is for hunting and has HD, 4 leaf springs on it. The ride is fine since I carry 8 Trojan T-105's in it and I ride on some pretty rough places.....slowly....but still.

I think when I get my change out to my new Lithium Nissan Leaf batt's I will likely have to remove one of the spring leaf's as the weight will go from about 500-lbs to 80-lbs.

If your going to be primarily on the road or golf course, I would stick with either OEM, or OEM regular replacements. As for the shocks, I think I replaced mine with shocks that were made for a '67 Mustang. They work quite well. I would not recommend going with new leaf springs, and then those coil over shocks. I think every post I've read about those the user stated the ride is way to stiff.

Dave

[Ndawg12]

Originally Posted by DaveTM

Well.....I think it's going to depend upon what your primary use is going to be. My cart is for hunting and has HD, 4 leaf springs on it. The ride is fine since I carry 8 Trojan T-105's in it and I ride on some pretty rough places.....slowly....but still.

I think when I get my change out to my new Lithium Nissan Leaf batt's I will likely have to remove one of the spring leaf's as the weight will go from about 500-lbs to 80-lbs.

If your going to be primarily on the road or golf course, I would stick with either OEM, or OEM regular replacements. As for the shocks, I think I replaced mine with shocks that were made for a '67 Mustang. They work quite well. I would not recommend going with new leaf springs, and then those coil over shocks. I think every post I've read about those the user stated the ride is way to stiff.

Dave

I'm impatient, already ordered the HD leafs!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I plan to be mainly onroad with occasional smooth offroading. I plan to put a rear seat kit on it and I'll have 100lbs in 2 batteries back there full time. We'll see if its too stiff.

The nice lady at my local Oreillys spent alot of time with me figuring out open and closed distances and attachment end styles for these shocks. I want to say that what we ended up with as well, a 60's Mustang shock made by Monroe.

[DaveTM]

Originally Posted by Ndawg12

I'm impatient, already ordered the HD leafs!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I plan to be mainly onroad with occasional smooth offroading. I plan to put a rear seat kit on it and I'll have 100lbs in 2 batteries back there full time. We'll see if its too stiff.

The nice lady at my local Oreillys spent alot of time with me figuring out open and closed distances and attachment end styles for these shocks. I want to say that what we ended up with as well, a 60's Mustang shock made by Monroe.

IMHO, if your running with 8 batteries and the rear seat, those leaf's you linked should work fine. The pic shows each leaf has 3 springs in them. If you find your ride is just to stiff, you can unbolt and remove that small leaf on each side. That will make the leaf's a little softer.

I think your shocks are the right call as well!!

Dave

[Ndawg12]

Originally Posted by DaveTM

IMHO, if your running with 8 batteries and the rear seat, those leaf's you linked should work fine. The pic shows each leaf has 3 springs in them. If you find your ride is just to stiff, you can unbolt and remove that small leaf on each side. That will make the leaf's a little softer.

I think your shocks are the right call as well!!

Dave

My cart is gas, I ended up cancelling the order for the HD springs. I found a set of extra springs at my work shop, took both sets apart, threw out the little ones on the carts original set and put in the second smallest one from the new set.

Got some front end work done as well. My steering setup looks different from everything else I see and in the manuals. I don't appear to have a tie rod but rather connecting rods to both sides. Can anyone shed some light on this setup? Am I missing anything? Both connecting rods have ball joints on each end and one is much looser than the other, is that normal? I repacked grease on all 4 ends and installed them so that the lock nuts for adjusting the alignment was closest to the wheels, hopefully that's the correct orientation...?

[trig123]

You have the old style rack and pinion.
My 2002 TXT had the same set up even though the manual said they changed in 2000 or 01.
The only problem I ever had with these is golfers hitting something and breaking them.
The newer styles are also lots cheaper to replace the rack and pinion compared to this one.

The tie rods should work on most all these carts. I think they had left and right hand threads. You should not have a lot of play in those.

How much slack does the bushing have where I showed the picture ? There is still parts available but you have to search hard for them.

I just replaced the large grease boot on one and repacked it with new grease.

[Ndawg12]

Originally Posted by trig123

You have the old style rack and pinion.
My 2002 TXT had the same set up even though the manual said they changed in 2000 or 01.
The only problem I ever had with these is golfers hitting something and breaking them.
The newer styles are also lots cheaper to replace the rack and pinion compared to this one.

The tie rods should work on most all these carts. I think they had left and right hand threads. You should not have a lot of play in those.

How much slack does the bushing have where I showed the picture ? There is still parts available but you have to search hard for them.

I just replaced the large grease boot on one and repacked it with new grease.

Appreciate the info, I'll check tonight for any slack in that bushing. The steering feels really secure, of course I don't have tires much less a load on it yet. My other concern is that I may have over filled something with grease. That large grease boot hisses as I turn from lock to lock. Is it supposed to have perforations in it or is mine damaged? Edit - I'm talking about the accordian style boot which youu can't see in my pic.

[Rooster59]

Most boots like that need a means to breathe when collapsing and extending. At least some of the holes would be oem.

[trig123]

I don't think you overfilled it. It should be fine. The one I bought a few weeks ago off ebay was pretty stiff. I filler her up with grease and let it go.

[Rooster59]

Originally Posted by Ndawg12

My cart is gas, I ended up cancelling the order for the HD springs. I found a set of extra springs at my work shop, took both sets apart, threw out the little ones on the carts original set and put in the second smallest one from the new set.

Got some front end work done as well. My steering setup looks different from everything else I see and in the manuals. I don't appear to have a tie rod but rather connecting rods to both sides. Can anyone shed some light on this setup? Am I missing anything? Both connecting rods have ball joints on each end and one is much looser than the other, is that normal? I repacked grease on all 4 ends and installed them so that the lock nuts for adjusting the alignment was closest to the wheels, hopefully that's the correct orientation...?

If those front shocks are the oem style you may not be pleased with their performance in the current position. OEM shocks are old style oil/air filled. Upside down like that could cause the piston to be riding in mostly air rather than oil.

[Ndawg12]

Originally Posted by Rooster59

If those front shocks are the oem style you may not be pleased with their performance in the current position. OEM shocks are old style oil/air filled. Upside down like that could cause the piston to be riding in mostly air rather than oil.

They are not OEM, they are the closest thing in an automotive application that I could find with the same approximate travel distance (13" closed and 17" open I believe) and had the same mounting ends. I mounted them that way so that dirt isn't trying to be pulled into the cylinder. Although I do plan to put some accordion style dust boots on them later.