Black Beauty II - Pic Heavy

[coosa]

My first cart was a 1984 Marathon out of the resistor age. I converted it to a farm and hunting buggy in 1998 and used it until this past spring, when the frame rusted out. She wasn't much to look at, but did the job I wanted. JohnnieB named it the Black Beauty when I posted a pic on here. This pic was from a few years ago:



I wanted to build a similar cart once I determined that the old one wasn't worth fixing, but it was the middle of turkey season and I needed one right then. I wound up letting a dealer talk me into buying a 2008 PDS that had been lifted and camo dipped. It has a 500 amp Alltrax controller and will climb any hill that I have with ease. Its a fine cart and I have no complaints:



My wife loves it, so it has to stay at home. My farm is 90 miles away, and I don't like having to pull it every time I think I might need it there. Also, I really wanted to build a cart myself. So a few weeks ago I found a 2002 TXT PDS model for sale pretty cheap. The batteries were shot and it wouldn't run, but the frame looked solid so I bought it and brought it home, and set about converting it to Black Beauty II. Not quite finished, but I'm stuck at home today so I thought I'd post the pics. Keep in mind that one of my goals was to make it as ugly as possible to reduce the chances of it being stolen. I think I have succeeded wildly.



A view of the rear bed and semi-dry storage compartment. It was pretty tough to make that bottom compartment look square, since the bagwell is not at all square. Just adds to the anti-theft value.



Same view with doors open. I've still got some painting to do, but ran out of paint. Obviously, its a rattle-can job all the way:



It has a 6" Jakes Lift Kit and the only thing I don't like about it is the tie rod sits well below the front axle. It is still 2" higher than the rear axle, so I guess it isn't that much of an issue. Every time I got the other cart stuck, it was always on the rear axle, and I guess it would be better to bend a $30 tie rod that to mess up the rear end:



Just for anyone who is wondering how the Jakes Lift compares to the drop axle kit sold by EZGO, here's what the front of the 2008 looks like:



I also went with a Jakes Winch Bumper and that's gonna be a much easier way to mount the winch. I had to fabricate a mount for 2008 cart, but the winch is gonna bolt right on to the Black Beauty II. Still waiting on Amazon to get the winch to me, but it should only take a few minutes to install it since I already have it planned out.

And lastly, my dad always said that a man is no better than his tools. And Sportscoupe pointed out that I was doing this job with nothing but an adjustable wrench and a screwdriver:



Nothing like quality tools!
Seriously, thanks to Sportscoupe for convincing me to go buy an impact wrench. After using it on about half this job, I gotta admit it was pretty stupid of me to not have bought one years ago.

I've still gotta install the winch, a gun rack, and do a little more painting. I was planning to buy new tires and wheels, but the tires off the original cart fit ok, so I may just run them. They are low pressure tires, but this cart will be used entirely on dirt, so I'm not convinced that's a bad thing. The rear tires are 22s and the fronts are 20s and stock wheels using extenders. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to set the toe-in; the center lines are different and I can't decide how to measure. It seems to be running reasonably well the way I have set it, but does float a little at top speed on pavement. Anyone got any advice?

I have not yet purchased a cable to hook my laptop to the controller, so its running on defaults. Its hitting 24 mph right now, which it too fast for my roads. I want to dial it back to about 20 and gain a little more torque, though I think it has plenty for any hill on the farm. The 2008 is set for torque and runs about 20 with high pressure tires, so I want to get this one set about the same.

I need to put a light of some kind on it. The old sealed beam on the original cart still works, but I think this one deserves something better. It will never be used on a public road, so there is no need for a light kit with rear lights; I just need some kind of headlight to help hunters get in from a deer stand. I often just used my little Surefire flashlight to get out of the woods with the old cart, as it was much brighter than the sealed beam. But some of my hunters will not be prepared and it needs a light. Anyone got a good idea of a light that will never be on more than 10 minutes at a time, and that maybe 10 or 12 times a year?

I haven't figured up how much money I have in it, but I'm well under $2500. I already had the battery pack and the tires and some of the lumber, so that saved some. I had to buy a new battery rack, the lift kit, controller, winch bumper, winch, hardware, paint, and of course, the cart. I paid a good bit more for the 2008, and then missed out on all the fun of building it.

Thanks to all that have helped me with this project! I would have had a very frustrating time trying to put this together without all the help I got here. And thanks to ScottyB and Jakes for their fine products they offer. Thanks for reading, and the best to all of you!

[gwh1bass]

That's a stealth machine, the batmobile! All you need is black rims.

[tnzoom]

wouldn't mind having one of those to leave at the farm

[rlw]

Coosa,

I found a set of 55 watt lights at the local Autozone for about $25 - Click here for a link.

They're 12V, so you'll either need a converter, and accessory battery, or just tap off 2 6V batteries. I did the latter, since I only use them occasionally, I'm not terribly worried about killing the two batteries I'm using.

Those are similar to what I have on my '84 Marathon Buggly, except mine don't have the brush screen on them.

RLW

[JohnnieB]

Some people will steal almost anything, so BB-II might not be ugly enough.


Some low pressure tires knock a few MPH off the top end, but it sounds like you have all the speed you want and then some, so for your purposes, low pressure tires might be the right choice, especially if you already have them.

As for alignment, one of the forum members (sportcoupe IIRC) posted a thread showing straight edges clamped to the front hubs after the wheels/tires were removed. You are running 20" tires in front, so mark the straight edges about 10" in front of the axle and 10" behind the axle, then measure the left to right distance between those two points. I think it should be about 1/8" toe-in, but I could be wrong.

Also, check out LED lighting. It doesn't use nearly as much power.
The LITESeasy LED light-bar I use only draws about 0.2A and lights up the road amazingly well.
I have head/tail/turn/brake lights, but you might be able to get just the front light bar.

[rlw]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Also, check out LED lighting. It doesn't use nearly as much power.
The LITESeasy LED light-bar I use only draws about 0.2A and lights up the road amazingly well.
I have head/tail/turn/brake lights, but you might be able to get just the front light bar.

JohnnyB,

Where did you get that light bar?

RLW

[chriskent85]

As far as the ground clearance you can take the tirerod off the bottom of the spindle mount and flip it over to the too of the spindle mount. That's how I install them.

[coosa]

Thanks for all the good ideas! I found some led lights that are 55 watts and rated for 10-30 volts. I read in the reviews that some folks are running them on 24 volts with good results, so I'm gonna try one on 36. Sure would be nice to not have to be concerned with keeping the batteries equalized. I'll put a fuse on it. :)

JohnnieB, that's good info on the toe in. But Sportscoupe will love this - I only have 1 c-clamp. Guess i will have to buy another one. I thought of robbing the wheels off the other cart, setting the toe-in, then swapping them back, but that's a lot of trouble. I probably ought to just buy some new tires, at least for the front. The ones on there are dry rotted and surviving on Slime.

I did think of flipping the tie rod over, but it's really frozen in on the drivers side. I removed the nut, but it wouldn't come out. I didn't try too hard because I wasn't sure it would work anyway. Now that I know it will, I'll try again. Looks like Jakes would tell you to do that. I've read threads on other places with people concerned about the same thing.

GWH, I painted the wheels black today. :)

Thanks again for the ideas!

[sportcoupe]

Originally Posted by coosa

But Sportscoupe will love this - I only have 1 c-clamp.

Seriously I didn't use a single c-clamp to hold the straight edges to the hubs. I had a couple spring clamps that did the job just fine. Here's the picture.

[coosa]

Thanks for the pic! I think I can rig something similar.