Trade my quad for a Western 42v cart?

[SP-Electronics]

Ok, as title suggests, I have the chance to trade my Kawasaki Prairie 300 4x4 quad (used), for a Western 42v cart (used at a U-Stor-It type place). It has a few scuffs and cracks in the fiberglass, but overall not in bad shape. Has trojan batteries, but they are not all from the same year/batch unfortunately, so they've been replaced piecemeal over time obviously, but the cart runs well, and seems to be quite fast (i didn't gps it, but it seems about twice or 3 times as fast as my stock 36v melex). It has the built in coolers, etc., rear seats and extended top, fold down smoke tinted windshield, lights (no turn signals) including license plate light, newer good year tires that look quite street friendly compared to most, cloth seats that have been covered with sheepskins to protect them, carpeted floor, etc.. This one doesn't have the trunk up front, which would have been nice, but I can live without it I guess.

The batteries may or may not last another year, hard to say with any "used" cart, so that is one of the only real problems I have with the cart. Any other stuff is minor. It comes with the charger as well. Value of cart is a bit lower than the quad, since there is no way to fully "trust" the batteries that are in it. I was estimating the value of the cart currently at maybe $1000 (after knocking off about $600 for the batteries).

Original plan was to use the drivetrain and suspension from the quad, and build a 4x4 cart (using my EZGo or my Melex chassis/body), but that requires TIME and more MONEY for parts (steel, etc.), two things I don't have a whole lot of these days... As cool as the 4x4 cart project would be, I just don't know when I'd get to it, and whether I'd have the funds to do everything needed to get it done. I also have a Kawasaki Ninja ZX6 that I was going to pull the engine out of, and build a cart, so I would still have that to fall back on for a gasser project (just not 4x4 in that case).

So, the question is, do I make the trade, and fix the cart up a little, and enjoy it for cruising the neighborhood, taking kid to school, grocery runs, etc., or do I hold off? I have 4 electrics, but only one is currently 100% complete and running (my melex) and it is slow as molasses on a cold day, and also is not a 4 seater which will come in handy.

After two days of thinking about it, I'm leaning towards - do the trade, and drive it until the batteries go totally belly up, then build it since it's already a bit nicer looking cart than the others I have, 4 seater, etc., and would probably be that much faster with the addition of one more battery to get it up to 48v. I could then either put one of my club cars back together and sell it, or just start parting out one or two of the carts "as-is", to put together the funds for stuff on this new cart, etc.. I also have the Harley 3 wheel gasser to restore and resell (probably).

Sorry for my long winded thread, but wanted to put everything out there to get your thoughts. Thanks guys!

[scottyb]

Would be good if you could get the batteries load tested..... HF sells one for about $25. Well worth the info you will get. Chances are, if they have been replacing batts as needed, you will need some more soon.... this is a major bargaining chip. The quad plus battery plus to be determined battery $

Built on the old Marathon chassis .... there was 2 styles I remember. Can you post a pic of the nose and the battery bay?

[dougmcp]

I have a 1998 42v Western cart.
The Serial number is stamped on the frame, passenger side, under the seat.
The first number is the model ie: 400, which is what I have. I thought all Westerns had a front trunk, yours could be a model 100, 200 or 300 if it has a tailgate and rear seats.
These carts are a bit of a hybrid. They are built on a EZGO chassis so all EZGO parts will fit. They are wired the same as a 36v EZGO and if they push it to 42v they use a 36v series motor and a 36v coil which is tapped at 36v (1 battery short of the 7 pack).
I'm not sure of your carts age but it could be resistor coils or controller operated. Mine's a controller made by Curtis. The 42v battery charger is usually made by Lester.
My standard cart has a high speed motor, Curtis 1205 controller, 8:1 gears and runs 21 mph stock with 5 year old Trojans.
Photos of my cart here:
http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/e...albumview=grid

[SP-Electronics]

Scottyb, I was thinking the same thing. I regret not taking at LEAST my DMM to test the batteries as a pack and individually, and while loading it against the wall of the building or something. Yes, batteries are the big expense here, and I'm sure they're going to fail eventually, sooner probably rather than later with MY luck, but I think it might be ok. I really hinted around the batteries, hoping the guy would offer a little cash to the deal, but no such luck. I would hate to ask really either. He just recently moved here to manage the storage facility, and he lives on-site, so I don't imagine him having a lot of extra $ to throw around anyway. Honestly, I know the quad needs a battery too, and tires (they're all pretty much bald, and 2 go flat in 2 days), and it could use a tune-up and fresh gas, and should probably have a new drive belt installed in the near future. It's one of those things that I either keep it and dump $200 or so into (tires being one of the biggest expenses really, and the GAS. haha), just to be able to rip it apart and spend another $200-300 on stuff to use while building a 4x4 cart using the driveline and suspension, OR I trade for something I can fiddle fart around with for a while (weeks, months, a year? who knows) before the batteries go south, and then spend $600+ on another set of batteries to get it going again (or start the custom build with zx6 motor)... Tough choice for me really, although I do have 12 "used" but seem to be "ok" batteries from my other carts (one set of 6 in the melex, and one set of 6 that I pulled out of a club car that had a bad controller, motor torn apart, etc.). So I'm sure I could continue squeaking by with batteries for a little while at least...

dougmcp, thanks for the info and pics. I meant to take pictures and write stuff down when I looked it over. I wasn't sure where the S/N was on the Western so I didn't see it to write it down unfortunately. It had a UPC style code on the top of the cowl above the dash, behind windshield, but it was worn away so you couldn't read it, so I got nothing from that.

The front of this one looks the same as yours, minus the trunk, it's just a solid cowl (had really hoped for the trunk), and the batteries are laid out the same as yours, everything under seat looked basically the same other than this one didn't have a cover over the controller. I didn't even notice a mount where it would have ever had one. I would say electronics wise it is probably near identical to yours, so that's a good thing. I swear if it had the trunk, I'd have emailed him back already and been closer to doing the trade.. Strange thing to get excited over isn't it!?

Maybe I'll get in touch with the guy again, and see if I can come look it over one more time, and load test batteries, and take some pictures, etc..

[dougmcp]

It had a UPC style code on the top of the cowl above the dash, behind windshield, but it was worn away so you couldn't read it, so I got nothing from that.

That UPC code is actually the VIN number, just like your car, which makes that cart a street legal version and it can be licensed. Mine's not and I wish it was, it would increase it's value. With a street legal version you're guaranteed to run at least 20mph.

Are you sure it has no trunk? I don't know but maybe the older 400's had no trunk and I just wasn't paying attention.

There are probably 1000 carts in my neighborhood and it seems like 15% of them are Westerns. I'll look around in the next few days and let you know what I find.

[SP-Electronics]

Yeah, that was the first thing I looked for was the trunk, and it wasn't there. The guy that owns it commented on it as well. He said "but, it does have the built in cooler under the back seat, and the one between the front and rear seats. I figured it was setup for licensing, since it had the license plate light already installed, but I didn't see a turn signal stalk or anything, so it wasn't fully setup for street yet. Here in AZ it's pretty simple to license things anyway. We have some quads and carts we have reg'd for the street, and they didn't even inspect them (they told us they would, so we loaded them up on the trailer, went all the way down there, and then they just asked for paperwork proving ownership, asked for money, and handed us plates and tags). I would reg it for the street for sure, since I drive one almost daily during the school year.

They're pretty sharp looking carts. This one appeared to be an older model, based on the taillights. Yours look sort of molded in near the upper part of the rear cowl, this one had one set down lower, plus a spot for another set just above that. It was obvious that it was missing a pair of lights, or at the least a reflector, because there were holes there.

I appreciate any info you can come up with. I might email the guy again in a bit, and try to go look at it again and grab the S/N, etc..

[SP-Electronics]

Oh, I am guessing the controller is 36/48v so I could add another battery to it and just leave the solenoid wired as it is (to 36v) and it should be fine right? The little extra increase in speed might be worth it.

[dougmcp]

The problem with my cart is to go to 48v when my batteries are due, I will have to use 6x8v batteries because I can't find anywhere to stuff another 6v. I have not physically looked at the controller tag but assume from the Curtis website they only made 2 like this, 24-36v and 36-48v. Knowing what I know about Western, they could have used a 24-36v model and used the 36v battery takeoff for the control circuit and run the 42v power at the power terminals, I'll find out one day but for now it works great and has since the cart was new. I have all the orig papers on this cart with every repair that was ever done.

The older models do have taillights that look like they were just stuck on, not recessed with more of a boxy front end. They may even have no trunk (I don't always pay attention). When I'm out tonight, I'll take my camera and see how many are at the club and post up tomorrow.

[dock98]

no trunk in our 88 Western.

[dougmcp]

At last, someone else with a Western. Care to post up some photos of it and the specs.

Is it a 36v cart? Resistor or controller?