EZGO trailer hitch - towing help

[dawg1]

I have a 36V '06 standard EZGO cart. I read a bunch of threads and saw people were using carts to pull boats short distances. I only need to move our boat 50 yards or so and mostly flat terrain. We have a rear seat so I had to install the hitch on the footrest. I tried towing but it was obvious it wasnt going to work as the footrest immediately started bending towards the ground with the tongue weight. What is the biggest issue? Do I need a lift kit? With the cart being so low, I'm sure the tongue weight is increased substantially. Or is the problem putting the hitch on the footrest to begin with? It certainly doesn't look like it's sturdy enough. I wish I didn't have the seat and could get the one that bolts to the cart itself. The boat is 19'. Is that just too big? I've seen posts of people pulling bigger so I thought ours might be able to do it. At this point I cant even try as I cant get it hooked up.... Thanks for any tips.

[scottyb]

Sounds like you have to attach to the cart not the seat.
give us a couple of pics of the rear of the cart, and some from underneath, to see what you are dealing with.

[dawg1]

[dawg1]

There's the setup. They make a different trailer hitch where the bracket bolts underneath the bumper but it doesn't look like it would work with the footrest brackets in the way. Even if I have to take it somewhere for modification or welding, I wonder if I could use that hole right behind the rear bumper (inside the cart) for mounting some type of riser with the ball (??). Any ideas?

I just saw they make some balls with risers on them. I wonder if I could drill out that hole and mount the ball right into that hole?

Thanks.

[scottyb]

That might work if you don't turn so tight as to have the tongue hit the step side rails.

[dawg1]

I don't have the trailer here right now to measure level but looking at the cart, even using a ball with riser would put the ball at about 14". I think the trailer is higher than that when level. I imagine if the ball is lower than it should be it will be more difficult to pull. Is there anything you know of that I could use to get the ball up higher?

[mutley]

Looks like you have a lot of things working against you in that setup.
There is no way the foot step is strong enough for to put any weight on it. I'm assuming the boat is 300~500lbs tongue weight.
Having the hitch as far out as the step, (even if it was mounted to the frame) has way too much leverage passed the axle to be safe on a golf cart size vehicle.

Simplest option would be to put the hitch on the frame and simply remove the foot step when you want to use it.
Other than that, you could rig a setup with some form of dolly under the hitch to take the load, similar to how you can bumper pull a 5th wheel trailer.
Obviously nothing as extravagant as below, but a similar concept. Use an extra set of wheels to take the tounge weight off the gold cart, then the golf cart hitch only needs to be strong enough to pull & push the trailer not take the actual load.


Something like this might work if the wheel swivels.
https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Jac.../STC-V211.html

Also seems you would need a large drop hitch turned upside down to raise the ball to what ever the trailer needs, getting that at the optimal height will also reduce the tounge weight.
https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...RM-048-10.html

All this is assuming the Golf Cart can actually move your trailer over the ground you need.

[DieselPlower]

You're going to need a hitch that bolts to the frame. You can put an extension on that to bring the ball out behind the rear step but that makes quite a long lever pushing down on the back. What I did was install a hitch to the frame and then got a 3" drop ball mount. I turned it upside down so it was flush with the bottom of the step. I drilled a hole in the step and put the ball through the step and into the ball mount. I also installed heavy duty rear springs. It's very sturdy now

[dawg1]

Thanks for all the suggestions..

dieselplower - do you have a txt cart like mine? if so, is this the bracket you used:


if so, how do you attach that with the footrest brackets in place? both of them have lips (aren't flat) so I'm having trouble envisioning how both are bolted down at the same time (??) maybe I could put the hitch mount on first and then notch those lips out so the footrest bracket can slide into the notches. did you not have this issue?
edit: i don't think notching would work - the footrest back lip sits about 3/4" below the brackets so i think it would be in the way of the extension.

[DieselPlower]

Originally Posted by dawg1

Thanks for all the suggestions..

dieselplower - do you have a txt cart like mine? if so, is this the bracket you used:


if so, how do you attach that with the footrest brackets in place? both of them have lips (aren't flat) so I'm having trouble envisioning how both are bolted down at the same time (??) maybe I could put the hitch mount on first and then notch those lips out so the footrest bracket can slide into the notches. did you not have this issue?
edit: i don't think notching would work - the footrest back lip sits about 3/4" below the brackets so i think it would be in the way of the extension.

I have a 98 ez go I think it's a pds. I will look in the morning and take a couple pics. Yes my hitch does look like that. What I did was take a ball mount kinda like the one in your picture and turn it upside down, so it raised up, instead of dropping down. Maybe I can get a pic now.