272 Sluggish + Clutch replacemnet

[Sean2202]

Greetings,

I was hoping that someone could help me out here. I have a recently acquired a 2004 Turf 272 Club car from a previous workplace. I have read through some of these threads but still a little confused about tuning and possibly clutch issues and repairs. This cart has a Kawasaki FE400 engine. When we used this cart at my old workplace, it always had a hesitation and at one point the engine was sent out to a shop in NY that rebuilt it. I am not sure what was done to it exactly maybe just new rings? Anyways that cured the burning of oil but it still has the hesitation that it always has had.

The cart itself has over 4,000 hours. The engine seems to not run well unless the choke lever in the airbox is mostly closed. The engine also seems to not be very powerful. On flat ground or in neutral the primary and secondary clutch engages fairly well and the belt is new. The secondary clutch guides do have some wear but still have some life left in them. The engine starts right up and idles great but under load it seems to struggle. The engine seems to die out a little when the primary clutch first is engaged. Is this normal? The drive belt is new. I use this cart on my property for work and I live on a pretty steep hill. It seems as though it should have more power to climb the hill with a small load. This cart is not a speed demon. Top speed is about 13 mph. The plug is good, air filter new, oil at proper level, fuel filter new.

I believe that this particular cart came with primary clutch 101833908. I do not know if they have ever been serviced but they seem to work fine on engagement and belt travel. The belt on full throttle before the governor kicks in is just under the full engagement of the clutches. I have taken apart primary and secondary clutches on snowmobiles and tx gators before to replace components. Usually there is a sign something is bad. Sometimes there are stiffer springs that can be installed for different engagement. Are there any other particular springs that I could install into these clutches to get more torque for hill climbing? I have not pulled them apart yet. Is it worth it or are there better clutches out there?

Thanks for any replies
Sean

[Greg001]

You might want to give http://www.cartpartsplus.com/ a call and discuss your clutches with them. They are helpful and sell high performance springs for driven clutch. The drive clutch fits on a taper on the crank. There are few aftermarket clutches that will fit. But parts and kits are available to rebuild both clutches.

It is hard to diagnose "sluggish" with a keyboard. A lot of things happen when speed changes with constant velocity drives. It seems your buggy had a hard job before you got so they could need rebuilt.

[aintgotthis]

If it won't run without choke, the engine is running lean. Clean the carb, fuel filters ,vent on carb, check fuel pump, check fuel shut off and the straw on the pick up tube. The pick up tube unscrews from the top of the tank. sometimes the straw will fall out or suck air.

[Sean2202]

Thanks for the replies. Also the cart runs the same with the fuel pulse line connected or disconnected.

[Sean2202]

Played a little with this last night. I replaced the fuel filter with a Napa 3001 and I shortened the fuel line just a little as it had a loop to it which dropped. Now the line is more straight from the tank to the pump. I also unscrewed the on / off valve from the tank and checked the pickup tube. I am assuming the tube just hangs down and there is no filter on the bottom?

Thinking about the pulse from the engine and how the pump did not respond to it being disconnected I swapped the original pump out for a Briggs and Stratton 597338 pump because I had a brand new one on the shelf. The engine seemed to respond much better than before but still had a hesitation when the primary clutch first engaged. I feel I am on the right path. Next to clean the carb and clean out the original pump or replace it.

One interesting thing to note and it may or not be related to the hesitation. The primary clutch on the very bottom of the sheeve has a wear groove that extends around the clutch. This wear groove is about wear the clutch engages the belt on initial takeoff. Its not terrible but I can feel it with my finger. I have never seen a clutch with such so maybe it is time for replacement?

[Sean2202]

As Greg001 mentioned above I spoke with cartpartsplus about my clutch. I decided upon replacing the primary and secondary clutch due to age on the originals. There should be no wear grooves on the clutch as it will create problems. From what I was told this happens when a clutch is repeatedly ran at a particular speed for extended periods of time. This cart actually was used for towing a small trailer for push mower or a leaf blower. It really was not used for large tasks because of the manual dump bed.

A great piece of advise that I was given was to draw a line with a marker from the bottom of the clutch to the top. Then run the machine with resistance (not on jack stands) engaging the clutch belt from the bottom of the clutch to the top of the clutch. Then inspect your line to see if the clutch has wear spots.

So a new primary clutch 101833902 with the proper engagement spring installed into it for my key start. Then a new secondary clutch 101834001 with machining for extra torque. Along with a primary clutch puller and a fuel pump. I just replaced the belt last week so I am good there. I will update once I install the set.

[Sean2202]

Installed the primary and secondary clutch and what a difference! Before The clutch upgrade the cart struggles to go up hill with a small load. It also would engage the clutch hard with a bang or chirp the tires slightly. Now engagement is as smooth as glass. I actually loaded 13 retaining wall blocks total while going up hill. (I started with 9 and each trip I added one more)

I never did dismantle that carb and clean it but with fresh gas and actually being used it seems to run much better with little hesitation. More than likely stale gas added to the sluggish problems as well. Also someone put the wrong oil filter on it which was longer and a PIA to remove. I have no idea why or how it was put on. Maybie when the engine was out? Possibly the excess oil in the oil filter added too much oil to the crankcase adding to the sluggishness?