90's Cushman Electric Industrial Resto/Mod

[EZHO]

found a great link for my 92' ezgo , but they also do cushmans most diagrams and manuals are Free !
.
https://www.vintagegolfcartparts.com...erence-library

[dundeebarnbuggy]

Oh man, I am following this thread! I love to see someone go the road less traveled! Are you gonna let her keep SOME of her "workin ability" or turn it into a cruiser/toy? Either way, it will be a fun build to watch. Thought, you have got a pretty large fiberglass "canvas" for a cool paint job,,,, just sayin'!

[KarTek]

Originally Posted by EZHO

found a great link for my 92' ezgo , but they also do cushmans most diagrams and manuals are Free !
.
https://www.vintagegolfcartparts.com...erence-library

Yep, thanks. I've been spending a good amount of time on that site, creating a shopping list!

Originally Posted by dundeebarnbuggy

Oh man, I am following this thread! I love to see someone go the road less traveled! Are you gonna let her keep SOME of her "workin ability" or turn it into a cruiser/toy? Either way, it will be a fun build to watch. Thought, you have got a pretty large fiberglass "canvas" for a cool paint job,,,, just sayin'!

Hi, yeah, the load carrying capacity is a variable right now. From the factory, the thing is supposed to carry like, 1900 pounds and the rear end is rock solid with no flex at all. I may go with 2 stage ATV coil over shocks to maintain some load capacity or go all the way to air bags in the rear. There's a lot of room in the chassis for development.

[KarTek]

Did some more stripping today. The chassis is now about 80% done, still need to remove the steering mechanism and front axle/suspension. Have to find a puller to get the various rod ends off.

Was able to remove the wiring harness finally. Looks like the controller is in good shape as it's totally sealed. Hopefully finishing the tear down tomorrow.

[KarTek]

More fun today. I can now say the vehicle is completely disassembled! Every bolt and nut hand cranked, impact wrenched, ground or torched off. Mostly ground and torched off.

I also started rough placement of the front suspension for the lift and conversion to a link style setup. The frame is really poorly designed in the center and has little support so it wiggles up and down when I press on it. I'll plan on adding a truss in this area to stiffen it up.

The brake master cylinder looks like a total loss. I'll see if I can clean it up and rebuild it or source a similar one from an auto parts store.

[KarTek]

Back to work today, the fun stuff, measuring, measuring and more measuring. Chicken scratching and then plugging the chicken scratching into CAD to design the new front suspension.

The second picture shows the mock ups of the suspension mounting points.

Finally, I started evaluating the brake cylinders and it looks like they're toast, just like the master cylinder so the shopping list is growing.

More measuring tomorrow...

[KarTek]

Happy New Year everyone! Haven't posted an update in a while but I've been making progress.

All measurements from the front suspension are finished, metal purchased from Stock Car Steel in Mooresville, NC.

All brakes are now completely stripped down and my suspension shopping list is almost complete.

Started working on the motor/rear axle today since I was off work. Anyone know how to get the armature out of the housing? I can see that it will only go one way since the cooling fan is on one end but it won't slide out, seems to be jammed.

Finished all the front suspension mounting points, made from the CAD file templates. Just need to drill and weld them on now.

[KarTek]

Been spending a lot of time de-rusting, grinding, etc...

Finally figured out the problem with getting the armature out. One of the field terminals was punched into the motor housing and it was blocking the armature from sliding out of the housing.

Received lots of new parts from Vintage Golf Carts and I've started restoring the motor. Attached is a picture of the new brush assembly installed today.

[KarTek]

Finished the motor. Everything looks good except the number plate but it's still somewhat readable so I'm not going to do anything else with it. The original rock grill around the brushes rusted away completely so I made a new one out of expanded steel and it works OK. I will still need to do a final tightening on the power studs and find some brass washers but then the motor will be ready to put aside for later.

Looking at the rear brake drum, you can see how badly rusted it was so now it's really pitted. I'm going to try and put it on the lathe and turn a little off of it so it's smooth again and it won't eat away the shoes.

I have all the steel now to create the control arms so I'll be putting those together soon as well as welding the fittings onto the frame and finishing the new battery tray.

[ThreeCW]

Evan,

Your motor is looking pretty shiny! Thanks for keeping us updated on your restoration

I also have a GE motor in my 1998 Cushman but it is a 6.5 hp Series motor according to the manual (GE Model 5BC49JB3054 ... supposed to be 4700 rpm rating) ... I am not able to confirm all of the motor tag details because 1/2 of the tag is inconveniently covered under the motor support bracket. For your reference, the top speed with the 6.5 hp motor at 48 volts is 17 mph with my 1620 lb cart (base weight with batteries).

Have you determined your controller and wiring plans yet?

I can provide the wiring diagram from my cart if it is of any use to you.

Regards, 3CW