trade advice

[Thumper_abn]

I have a 98 ez go 36v series cart with a factory lift and modestly oversized tires. Just recently picked it up with the intentions of making a hunting cart.
It had a back seat that was installed at home and looked pretty bad. I took it off to put a rear basket/rack on it. Haven't done much else yet. It needs batteries in a bad way right now. I'm not sure if it has any other issues.

I have a buddy that has an 87 ez go gas buggy. The motor was just recently rebuilt (it was actually bored oversized)and the cart was gone through by a local guy that's pretty good with golf carts(he's retired and does it as a hobby, old school type guy). It hasn't had a full tank of gas since the rebuild yet. Right now it has a zebra print wrap on it(you'd have to know his wife).

He offered to trade with some cash to bootand a re-wrap of my choice. Now I have a few questions.
1) is it something worth considering (ie would the gas buggy work out better on trails and steep hills)
2)would the lift fit the 87(swapping the lift and tires/wheels it is an option).
He wants a buggy for his wife in the city, I want a buggy for the trails.
I'm looking for advice on it.
Any opinions?
Thanks in advance guys

[Gale Hawkins]

Not good at what chassis parts interchange but gas is good for off road. You can boost the torque (read the thread on shaving the clutch) and there are no range limits. His gas may be a 2 stroke and as far as I know they are fine.

There is a Workhorse current thread where a buy bought a new looking 99 cart with the rear box for $1550. We just got an electric 2007 PDS car for $1600 with 20 mile+ range batteries.

Point: Look around and while not totally cheap you may be able to find very close to what you want about read to go for the same dough.

I do think you are on the right track but if you ride into the woods you do not want to have to walk out of the woods for sure.

$500 bucks got us one 11 years newer and better batteries than we first considered buying.

[rabbitreborn]

I don't remember for sure if the 4 cycle was offered in 1987 or not, I do know it was an optional engine for 1988 though. Personally, I am a "sparky" kind of guy and would never even consider trading backwards (going from a 98 to a 11 year older cart) let alone trading something with such potential as you have.

The lift will not fit as the 2 vehicles are of completely different models (Marathon on the 87 and TXT on the 9

The other thing to consider is that around here, MOST of the hunting camps are now REQUIRING people to switch to electric vehicles as they are quieter and will not "spook" the animals when you are cruising the trails. Personally I have been withing about 10 feet of a deer while riding on my electric cart, something that I would NEVER be able to accomplish with a gasser (especially not a 2 cycle as I suspect that 87 to be)

If you are in need of batteries right now, do a conversion to 48 volts and you will have a serious GRIN from ear to ear at the end of the day.

just my humble opinion........

[madoc1]

ditto!

[scottyb]

What Rabbit said is true!

[Thumper_abn]

A big consideration right now is cost. A running gas cart is a little bit better than a not running electric cart.
Since I'm the only one hunting on privately owned property noise isn't much of an issue.
For me it's more about realiability. There are some pretty steep hills and I question if the electric cart will make it without upgrading. And the best I can tell, that gets costly fast. I don't mind spending some but I don't want to have to deal with the wife once we start adding to the wish list.
Since the lift wont swap I doubt I'll do it. Once I hit a grand I'll have to start justifying why I didn't just get an atv.
Thanks for the advice