High Speed Gears

[BigBlockMan]

I'll chime in here, I waited as I figured you may not want a dealer opinion. these figures are figured with two average riders on a gas cart. If you plan on 4 people in the 300lb each range your results will not be the same.

A stock cart with 8:1 gears gives about the same performance as a lifted cart with 22" tires. There is a nice improvement in speed a slight decrease in lo end and it makes cruising at 20mph really nice. (not running the piss out of your engine all the time) Top speed with gov intact mid 20s. The slight decrease in lo end is very slight and can be cured with a machined rear clutch.
Now for the 6:1 gears Top speed is great cruising at 25 mph in cart almost seems like a electric as it is whisper quiet (the wind makes as much noise as the motor) and will easily run to 30 mph at gov rpm.
Take off on level ground is still pretty good. With machined rear clutch it will pass a stock geared cart in about 100 feet and just leave it in the dust.

If you drive your cart in the neighborhood and around town in average road conditions the gears are great for a stock cart. If your cart is lifted with larger tires you will loose alot more lo end and not gain as much top end unless you have a little more motor.

Can you still pull a trailer with 8:1 gears?? sure can just like a lifted cart.
If you pull much more than a garden cart 6:1 is probably not the choice for you. I will tell you this anybody who has walked into my shop and test drove a standard cart with HS gears has bought them.

One more question I get all the time is how much harder is it on the engine??? None!!!!!!!!! It is easier on your engine because of the lower operating rpm to due the same chore. It is much harder on the engine to drive your cart everywhere at wide open throttle and max rpm or worse with the governor and rev limiter removed to get to that "top speed" than to run a cart with HS gears.

HOPE ALL THIS HELPS!!!!!!!!!!!

[mz79yh]

That really helps, my cart is unlifted, all stock except for low pro 10" tires and wheels. I use it in a camp ground with paved and gravel streets with some very small hills. I guess around 400 lbs total weight to carry around. I guess I just need to figure which ones to go with.

[BigBlockMan]

Glad I could help.

[pizzamaker]

that was a good way to sum that up BBM

[torey3]

How much does a shop typically charge for a high speed gear install?
Thanks

[lockman1]

Wow!!! bringing an old thread... back to life!

how'd your govenor come out Torey?

[BigBlockMan]

We do it for $125, I have had guys call and tell me thier local dealers want anywhere from 2 to 9 hours and at a labor rate of $50 to $90 a hour.

[torey3]

I learned a couple of things. The throttle cable linkage only functions to open the carberator butterfly to varying degrees, if it is already fully open, adjusting it won't increase the speed. The governer adustment in the back of the cart in the bag well access area is where the magic is! It is extremely hard to adjust in small increments. This 350 engine has a lot of power and is hard to keep off the rev limiter especially down hills, so I just disconnected the rev limiter for now and dialed down the governer. The frustrating part is that the rear end is geared so low, the 350 just screams for higher gearing but is so limited by the gears. The stock cart GPS'd over 25 before I ran out of guts for fear of over reving, it had more though. The hills are killing me, with the governer back off, I could run 20mph going up the hills, but when coming down the hills the speed was way to much and I would rev to high. If I had higher gearing, I could back off the governer and keep the power going up the hills with out worrying about the rpms on the down side of the hills. Hoping for 12" rims on lowprofiles with high speed gears!