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Old 07-23-2020, 11:31 AM   #1
ccastilaw
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Default 97 club car DS - upgrading

Hello to everyone, I am a new member who has found your site very helpful so thank you for that. I figured I would join the club and upgrade a cart I am going to be getting in a few days. So let this begin my first Golf Cart Modification Project!

I am getting a 97 Club Car DS (Serial starts with: A9729) and because I can never leave anything stock I want to upgrade it to something a little more beefy and flashy.

Right now, the cart doesn’t run as the batteries are dead, I may be able to save them but we will see, I have seen a few recommendation for batteries such as Trojan but not sure what route to go, if I have to replace I would like to get a good battery for long life and power.

I am also looking at upgrading the motor and controller to gain extra speed, because who does not like going fast? But I want to be able to regulate it so my wife and little one does not hurt themselves when they are driving it. I have looked at the Navitas Star EF 48V 600A 5kW AC-DC conversion Kits, I think this would give me the speed and control I am looking for but I am not sure if this will work in my cart. Seeing as how I am replacing just about everything; I would think it wouldn’t be an issue, but I am unsure about the drive system. I have also read that it would be good to upgrade the solenoid, so I am looking at the Albright 350A 48V option.
I just want to get some thoughts on this and if I am on the right track or if I am missing things. I know I will also probably need to upgrade battery cables as well.

Later I would also like to look at getting the Jeep front and rear body sections for the cart and painting them, adding a rear folding seat and new top, but priorities right, ha. I will be sure to post pictures of my progress.
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Old 07-24-2020, 12:16 AM   #2
CCNorth
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

I can't speak to everything on your wish list but I can highly recommend Trojan 875 batteries. If you happen to live in driving distance of Birmingham, AL, there is a great battery company that I have dealt with for years. I paid about $875.00 with tax for 6 8 volt Trojans. I did get a small credit for trading my old batteries.
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Old 07-24-2020, 10:12 AM   #3
97ccds-custom
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

Welcome to the forum. I just bought six T875s for $860 with stamps of July 2020 and August 2020 (I learned that Trojan stamps a month ahead before they ship to the dealers). This was the non-CC price and did include a trade in of the old cores, tax and an $8 battery strap.

I also have a 97 Club Car DS that was partially modified and in a bit of neglect when I brought it home. So I'm reconditioning and finishing the upgrade. Once CartsUnlimited.net has the 400A solenoids back in stock I plan to go with the C54 conversion to add an Alltrax SR 48500.

Here's a breakdown of my plan: https://buggiesgonewild.com/showthre...24#post1738924

Right now, as is, the 36V PlumQuick motor, lift and 22" tires with fresh batteries I easily do 18-21 mph with cart using a vglide and resistor coils.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to share. Joining this forum was the best thing you did before starting your project. The details and experienced knowledge sharing is amazing.
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Old 07-29-2020, 11:17 AM   #4
ccastilaw
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

97ccds-custom, Thank you for the link and the advice, I am glad that I joined and started asking before I do anything. I like to have a good idea of my plan of attack before I do anything.

I got the cart to the house finally and a little cleaned up. I have pulled all the batteries, added water and started seeing I can charge them individually, we will see how that goes.

I will update as I learn more about what I have. I did find out that the AC conversion kit will not work with the cart though since its is a 48v series cart.

As for the batteries I wanted to look for LiPo and get away from the Lead Acid for a few reasons. Currenlty I am looking at a 95 lbs 105ah Lipo battery by RoyPow. It looks like I will have to do some modification to the battery bay but shouldnt be to hard. Main reasons for me are weight, maintenance, life span and consistant power. They are a little pricey but for longer life span I can justify it I think.

Current setup
Stock Motor - 48v 3.10HP series motor
Stock Controller - Curtis PMC 1204-410 36v-48v 225A controller
Stock Solenoid - As far as I know - No model yet
Stock F&R switch - As far as I know - No model yet
Stock Cables - as far as I know look like 6 or 4 maybe?
Lift Kit - Looks like 6 inch lift kit
Tires - 22" tires
Gears - Stock gears

After a little reading it looks like I have a few options with a series cart. From what I can tell the first place to start may be high speed gears, then I could look at a F&R Switch, solenoid, wire and controller upgrade. Then finally I could look at a motor upgrade.

The cart will mainly be in on road in a communitor to get to parks and pool, may take to lake place here and there as well.
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Old 07-29-2020, 11:42 AM   #5
ACCLR8N
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

After spending some time on this site, I am going down the the Nissan Leaf lithium path as a suggestion. Do you enjoy wiring?

I have no experience, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. My cart came with no wiring so I have a blank canvas to start from.
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Old 07-29-2020, 01:23 PM   #6
Jake_Daddy
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

Im curious as to what keeps you from being able to upgrade to the AC package if you have a series motor? I thought during the upgrade you do a motor and controller package which basically gets rid of all the components that make your cart series in the first place.
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Old 07-29-2020, 01:56 PM   #7
ccastilaw
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake_Daddy View Post
Im curious as to what keeps you from being able to upgrade to the AC package if you have a series motor? I thought during the upgrade you do a motor and controller package which basically gets rid of all the components that make your cart series in the first place.
I was emailing with Robby Steen with Plum Quick and he advised me that it wouldnt work. After some reading it looks like its because of the F&D Switch I think. In series motors the F&D Switch reverses the polarity of the motor magnet making it go either forward or reverse. In a sepex cart the controller controls the forward and reverse so it is a different wire hookup from what I can understand.
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Old 07-29-2020, 03:46 PM   #8
Jake_Daddy
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

Quote:
Originally Posted by ccastilaw View Post
I was emailing with Robby Steen with Plum Quick and he advised me that it wouldnt work. After some reading it looks like its because of the F&D Switch I think. In series motors the F&D Switch reverses the polarity of the motor magnet making it go either forward or reverse. In a sepex cart the controller controls the forward and reverse so it is a different wire hookup from what I can understand.
That makes sense but adding a switch in place of the FnR should be a piece of cake. After my last comment I went on Navitas website to look at diagrams. They are definitely about making it easy for a direct drop in replacement which is great but I bet they could give instruction for a basic or custom installation like Alltrax does. I imagine, similar to other controllers, all it needs would be a key switch signal, a throttle signal, and a Fwd/Reverse signal but perhaps I am over simplifying it.

There are people on here who upgrade to a sepex system from series so I have to imagine its the same amount of work to upgrade to the AC system! I would like to see it done to and old DS cause thats the next project I want.
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Old 07-29-2020, 03:48 PM   #9
ccastilaw
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

Man things are quickly getting expensive and I am having a hard time deciding.

My wish list
-increase speed on cart - around 30 for kicks
-ability to control top speed and accel on the fly and lock, in case kids get on it
-Keep most speed going up hill
-Cart will primarly be used for on road in neighborhood, may take to lake place.

What I have found so far to meet most of these
-HD F&D Switch
-HD Solenoid
-2ga wire all around
-600a Navitas controller with on-the-fly remote
-Rattlesnake motor from plum quick
-Upgraded brakes
-Lipo Battery Pack

Part of me feels like some of there are at the top end, maybe I could find some less expensive parts but still meet my wants. I guess I will just have to keep looking and playing with it before I pull the trigger on anything.

Any suggestion? I have read about the high speed gears as well but I am unsure how that will effect the stock motor and get me to what I want.
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Old 07-29-2020, 06:10 PM   #10
Jake_Daddy
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Default Re: 97 club car DS - upgrading

30 is hauling butt on a golf cart (there are plenty of people here going faster though) I have a D&D speed motor and 22" tires and can get 29 but any type of hill slows it down. Your only chance of keeping most speed on hills will be a AC conversion so if thats high on your list you should research getting that done more, though a lipo pack will lightnen the load and help with that.

High speed gears would kill the torque on a stock motor, if you have hills around I would probably avoid it.
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