Hill Climb Upgrade for 36v 97 DS - Try 48v or Motor?

[ascauto3]

I am new to carts and have spent practically my entire weekend reading this forum. Thanks in advance to everyone for posting so much great information.

I recently inhereted an incredible custom '47 pickup cart built on a 1997 Club Car 36 volt series cart with a V-Glide/Resistor setup. Everything is stock including the 6 AWG wiring.

The primary function of this cart will be to get me from our house to the lake which involves a very sizable hill (600 ft at a steep angle) about a 1/4 miles drive total. Never working much with carts before, I never considered that this would be an issue. This weekend I took it for the first ride and learned that with a fresh charge, the cart just barely made it up the hill. I was on the rug, barely moving and had visions of towing it home with the truck... there was also a nice smell of burning.

Upon returning home I started the research and now 24 hours later am asking for advice. I clearly need more power - but what do you recommend?

The cart has 6x one-year-old batteries. If they were old, I'd immediately consider putting 8 volts in it.

As I see it I have a few options:

Upgrade the motor and wires. With this route I'd go to AWG-4 throughout, put in a new solenoid and am looking at this motor on ebay:
Motor

I might also consider adding a 12 volt battery as some have done. I have room for one additional battery. Many have said that running 48v through my cart should be ok with the stock v-glide and resistors. I'd build some custom 4awg wires and change the solenoid. I am however a bit concerned about the v-glide, f/r switch and need to come up with a new charging solution. new charger and receptacle add quite a few bucks. Also not sure how the car battery would last or charge in series with the cart batteries.

I think if I could find someone to "trade in" or buy my batteries I'd upgrade them and the charger and wires.

As I see it:
Motor/wires= about $500 (safe bet)
Extra 12v battery/wires/charger= about $500 (kinda rigged though)
Upgraded batteries/wires/charger= $1000

Am I crazy to do the motor and wires?

Thanks!

[scottyb]

You are on the right track! What a sweeet looking dog! Nice cart too But HEAVY I am sure. You need to get away from the original drive system and up the voltage... You can keep your stock motor. We can wake it up with 48v and nice Big controller package.
You need to change out the V-glide for a potentiometer. Check out the CC thread ... "Solid state conversion & upgrade to 48 volts."

He is basically doing the same thing you need to do for your cart. By the way that is a beautiful little truck.

[Andy4639]

Totally agree with Scotty B,
get a pot box and nice 500 amp controller hooked up to 48 volts two more 6 volts and that will wake the cart up nicely!
Cool cart to!

[scottyb]

Very nice ~ I would like to see more pics of the cart?

[GLEEMO]

Bump

[ascauto3]

Thanks Guys

I will get to work on some more in depth reading from those who have installed Pot boxes/controllers. One significant issue is going to be finding room for two more batteries, I just don't think it's there. I think I found room for one battery with some modifications to the bed. I was shying away from the controller conversion given the necessary pedal modifications, but I think I saw a nice inverted setup in one of the threads that might fit my application. I was also hoping to keep this around $500, but it looks like I'm at almost twice that.

I will get some more photos up of what i'm working with tonight.

Batteries - $200 (if I can find room)
Pot box - $100
Controller $400
Wires - $100
Solenoid - $60
Charger - $300
Charger receptacle & fuse - $75

Thanks for the quick input. Based on all your collective experience on the forum, I had a hunch that 48 volts would be the consensus. Once I learned the differences in resistor vs controller Saturday, I was very dismayed to learn I had the latter. Not to mention, I have the original invoice from when the cart was purchased and you'd think for a $16,000 cart (back in 1997) it would be a 48v w/ controller... phew.

[scottyb]

So it is built on a CC frame? They were the only ones making a resistor cart in 97. The real shame is the original builder picked such a weak platform to build on... no offense intended. Sometimes you just roll with what you got. Again a great looking cart but i can see added weight which exaggerates the problem.

Do not add voltage without converting to solid state speed control. You will burn that baby up

Consider selling your batteries and changing to 6/8v batteries to save space and make the conversion easier.

[ascauto3]

Thanks Scotty - I think that's the push I needed. Burning it up, doesn't sound like fun. I'll put the batteries on craigslist and see if anyone bites. Avoiding frame modifications (and weight) would be nice. I also don't need indefinite run times plus I should have the power savings from the controller.

I was considering OXFORDLAWN's 6 pole solenoid 12 volt boost theory for a while but again - burning is bad. It's a shame, I can practically coast down to the destination, just that one darn hill coming back (which is why I'm sick of walking it an wanted a cart in the first place).

[scottyb]

The Potentiometer conversion is not too hard. Most guys have been able to fab up something with hardware store parts.
This is basically what needs to be achieved.

Shoot me an email I have some economical controller pkgs. A charger deal less expensive than what you listed and the potentiometer.
cartsunlimited@hughes.net

[shadowman]

nice looking cart, really looks clean........theres a fella up camp who has a chevy s10 body on his cart but its a gas cart and he stll has a bit of trouble with the weight of it..............................