My cart saga ends.......finally

[JMGreco]

I am very happy to say that a long, frustrating ordeal with my cart has finally ended. I have an 02 EZGO TXT Series cart. I bought it completely stock and have been doing a progression of upgrades. I started by doing the electrical upgrades. 480 amp Logi non-programmable controller, 400 amp solenoid, HD F/R switch cam and 4 gauge wire throughout. A fully Scotty B package (except the wires). I also installed US batteries, US 2200 XC. Noticed a big difference compared to when I bought it, no surprise.
After paying off the electrical upgrades I ordered a 5” drop axle Jakes lift kit, 22x11x10 X-Trail tires on black steel wheels, and WheelSC rear hydraulic disc brake kit, again all from Scotty B. Lift kit went in with minimal drama and the new wheels and tires gave the cart a whole new character. I can’t say enough about the performance of the brakes. I drove the cart for a few days and noticed a hop. Not a wobble, not a wonder, but a hop or bounce. I thought it was coming from the front and did some investigation. When spinning the one of the front wheels while the cart was jacked up I could see and hear the tire hitting the floor in one distinct spot. Assumed I had bad bearings and the new larger tires amplified it to where it was noticeable.
I ordered new seals, bearings, and racers for both front hubs and had my local farm store press them in and out for me. Installed the hubs with the new bearings and still had a hop. Needless to say I was frustrated. I did some more diagnostics, increasing air pressure in the one tire I thought could be producing the hop. The nature of the hop changed with the additional air pressure so logic told me I had a bad tire. Spoke to Scotty B and before I could blink had a replacement and authorization to send the bad one back.
Installed new tire, test drive, and guess what? Cart still hoping and bouncing. I spend the next day putting my stock tires on and off and test driving, comparing to the new wheels and tires. I could not determine the cause. I checked and rechecked to see if my rear axel was bent, but still could not pinpoint it. I was starting to doubt myself and was extremely frustrated. I was thinking I installed something in the lift kit incorrectly, had the front alignment messed up, twisted a rear lift while putting in the spacers, I was chasing my tale.
I spent hours searching the BGW forum for similar issues but could find little. Scotty B was great through the whole thing. I called him numerous times, weekends, etc. He was always friendly, courteous, and professional and always had ideas for me on now to trouble shoot it. At one point I was sure it was the toe. I adjusted, measured, adjusted trying to get it perfect 1/8 in and did not realize the tie rod was uneven between the two ends and yup, you guessed it, snapped one of the ends. Not happy. Replaced the end, adjusted it to 1/8 and still had the hop.
Not knowing what to do next I took the tires to my farm store and asked the guys to balance the wheels. They did, but showed me that each tire had a high spot. They broke down the tires on the rims and spun them thinking this might help alleviate the issue. Put them on the balancer and they were better but high spots were still noticeable. I told them to go ahead and balance them as well so I could rule that out. Some of the wheels required over 9 ounces to balance out. Brought the wheels and tires home, test drive, sill hopping.
I knew that two of the tires had needed less weight to balance than the other two, so I put those on the rear (disc installed now, no other choice) and put stock wheels and tires up front. Still hopping but much less. Knowing what all the tires looked like on the wheel balance machine I was pretty sure the issue was now tire related.
I called Scotty B back and explained everything. Without prompting he said we need to get you new tires. I explained that I did not want anything to do with the X-Trails and wanted a better quality tire. The next day he ordered me Sahara Classics by Excel. I had them installed yesterday. I put them on the cart, held my breath and took a test ride. NO HOP, I was so happy. I hope that someone else can learn from this saga. Not all tires are created equal and brand new tires can be messed up, in my case five tires. I want to thank Scotty B for his patience and making sure I was happy with the end result. I can not recommend him enough for anyone wanting to upgrade their cart.
I have included some pictures for everyone’s reference.

[sak00]

Holy Crap!

Thanks for the info. I'm sure this will help out many.

[madoc1]

looking good. i have the saharas and like them, but they are a tad out of round. not as bad as your's were tho.


might check those rear springs. in the second pic they look a bit bent in the middle. mine were like that and went to hd ones. did stiffen the ride a bit, but not much.

[LostHusker]

Congrats on getting it fixed, cart is looking good, like the brakes .

If you end up putting on a rear seat you will want to look into adding HD springs to the rear, will not be a hard swap since your cart is already lifted.

[jedotx]

I'm so glad I found this post. I am experiencing the exact same thing with X-Trail tires. The sponser I bought mine from contacted X-Trail and they said they do not have a problem. They said the tires are not rated for speed over 20 MPH. Just wondering if you were having the problem at lower speeds. I installed mine before upgraing motor and was not able to go over 15MPH. I did not notice the hop until I installed the PQ assassin. I can't tell how fast it is with new motor because the hop is so bad once I get over 30MPH that I have to shut it down. I hope I get a good resolution to my problem like you did.

[ChevyRacing75]

dang that was a lot of reading lol. I have a hop in mine also.

[scottyb]

Not all dealers are going to go the distance we went to. Joe took his tires to the tire shop and they were able to fix some of the problem with remounting & balancing. That may be all you need, I suggest you try it. When that did not work for Joe I called my distributor and got return authorization and sent him an upgraded set of Sahara Classics.
Lets just say neither one of us are recommending Trail X tires to our friends.

[gornoman]

Nice work, Scottyb! Going the extra mile for a BGW member!

[JMGreco]

Jedotx,

My hop was just the opposite, mine was worse at lower speeds. Good luck with your situation, I know how frustrating it can be. As Scotty said, it did help to have the tires broken down off the rim and spun. I also had my shop balance them.

Joe

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

I will have my attorneys contact your attorneys in reference to the copyright name infringement situation you have on your cart! LOL, looks nice. Glad you got it worked out...