One for me~ (part 1)

[oconnorb]

After building a few for the WWP, my wife told me to stop and build one for myself since I was always saying I was going to do so. We had a break in the requests so I did just that. After several “lessons learned” from previous builds I think I have what I want… I have used several of the same items on all carts, for they work well and I liked the look. As set up we are street legal, with a few “extra” mph to get us out of trouble if needed (crossing the 45mph streets… quickly).

Thanks for all of the input and professional direction from all of you over the last year.

[1moretoy]

Very nice

[monkey-1]

Nice looking cart!

[oconnorb]

Thanks, I enjoy it.... when the rain stops, off to Nags Head.

[Scott H.]

Sorry, double post.

-Scott H.

[Scott H.]

I just found this thread, Sweet Cart!

-Scott H.

[Xact1]

I see lots of really cool mods on this older DS cart.

Front brakes

Larger rear tires

Street legal accessories


Can you post a thread on how you installed the front brakes/what product/etc?

How about the same for the rear tires? I really like the stance that the cart shows with this!

[oconnorb]

The front disk brakes are from Jakes, the install is very easy, and the instructions are detailed. Ten inch rims (Club Car factory aluminum rims) allows rotors and calipers to clear without rubbing. The brakes are required for street legal and due to the cart exceed 25mph; the four wheel stopping is needed… I made the mistake of increasing the speed prior to installing the brakes, I drove it once and parked it, for I was at 32mph and attempted to stop… not good, slid through stop sign. Bleeding the brakes will test you irritation level, if you hadn’t done it before… the brake cylinder during install got air inside, I had to bleed air from cylinder, once done, brakes work great.

In the front there is a 2 inch extension plate, this raises the front ½ inch and allows for the 225/45-10’s to clear with no rubbing. Front tires are “speed rated” tires that are used on mini motorcycles; I went this route for I didn’t want to have a front blow out, which I did with “golf cart” type tire.

The rear is heavy duty springs, that allow the 255/50-10’s to clear with 3/4 inch of clearance, the springs maintain the clearance, no rubbing. The larger tires absorb the “stiffness” of the heavy springs, I had lower profile tires and I was bounced all over the place, swapped the tires, lead to increase in speed 3.5-4 mph and a smooth ride.

Almost all items are from site sponsors, the rear LED tail lights were an EBay mistake, but worked after I got advice from others on BGW. The GPS speedometer is from Speed Hut, caught it on sale, attempted a speedometer that was wired, what a pain, the money spent on the GPS unit was a little more ($76.00) than the wired type, and much easier to install. I have a deep cycle marine 12V battery mounted behind the main batteries for the stereo, GPS speedometer, blue tooth, Garmin and SIRUS accessories.

The windshield frame is made from stock top aluminum supports, welded and NORVA Plastics cut a shatter proof wind shield to match the frame couture, the windshield wiper is a hand operate boat wiper assy. The top frame is 2” PVC, I got bored one afternoon and went to Home Depot, what transpired was a frame with rack to hold the beach umbrella, chairs and surf board. The inside of the roof rack crossbars are reinforcement from an old pair of aluminum crutches, I can lay on the support and it will hold my 170ish lbs. The Sun Shade cover (5 yr warranty) was made from Young’s Upholstery (Virginia Beach), great for hot days, remove-able for “convertible” cruising on the beach.

It has been a fun project, several of the items were tested prior on other carts, proven to work well and hold the test of time. Other item, which got me a few “WTH” comments is I change out the stock rear gears to 6:1 sets… the people I provide carts for need a “smooth” take off, the stock gears, if you’re not careful will “launch” from a stop, with the 6:1 gears, the start is still prompt, but not “head snapping”, it also increased the mph.

Motor is a re-worked 36V motor, highly recommend to anyone with a 48V series cart to make this a priority change out, 2ga cables to handle the current, along with HD F/R switch and solenoid.

Granted, this is what I did, some people agree, others might not… I started building carts for a friend of mine that came home from Iraq with me, and it sort of bloomed from there. I work out of a small two stall garage, no large tools or machinery, which is the great thing about working on carts. I had lots of pictures of the builds, but the hard drive crashed hard and several years of pictures were lost…

[monkey-1]

Hey man, thanks for the info over PM. If you get a chance, I would love to see the PVC top you have fabbed. Sounds like the best of both worlds. Post up any build or current pics, we would love to see them.