Western Model 400 Rebuild

[sloppydogdrool]

I wanted to find some information on these carts and there wasn't a lot out there. I had hard time finding a mechanic that knew anything about them. I also found a lot of contradictory information. I thought I would share what I found. I’ll update this thread as I have time and hope it helps anyone else that is looking.

The western 400 is built on the ezgo txt chassis. The dash is a standard ezgo dash. I changed one to wood grain and the other to silver. The aftermarket dash covers work fine. I tried to use one of the really elaborate dash covers but that will not work because the front of the western is to tall.

[sloppydogdrool]

The body getting prepped. Filled in rivet holes. Nose had substantial damage repaired with fiberglass. Various cracks were repaired and other body damage. The whole front of the cart is plastic. The entire rear section of the main body is fiberglass.





Painted........

[sloppydogdrool]

In the chassis pic you can see the battery cables are a thin gauge and same with motor wires. These were later upgraded to 4 gauge. The dash is a standard EXGO dash. You can see the pockets are cut off and a backing plate is added. I forgot to mention in a previous post that there is plenty of room to mount a couple 6-1/2" shallow mount speakers.

[DOOmsman]

Looking good, keep the pics coming.

[sloppydogdrool]

This is the other project, a 4 passenger Western Model 400. I could not locate my original pics but here is a similar cart I found on the internet. Mine was in much worse condition. It had been let out in the rain for over a year. The seats and vinyl were trashed. Carpet was completely missing. The wheels are terribly ugly. The trim was a mess, the aluminum was a mess. Underneath it was a solid, tight cart with new batteries. It was obvious it had little use. Take notice to the big ugly foot rest and ugly trailer tail lights.

[sloppydogdrool]

In this pic we see the 4 passenger starting to come back together. Take notice we have remove that foot from the back of the cart. The plan is to have a removable foot rest somewhere down the road. I do a little off roading with my cart and the foot would often drag going through dips. Here is the big thing you want to see here. The wheels and tires. The wheels are 12x7 with a 3+4 offset. I had a heck of a time figuring out correct offset on my own. The mechanic knew immediately what they were. The tires....That is another story. The EZGO TXT chassis can accommodate 20" tires IF it has heavy duty rear leaf springs. Fleet carts typically do not but the chassis used on all the Westerns I've encountered have the heavy duty rear leaf springs. These tires are 215/50-12. The overall height is 20.5". The stock are pretty much dead on 18". I went with a larger rim and tire to fill the wheel wells and give a slightly higher stance. Also using a larger tire with a larger wheel I also get about the same or slightly more sidewall as the stock tires the ride won't be hard like low profile tires. I dig the way it looks. That's it for now. More later.

[sloppydogdrool]

Let me throw this out there real quick also. These projects were my brain storm but almost all the work was performed by a great cart mechanic and excellent body man. No way do I have the free time for this extensive of a project. The carts were frame off with all new hand run wiring harnesses. All the inline fuses were removed, rats nests and years of hacks to the wiring were eliminated.

[sloppydogdrool]

Here is the rear of the cart. Stock lights removed and light recesses have been filled and smoothed. Rear platform has been removed. Space was filled with a piece of the step creating raised ridge in the body line to match the sides. Great work on this area Scott. New LED tail lights installed.



Originally looked like this.

[sloppydogdrool]

I took a couple days off last week and jumped in to help the mechanic finish up. We didn't actually finish up but it's back on the road again. Still a ton of little nit picky things to be dealt with but here's an overall pic. I replaced all the factory rusted hardware with stainless steel. I was a little concerned the roof would look odd after cutting off the rear foot rest but it turned out great.

[sloppydogdrool]

I started into a 3rd and 4th cart now. These are not frame off restoration but just cleaning them up, bigger tires, stereo amp, power inverter, some chrome, quick paint with a handful of repairs. Maybe some new vinyl and carpet. I picked the color from a 2013 Hot Wheels Camaro.