Golf Cart Requires Pushing

[ziggy99]

I have a Yamaha gas powered golf cart. (I'm not sure which one off hand.) When I press the gas pedal, it appears that an electric motor kicks on and tries to move the cart. If the cart gets rolling, the gas motor takes over and everything works fine. The cart will only work on its own on level or slightly down sloped areas. In grass or slight inclines, someone is required to push the cart to get it to go. One interesting fact about it is that when you start slowing down and you are almost stopped, it appears that an engine break turns on and abruptly stops the cart. I've had people tell me it might be the battery, a clutch, the engine, or the solenoid. Before I start replacing parts, I'd like to see if this issue is something anyone else has found. I've tried searching for this and haven't had any luck finding a solution. Thanks much for any help.

[Dave in VA]

Find out what model cart you have. Posting a pic will help. Download the owners manual here https://www.yamahagolfcar.com/owners-manuals/ and do the required maintenance on the cart. I suspect that you have a belt/clutch problem. Need to see pics of the engine/belt/clutches...

[cgtech]

Clutch is probably stuck at full engagement. Does it seem a little similar to an 1800's locomotive when starting/stopping? If this is the case, the engine is being damaged by doing this, it will destroy the crank.

[Bubba75]

Check starter/generator belt. Mine did that a while back and it was just that belt was loose and s/g pulley would just spin but if given a nudge would engage

[sho305]

If it gets jerky when it stops/starts then its likely the clutch.

[ziggy99]

The cart is a 2002 or 2003 G16. It is lifted, governor removed and gears swapped out. I'm fairly certain that I have been doing damage to the engine as the police have clocked me at 42 mph. I'm not going full tilt all the time but I do run it hard.
I put it on jack stands and ran it. It appears that without a load, everything looks and sounds ok. The clutch does move as it speeds up. I think my next step will be to remove the seat and run it down the street and look to see if I notice anything different when under load as opposed to the jacks stands.
How hard is it to replace the clutch? How expensive is it? Is a clutch difficult to find or is it easier to just order it?
Thanks.

[dbmachine]

Dang it son.thats hauling the mail on a bone stock engine. I bet the engine is screaming at those speeds.

[sho305]

Or it has gears in it, you can get them in new carts if a person wants it that way (not from a GC). My G9 would do 30mph gps on 22s and that was it, flat road, screaming with no governor, and it took a good run to get there.

[Bubba75]

I put CPP's performance clutch in my g16 and it was pretty easy. With the lift it's easier to drop the axle by removing the shocks because the body gets in the way of putting the clutch puller (which you will need) in to separate old clutch. Think clutch ran about 200 and puller was 30.

[dbmachine]

The clutch puller is one of those tools that you might use once or twice but it's worth it's weight in gold. Back in the days when I had Kawasaki,pilaris and yamaha atvs I had clutch pullers for all of them. I was a faithful member on those type forums just as I am with buggies gone wild. I would loan out the clutch pullers to other members in good faith. Only charged them 10$ just to cover my shipping to them. Haven't had a need to purchase a puller for my g29 but if I had one I would loan it out to the good folks here too.