Gettin the Most out of my Cart

[LBrown867]

I am a new member to the forum but have been using it for advice and information for a couple years now. It is addicting!

After working on all the guys at my hunting camp's carts, I finally went and bought one for myself. 2002 EZGO TXT Series Cart with a 4-6" lift, 23x8-10 aggressive tires, rear rack, brush guard with winch and LED pod lights, and Brand New Batteries and cables (all upgrades I was planning on doing). Unfortunately, the guy put 6 gauge wires on it instead of 4, so that will be one of the first things I replace. (Cart is profile pic)

I have read and heard so many things about what you can do to the cart to get a little more out of it without having to replace the whole system, but I want to get to the bottom of this and understand clearly what is best to do. The overall consensus I am getting is that running 4 gauge wires, HD F&R Switch, and HD Solenoid will help me get a little more out of the cart and also prevent burning up the stock components (since the upgraded ones are designed to handle higher current). I do not want to upgrade the motor right now and probably will not for a long time, but a controller might be something to talk about for next year. ScottyB told me awhile back that the series cart motor can handle a 400 amp controller if I choose to replace it later.

I hunt in South Alabama where mountains do not exist, but fairly steep hills, slippery red clay, and creek crossings do. I do not care about speed. All I am looking for is torque and reliability. I know I am not going to gain a lot of torque without replacing the motor, but any little bit I can get is better than nothing. I am very picky when it comes to maintenance and care on anything I own so I wont be super hard on the cart.

Feel free to provide any advice or opinions. I am looking for clarification as to what I should do to it! I know ScottyB and JohnnieB can spill the truth in one sentence so feel free to guys!

Thank you in advance for your advice and help!

[tculpepper]

Replacing everything to HD will help. Even if you replace all of what you said and not the controller, you will be limiting what the cart can do. I would suggest upgrading it as well. Good luck with it and keep us posted!

[Sir Nuke]

LBrown, obviously your cart is for hunting.....and you have 23" tires on now, you have upgraded the Solenoid, F&R, and you are going to do a total upgrade to the cables. All of that is great....but you NEED to upgrade the controller. for if you don't, with the large tires...sooner or later it WILL fail. MURPHY's LAW will come into play and you KNOW when it will.....you will be in the back woods, have your fresh kill on the back, its getting dark, and you are out of cell service range. The controller you need/should get is the SPM48500, this is a 500a controller that will and can handle a larger motor down the road, and Scotty and set it up for a max of 400a for now....and it can be "cranked up" to 500 later when you get the bigger motor.

[JohnnieB]

If I read your post correctly, you have a 2002 TXT series drive with stock motor and controller, a new 36V battery pack, 6Ga cables and 23" mud tires, plus a couple hundred pounds of added weight hanging on it and you're looking for torque and reliability rather than speed.

In a nutshell, you have at least 22% less than stock torque due to the 23" tires and even less if they are they low pressure type (<10PSI max inflation pressure), the stock 275A controller and stock 85A solenoid are being overworked, as is the stock F/R switch, so reliability is iffy at best, but you might have greater than stock speed (14 MPH) due to the tall tires.

Since you will be running slow with high torque needs, I'd replace the 6Ga cables with 2Ga rather than 4Ga. (All 13 or 14 of them)

The F/R should be the HD one that Scotty sells (It is more HD than others), or go to a HD reversing contactor.

A SMP48500 controller kit as Sir Nuke suggested. Be sure and get the 400A solenoid that works at 36V, 42V or 48V, since I suspect you will want to up the battery pack voltage to get more torque.

If the batteries aren't very old, you probably could add one or two of the same make/model to up the pack to 42V or 48V.

The motor would be last on the bucket list.

[LBrown867]

Sir Nuke,
Thank you for the advice. For clarification, I do not have those items upgraded yet. Those items are ones that I have heard people saying you can replace to help matters, but that is one of the things I wanted to clarify is if it is necessary to replace all those items and if I do, will it help me at all without replacing the controller. And if I end up putting a controller on it in the future, would all these items (which I would like recommendations on solenoid, switch, cables, etc.) be suitable with the upgraded controller?

Originally Posted by Sir Nuke

LBrown, obviously your cart is for hunting.....and you have 23" tires on now, you have upgraded the Solenoid, F&R, and you are going to do a total upgrade to the cables. All of that is great....but you NEED to upgrade the controller. for if you don't, with the large tires...sooner or later it WILL fail. MURPHY's LAW will come into play and you KNOW when it will.....you will be in the back woods, have your fresh kill on the back, its getting dark, and you are out of cell service range. The controller you need/should get is the SPM48500, this is a 500a controller that will and can handle a larger motor down the road, and Scotty and set it up for a max of 400a for now....and it can be "cranked up" to 500 later when you get the bigger motor.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by LBrown867

Sir Nuke,
Thank you for the advice. For clarification, I do not have those items upgraded yet. Those items are ones that I have heard people saying you can replace to help matters, but that is one of the things I wanted to clarify is if it is necessary to replace all those items and if I do, will it help me at all without replacing the controller. And if I end up putting a controller on it in the future, would all these items (which I would like recommendations on solenoid, switch, cables, etc.) be suitable with the upgraded controller?

YES, it would be compatible....and I would HIGHLY recommend getting them from Scotty, as he has "the right stuff". if you look at my sig, my cart is like your, a TXT Series Drive, and you will see I have a completely upgraded delivery system, and it ALL came from Scotty.

and I would take Johnnie's suggestion and get a 2 ga. cable set.....and you can get that from Scotty as well.

[LBrown867]

JohnnieB,
Thank you for the helpful info. You read the post correct. I would call my cart your "typical hunting cart" with a lift, tires, and rack for carrying animals, extra person, cooler, etc.) I would have liked 22 inch tires better but the guy literally just put these on and I was pleased with the fact that they were only 8 inches wide so less surface area on the ground for the cart to have to rotate. Most buggies I have seen are running 22 inch tires but they are at least 10 inches wide and I was told to try and avoid that. The tires on it are essentially an ATV tire (Sedona Mud Rebel).

The guy just replaced the cables when he replaced the batteries (two weeks ago) but as I stated, they are 6 gauge. He also ordered an extra set through ezgo, not sure if they have any value, but I would like to sell them. I do not plan on increasing voltage because of the added cost right now.

Does adding one more battery (42V total) really increase my torque noticeably? And if I were to do this, what else has to be done to accommodate the added battery (other than cables)?

Say we hold off on the controller right now and just look at the things you stated: HD F/R Switch, HD 400A solenoid, and 2 or 4ga wires... would that increase my torque whatsoever?

If it does not, will the controller you recommended plus all the items above do exactly what I am looking for?

I know this is a lot but I know you are the person that can answer this and help me trouble shoot and rule out things.

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

If I read your post correctly, you have a 2002 TXT series drive with stock motor and controller, a new 36V battery pack, 6Ga cables and 23" mud tires, plus a couple hundred pounds of added weight hanging on it and you're looking for torque and reliability rather than speed.

In a nutshell, you have at least 22% less than stock torque due to the 23" tires and even less if they are they low pressure type (<10PSI max inflation pressure), the stock 275A controller and stock 85A solenoid are being overworked, as is the stock F/R switch, so reliability is iffy at best, but you might have greater than stock speed (14 MPH) due to the tall tires.

Since you will be running slow with high torque needs, I'd replace the 6Ga cables with 2Ga rather than 4Ga. (All 13 or 14 of them)

The F/R should be the HD one that Scotty sells (It is more HD than others), or go to a HD reversing contactor.

A SMP48500 controller kit as Sir Nuke suggested. Be sure and get the 400A solenoid that works at 36V, 42V or 48V, since I suspect you will want to up the battery pack voltage to get more torque.

If the batteries aren't very old, you probably could add one or two of the same make/model to up the pack to 42V or 48V.

The motor would be last on the bucket list.

[busman9]

I have a hunting cart like yours and have done a lot of upgrades. If you have not bought a HD F/R switch I would go with the reverse contactor. I had the HD switch and now changed to the contactor and can not be happier. I also have increase voltage like Johnnie said and that is a GREAT improvement to the carts torque and performance

[LBrown867]

Can you send me a PM? I don't know how to do that yet...

Originally Posted by Sir Nuke

YES, it would be compatible....and I would HIGHLY recommend getting them from Scotty, as he has "the right stuff". if you look at my sig, my cart is like your, a TXT Series Drive, and you will see I have a completely upgraded delivery system, and it ALL came from Scotty.

and I would take Johnnie's suggestion and get a 2 ga. cable set.....and you can get that from Scotty as well.

[LBrown867]

Can you PM me? I have a question for you about this.

Originally Posted by busman9

I have a hunting cart like yours and have done a lot of upgrades. If you have not bought a HD F/R switch I would go with the reverse contactor. I had the HD switch and now changed to the contactor and can not be happier. I also have increase voltage like Johnnie said and that is a GREAT improvement to the carts torque and performance