Club Car Clutches: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

[Springbok]

There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding Club Car clutches both drive (motor) and driven (transaxle), especially for those of us with older carts (1984-1996). I'm hoping we can pool our collective knowledge and get some definitive answers on this subject. I'm currently rebuilding a 1990 gas cart and will be shopping for both clutches shortly.

This graphic illustrates what I've come to understand. The graphic only deals with the appearance of the clutches (according to retailers and sellers all across the internet, the clutches on the right (in the tan box), despite having the same outward appearance from 1987.5-up, will have different internal components depending upon what cart you want to use them for, most notably rotation direction. Prices can also vary greatly as well).

As I understand it, the primary difference within the newer clutches that look like the ones in the tan box are the springs inside them. Is that correct?



I'm also noticing that a great many cart retailers are selling the driven clutch on the left (in the green box) as being for later models as well. But I've discovered an issue with mixing and matching clutches from the tan box to the green box, and that issue is belt alignment. The belt center-line on the older drive/driven clutch setup (green box) sticks out about 1/2" further from the side of the motor than the newer clutch setup (tan box).

See below image for reference (the clutch on the bottom is the clutch from the green box, and the clutch on the top is from the tan box):



Anyone have any other insights on this issue?

[Springbok]

I guess I'm the only Club Car geek interested in this?

[cruisinkruty]

Your not alone....I just have no info...I am curious as hell too. We need someone in the industry,like a clubcar employed mechanic who has access to all the different clutches and driven units to be kind enough to spill the beans. Ya just cannot trust the majority of the sellers on Ebay.

[Springbok]

Here's a good thread where believe Tom from CPP (R.I.P.) was talking about the driven clutches. The main takeaway I got from this was his point that any of the driven clutches can be configured to either CW or CCW rotation by just changing the coil spring:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-c...rectional.html

So you if you had, say, a 1992 cart with a CCW motor, and you had access to a driven clutch from a 2001 cart with a CW motor, you could change the spring in it and run it in your '92.

And here's another one:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-c...en-clutch.html

Apparently the hi-performance torque spring requires no preload and works in both directions.

[mickp21]

I'd read the same before for the driven clutch.

Also, I once saw a drive clutch (tan box) rebuild video where they explained how to change the rotation by flipping a couple of parts internally. Unfortunately I can't seem to find it anywhere. I can't recall if it was the weights, buttons or both but there is a way to do it.

[Springbok]

Originally Posted by mickp21

Also, I once saw a drive clutch (tan box) rebuild video where they explained how to change the rotation by flipping a couple of parts internally.

Yes this is true of the newer driven (rear) clutches. Changing the coil spring changes the rotation direction the clutch works in.

[Springbok]

Originally Posted by mickp21

Also, I once saw a drive clutch (tan box) rebuild video where they explained how to change the rotation by flipping a couple of parts internally. Unfortunately I can't seem to find it anywhere. I can't recall if it was the weights, buttons or both but there is a way to do it.

Originally Posted by Springbok

Yes this is true of the newer driven (rear) clutches. Changing the coil spring changes the rotation direction the clutch works in.

I responded incorrectly to this. You said DRIVE clutch, and I was rattling on about DRIVEN clutches (my post wasn't inaccurate on it's own merit, just not pertaining to DRIVE clutches). According to the information I've gathered, the rotation of the DRIVE clutch is irrelevant, it is only the DRIVEN clutch that must be configured to rotation direction.

[Springbok]

Another good morsel of information was discovered by Lockman1 the other day. Apparently there are no differences between the 1988-1996 drive (front) clutches and the 1997+ drive clutches except for some red plastic inserts in the holes on the outside sheave:

Originally Posted by lockman1

I was a little bored yesterday, so I thought I'd do a side by side part number comparison of a 95, and a 97 drive clutch...

Every single part (sheaves, weights, buttons, spring, etc.) are all the same between the two years!
The ONLY difference is mainly just the part number for the complete clutch as a whole,
The 97 however, has an addition to the 95... the red plastic ring (plug) on the face of it that covers the 3 threaded holes!

I also checked the difference between a 93 and a 98 drive clutch... also all the same!

Just thought I'd share that tidbit of info!

[Springbok]

Originally Posted by Springbok

Another good morsel of information was discovered by Lockman1 the other day. Apparently there are no differences between the 1988-1996 drive (front) clutches and the 1997+ drive clutches except for some red plastic inserts in the holes on the outside sheave:

I did a video showing the sole difference between these two clutches. As was explained correctly earlier, all of the individual parts within the clutches are exactly the same. The only difference is that there are three small metal clips inside the sheave that are installed in one direction for CCW motors, and installed in the opposite direction for CW motors. However, I have run these clips in both directions on the same cart and neither position seemed to make any difference when driving. This video shows this and explains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_2qwBPEjvg

[Marathon Man]

I run the 84 to 87.5 driven clutch and the 87.5 and up drive clutch on my 99 carryall and the belt alignment is off by 1/2 inch.


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