Front leaf spring scraping inside of wheels

[hiram6]

Hey all, newbie here. I've picked up a used 1981 Club Car that has an odd problem. i did a search, but couldn't find another thread on this. The cart has the standard 8 inch wheels, but both front wheels scrape the outer edges of the leaf spring where it mates up to the uprights.

When I'm going straight ahead on pavement I get a slight scrape on both wheels, but It gets worse on turns. If I turn right, it's the left wheel that scrapes. If I turn left, it's the right wheel that scrapes worse.

Is this a known issue, or does my cart have some front end damage??

[impalass88]

Welcome to the forum!!!

Sounds to me like you have some bent springs.

[crash12888]

Jack it up and check your bushings and bolts.
Grab the top and bottom of the tire and rock it up and down.

Check our site sponsors for replacement kits,
Welcome to BGW, It has started!!

[cheapjeep2]

You could have a bad bearing, but if you determine the bearing is ok, jack it up and grab the wheel try to move it side to side, if there is excessive play between the bearing and the spindle then that may be your problem, if your bear is good, then this is what is going on...

I just repaired a cart that was having the exact same issues, turned out the leaf spring bushings were shot as well as the king pin bushings. So we rebuilt the entire front end, new leaf springs bushings, new king pins, new king pin bushings, new wave washers, new thrust washers. Thing drives like a dream now.

You may not need new king pins but we were replacing everything else so we decided to go ahead and order them. I think total cost was around $50 for everything. If you are going to do this yourself you will need to use a reamer tool to ream about the new king pin bushings, unfortuantely the only place I could find one of these was at Harbor Freight in a $85 dollar set. So I picked it up along with a caliper so I could get it the exact measurement. You must ream the new bushings, there is no way around this. If you don't and you assemble it, the spindle will NEVER turn on the king pin.

This what you will need to completely rebuild the front end, check the site sponsors to order the parts.

Spring bushings, two sets, 1 for each side of the front leaf spring.
Any of these club car part numbers will work.
Clubcar - 7050
Clubcar - 7051
Clubcar - 1010160
Clubcar - 1011416
Clubcar - 1012303
Clubcar - 1015583

King Pins: 2 qty Any of these club car part numbers will work:
Clubcar - 1016386
Clubcar - 1010121

Thrust Washers 2 qty
Any of these club car part numbers will work:
Clubcar - 8068
Clubcar - 1010150

Upper Spindle Bushing 2 qty
Clubcar - 8067

Lower Spindle Bushing 2 qty
Clubcar - 7048

Wave Washer 1 package (normally come in pack of 10)
Clubcar - 1016389

You'll need to remove the drag link and tie rod, as the spindles will need to come out, I used a ball peen hammer and a long punch to push out the old bushings from the spindles, used a vise with some heavy duty card board on the jaws(so to not mar the new bushings) to press the new bushings into the spindles. Held the spindle in the vice and reamed the bushings to the correct size, reinstalled everything and torqued to the right settings, drives like a dream. If you do not have a manual and you plan to do this yourself, you need to get one.

Troy

[hiram6]

Wow, thanks for all the responses!! This forum is a great resource!

I'll start with the bearings, and work my way deeper from there. I have a feeling I'll wind up rebuilding the entire front end just for peace of mind.

The cart had new batteries installed right before I bought it, and I ponied up for new tires. Once I get the front end straightened out (pun intended), I think it'll be pretty solid little cart.

Thanks for pointing me in a direction to start, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go along.

[mikesmotortoys]

The bushing are a wear item that we find need replacement sooner than one would think...

[miferrel]

To BGW

[Michael911]

Hay. I had the same problem on my club car. It was the bushings.
If so when you lift the front with a jack, the leaf spring will move.

[Stevegrmich]

Originally Posted by Michael911

Hay. I had the same problem on my club car. It was the bushings.
If so when you lift the front with a jack, the leaf spring will move.

You did realize that this thread is 3 years old, right . .??

[Michael911]

I had the exact same problem with my 1990 club car ds. It is the bushing you need to replace. Bushings are cheep you can get a pair for like $6.00