86 club car front end damage

[FedExican]

So here is the cart I just obtained for free, replaced a microswitch and drove it for a minute to check it out a few days ago. Belt was pretty worn and had no air filter in the airbox. Ordered replacements from cartparts and they just arrived. So while reinstalling them I decided to take a few minutes to examine everything from the apparent crash it had with the past owner. The third picture shows the only mechanical damage I can find, and because of that, the right front tire is back about 3/4" from factory. Everything else checked out square with my tape measure. Now to my question. Aside from what is visibly damaged in that photo, what else do you think may have been damaged that I cannot see from a visual inspection? Anything prone to failure, or just be dangerously weak from an impact like that? It looks like it plowed into something pretty hard with all the impact being in that one spot and completely missing the bumper.

[BigBlockMan]

Fed
Let me ask you this, What are your plans for this cart? Do you plan on doing a lift on it?

[FedExican]

Well to be honest, no plans exactly. I havent really thought of what I would like to do with it. I play golf on occasion but am pretty content renting, I also have a few easy to get to fishing holes that a cart with even a light tread should make it to. But I would like to go to a slightly bigger tire.

This is totally a blank slate for me, It was free, and thats my favorite kinda project.

--nick

[scottyb]

Pretty good impact to shear that bolt....do not drive it in this condition.

[FedExican]

Oh no, wouldnt think of it since I inspected the damage. Only moved it ten feet from that spot after i got back out from under it. If I make it home from work with enough daylight left tomorrow I plan to take the cowl off to do a bit of cleaning so I can get a better look. Either way, I'm a fairly decent sized fella, and I learned long ago that if it looks like it might not hold you up it probably wont.

[BigBlockMan]

OK.
Reason I asked if you lift it with a a rm lift all front parts would be changed.
But hey if you don't need it lifted there are alot of stock parts out there from others that have been lifted.

[crash12888]

It actually looks like it just sheared the bolt. Can't see any stress issues at the frame hole.
Clean it up, put another bolt in it and do some more measuring.
Check the front spring to see if it was pushed back from the impact.
Might need to realign it and do also remove and inspect the four bolts holding the spring and plate assy together for partial shear issues.

[FedExican]

I was able to spend about twenty minutes with it on my lunch break and took apart that side, and removed both wheels so I could measure more accurately. The bolt was sheared on the threaded end, and nothing else was broken. But, I measured from the spring eye to the frame rail at the body and the passenger side measurement was 1/2" shorter. So the spring did shift a bit. Didnt have time to take the plate off the bottom yet.

Oh and the bracket on top of the spindle for the suspension arm was bent towards the rear of the cart just slightly. Probably an 1/8" to 3/16" out of square.

By the looks of the bushing in the spring eye and the angle of the wear, I believe this cart was driven QUITE a while in this condition. Which brings me to one more question. I am having a bushings made tonight for both sides, best to use rubber or urethane for this application? The rubber this one was made from was rock hard, so I have no idea the firmness it had stock.

--nick

[FedExican]

Eh, well small update. Replaced all front end fasteners, lined everything up and it drives pretty well now.

Saturday I changed the oil because it was extremely dirty and thin, and definitely low, drove it hard for a bit, then set out on testing my skills with the fiberglass kit I had sitting in my shed. Removed bad portions of the cowl, and drilled holes at the ends of the cracks to stop it from spreading. Spent 3 hours alone building the cardboard backer to apply the fiberglass to. Got it all on. Now to let it cure for shaping. Nah, maybe next weekend.

Kinda warm on sunday, since I had not driven it for more than a few minutes I decided on an adventure to test its reliability... fail.

bout a mile into it I noticed it was starting to make a little more noise. Two miles the noise became distinct from the other noises from this 22 year old vehicle. Two more miles then about an hour of catching undersized bass, back to the house... Halfway home the engine took on a noise I havent heard since my grandfather busted out his antique tiller to show me what "a real tool looked like". It made it home just fine, knocking decently, but otherwise fine.

Now that I've broken that, I think I'll have to put another engine in it, the short life I had with this free cart was fun. Plus the body work alone is enough to warrant me at the very least making sure I get some use of it.