G16 Front Shocks

[Mike D]

Ok gang, how can you tell if the front shocks on a G16 are worn out. I know the symptoms with a car, but I don’t believe they’re the same with a cart. Uneven tire wear? Excessive cart sag when passengers get in the front of the cart? Any information is appreciated.

[slonomo]

Yours are coil over shocks. So if the spring is worn it will sag. If the shock is worn out it won't dampen. If both are worn out, the cart will handle badly and not have a good steering feel, and the front end will sit a little low. If they look old, they are probably worn out. The seals on the shocks will sometimes dry rot and the oil will leak out. If there is oil residue on the shock body below the shaft, it has a bad seal.

[pachanga90]

A common indicator on Yamahas is a hard lean,The Left Front(Driver-Side) will sit lower,due to usually having 1-person on it most of the time.If they are really worn,the wheels can twist inwards when backing up,and the front end will dive,but thats an extremely worn condition.If you push down on the front end it should rebound right back,if it seems lazy,or doesn't fully rebound,they are weak.

[Mike D]

Thanks for the responses fellas. The shocks return quickly when you push down on the front of the cart, but takes very little force to compress them. When driven forward, the front tires are sometimes angled with the bottom of the tires out further. All of my steering components are tight, and I checked the alignment again. When I hit a bump or dip in the road, the steering starts to dart. On smooth surfaces it’s pretty calm.Someone painted the shocks before I bought the cart, so it’s hard to gauge their actual age by appearance. It’s an old course cart so I’m assuming that the shocks are original. I think I may just replace them.

[slonomo]

It sounds like your toe setting is "toe'd out", meaning your tires are pointing out. This causes that darting your talking about. The reason your tires change angle when you move the cart is due to the toe setting and being a single a arm suspension in front. Your toe angle should be 0, meaning not toe'd in or out. The tires want to follow a straight line so if they are pointed out they want to travel that direction, making the suspension compress. You need a really long straight edge to hold on the side of the rim to get the toe set right. If you set it as close to 0 as possible you will see a dramatic difference in steering control and ride.

[Mike D]

I did the string check for toe in on the cart. I'm right at zero. I've read on here that no toe to 1/8 inch toe in is what is required for good handling. I was looking at shocks, and a couple of the dealers have some for G16 gas without a year range, and some shocks say for 1995 an up. Of course the ones i need are the more expensive of the two. Is there a difference in the shocks? the pictures don't help, and there is noting listed on the websites to explain any differences.