Which Cart to Get?

[BrewCityMusic]

Please don't take it that those drivetrains are junk - they just need some attention before they are as reliable as others as well as safe, that's all. A simple afternoon pulling the rear end and removing the governor assembly will alleviate the rear end issues for good, and a quick $4-500 upgrade to the TEAM clutches will make sure Your stock one doesn't detonate. I really tried to like the Kawi drivetrain, despite what my buddy who is a field service tech for EZGO told me - until I went behind his shop and saw 2 Gaylord boxes on skids full to the top with bad driven clutches that he had replaced - that season alone. Granted, he services over 20 courses in the State, but seeing dozens and dozens of clutches with the same shattered retaining clip grooves/ends kind of cinched it for me. There is a factory add-on balancer that they distributed to Fleet Companies as a way to prolong clutch life (I actually have a couple of them that my buddy gave me for any Kawi carts I flip) so perhaps You could find a Fleet Company in your area and see if they'll sell You one (Shopezgo won't even acknowledge that they exist unless You *really* pressure them, and then You'll find out they're not available to the public) ...

What You want to look for is the groove at the end of the driven clutch that holds the clip holding the clutch together. What happens is the clutch rides less-than-true on the splines and eventually the stresses cause the casting to crack at that groove/clip, causing the clutch halves to blow apart. From what I've seen, if there is any sign of wear it's on its' way out and shouldn't be run, but until it shows signs it's very unlikely to detonate under you IE it will show the wear prior to blowing. Check it daily prior to driving and it will be fine until it starts to show wear or widening of the groove, chewed up clip, etc.

As to the drivetrain similarities to CC, yes they are there with one exception, the CC ignitions have a rev-limiter to protect the engine, while the Ezgo's do not (they are designed to float the valves before hitting damaging RPM's as a last resort, the actual DESIGNED protection relies on the low governor settings from the factory/fleet) ... Buy and use a good tachometer and drive it sensibly and the engine should last quite a long time. While occasionally nudging the point of Valve Float shouldn't create and major issues, it's not something You want to do regularly.

The last weak link is another easy fix if You're handy with fab skills, the design of the engine mounts leave the plastic fan shroud exposed and vulnerable to damage by debris, rocks, branches, etc. This is a far worse problem on the course with non-lifted carts because even a small 3-4" stick or rock, etc can shatter the shroud and possibly the fan quite easily (again, my Tech buddy has a pallet-box full of broken shrouds and fans behind his shop so it's a lot more common than it should be). With a lifted cart, it would be easy to fab up a sheet-metal guard to protect the shroud, and even if it does get damaged it's only about an $80 part (more of course if the fan is damaged too) so again, a simple mod or two and reasonable use makes it a lot less of an issue.

Hopefully this explained things a bit better, I didn't want to imply that the entire drivetrain was junk or anything - if these things are addressed there is no reason these carts shouldn't have a nice long life, if treated appropriately. Being as I build and flip a lot of carts, it's not my cup of tea so to speak compared to a known good design such as the pre-08's (nor do I want the expense of fixing the problems up front *or* the liability of selling one as stock to a customer and having them get hurt or come back to me for selling them a cart with known problems) - but again, that's not to say they're "bad" in any way for the average user once the issues are fixed.