The buggy can go 27 MPH now. It is frightening!
When we bought our golf cart for $299, it was about 23 years old. It had no roof or windshield and ran on 36 volts on some fairly well-used batteries. It had the standard 11" wheels and 18" tires, and the only "accessory" was a pair of K-Mart fog lights bolted to the hood, operated by a household light switch screw-gunned to the dashboard by the previous owner.
Like most stock golf carts, it topped out at 11 MPH which is not only tedious, but dangerously slow. We added an inexpensive lift kit and some larger wheels and got it up to nearly 14 MPH. The previous owner called me and said he "found" the roof and hardware buried in his backyard and after pressure-washing it, we installed it, along with a tinted windshield. It was a start, anyway.
But 14-15 MPH in even a 25 MPH zone can be dangerous as people will tailgate you. So my next upgrade was to 48V which involved buying two new batteries and a new Curtis 48V controller. I tried a haphazard "upgrade" that I read about online, using a power diode, but it didn't work well. A new 48V controller can be had for $250 back then or as little as $120 these days, so we went with that. We were up to 17 MPH now! Whoo-whee! We added turn signals and brake lights too - just like the big city!
I built a buggy barn to store it, although these days we park it in the garage. A neighbor was throwing away a collapsible yard cart and I made that into a pickup bed which is handy for hauling things around.
But that was not enough. The "new" tires (stamped, "not for highway use") went nearly bald after a few years and I replaced them with a set of slightly larger tires from Amazon. They sent me eight for some reason and when I called Amazon, they said, "keep 'em!" so I did, selling the extras and my old set for more than I paid for the new. The buggy would go nearly 19 MPH now - sometimes topping 20! I had installed a rooftop strobe light and a set of Italian air horns, as well as a built-in Karaoke machine and undercarriage lighting. The eight six-volt batteries were replaced with six eight-volt batteries.
It ran for a few years with no complaints, until last year when a bearing blew out. I think we overloaded it carrying home shutters that the club hotel was throwing away. But it was a cheap if not easy fix, and each "project" on the buggy teaches me more about how it is put together. I bought a service manual (fills a 3" binder!) and Curtis controller programming tool (knock-off). Prices have actually dropped for a lot of this stuff! Programmers used to cost nearly $500 but today you can get one for about $150. Controllers themselves used to be over $500 and are now $120 on eBay.
The second set of "12 month" batteries went South after five years and I pulled the plug and bought a Lithium-Ion battery pack. This upped the speed slightly (we now were getting a consistent 53 Volts) and the new battery pack weighed less as well. I had upgraded our cables from 6 gauge to 4 gauge years ago, with a partial set from eBay (some 6-gauge, particularly the motor wires, were still intact).
We added a rear seat (finally) and new LED taillights (four of 'em!) and turn signal indicator LEDs on the dashboard to remind me the turn signal is on. A neighbor was throwing away a roof rack, so I added that - great for carrying chairs and umbrellas to the beach! The new upholstery on the rear seat shamed me into reupholstering the front seat (cheap, again, eBay) to match and install the original dual back rests that for some reason, the previous owner had removed. We were livin' large!
On the way home one night about a month ago, the buggy stopped. Turns out, one of the motor wires - the A2 - had melted as the connection came loose because there was not a sufficient "drip loop" where it attached to the motor. I was able to fix this, but it was a wake-up call that the now 30-year-old motor was ready to retire.
So off to D&D of Syracuse for a new high-torque motor (15% more torque) shown above, and rated 23 mph speed (with stock tires, I guess). I ordered a complete set of 2 gauge welding cables. It was a PITA to install (I had to remove the entire rear axle assembly) but with the new wires and motor, we were hitting a staggering 27 MPH. Scary.
The problem is, at that speed, the brakes (rear only, cable actuated) are not enough to stop the thing in a hurry. Not only that, the steering (30-year-old steering box) is a little loose. At lower speeds, it is merely annoying. At higher speeds, it is frightening. It feels like the whole thing is going to tip over!
So, this fall, we will rebuild the steering box and perhaps replace some tie-rod ends. Maybe get one of those fancy new front axle assemblies? Because the front "king pins" are no doubt worn as well. One thing leads to another - and I have about as much "invested" in this thing as it would cost to buy a newer buggy or half of one of these fancy newer carts.
On the other hand, we've gotten eight years of use out of it. So there's that. She's all decked out with bunting and flags for the 4th of July. Maybe it will run another 30 years - longer than I will need it!
