Anybody convert a golf cart?

[jsec]

Just read the post "Fencing Cart" and was curious whether anyone else has converted a golf cart to a utility vehicle for 'round the farm use. Looks like they're readily available and much cheaper than UTVs.

Anybody add a bed? How about maintenance? Gas vs. electric?

 

[J_J]

Just read the post "Fencing Cart" and was curious whether anyone else has converted a golf cart to a utility vehicle for 'round the farm use. Looks like they're readily available and much cheaper than UTVs.

Anybody add a bed? How about maintenance? Gas vs. electric?

Yes, I built a diamond plate bed with sides for my cart. I put hinges on the bed so it would fold up.

 

[Sherweld]

I live on, and help maintain, a golf course and have owned several golf carts which were used and modified for several and various purposes.

In my opinion they are very useful for transportation and light hauling as well as successfully modified for many specialized tasks.

Regarding type, for mostly golf course, I prefer electric.
For the larger estate, gas. Batteries do require a good deal of maintenance, and are fairly spendy to replace (every 5 years or so) and depending on where you are when the batteries run down, it's not as simple as running back for a can of gas.

My current electric (while not golfing) fitted with a small hitch pulls a filled lawn roller, moves a fairly good sized chipper shredder, cement mixer and small trailer with sacks of ready mix etc. And we use it for traveling around our residential community at times. Gas would do equally well, but I prefer the cleanliness as well as the economy of electric (except for battery replacement cost of course)

If this still appeals to you, you might look for a used utility type golf cart which are factory built for that purpose (but do tend to be a bit more worn than the average used golf cart)

Sherweld

 

[art]

I've got a golf cart that I use at home on the yard as well as on four wheel trails around our area. It will do a lot of work and it will pull well but does go through a belt a year so to speak.. It get's stretched so I loose top speed after the lawn rolling is done. It is a yamaha and it is gas but doesn't burn enough to say so for the fun that it can be. Having the Kubota's and the Cadets to play with I perfer the Kubota for the work, Cadets for in between heavy work and fun(more suspension travel) and the golf cart for just fun. With the larger wheel kit and the gear down the cart can be quite aggressive and it to does about 30 for top speed.

 

[grassroots2323]

I have an old EZGO that I use all the time. Pulls trailers, broke down 4 wheelers and even out of gas pick-up's! The utility bed worked great when we were building our house. Keep the tools in our shop, loaded the cart and went to work. Mine is more of a Texas Redneck Gator, but it gets the job done.

 

[wwalkersd]

We've got a Yamaha electric cart with a bed on it that we use for carrying people and stuff around the stable. Mostly feed. We have a Taylor-Dunn flatbed electric utility vehicle that's used to carry hay and manure. Given that both have to drive through horse barns, we prefer electric to gas for reasons of noise and exhaust emissions. Our stable is only 7 acres, but both have no problem going all day on a charge.

There are tons of parts and accessories out there to turn a golf cart into a utility vehicle. Once place I've bought from is Buggies Unlimited.

 

[CCWKen]

I picked mine up at a scrap yard. A little fixing and paint made a great little cart to run down to the front for the paper and mail. Beats wearing out the vehicles on a short (1/4 mile) run. I made a bracket to mount on the back to hold a tank sprayer. Use it along the drive and fence line to control grass/weeds.

This was taken pre-digital camera. The light stripe is a bad scanner.

 

[foggy1111]

I bought an EZ Go (2002 PDS) this summer. Its alot of fun for ANYONE to drive on trails on our land (grandkids and adults alike)....quiet...easy to drive....fun!!! We tried it out during deer hunting before I put some mods on this fall. Was really nice to take people to stands (no noise, no sweat, no scents) and pick them up. Nice to haul deer too! The windsheild (which came with our cart) is worth its weight in gold during the cold weather here in MN.

Sooooo....after seeing the posibilites, I added some accesssories recently: 5" lift kit, new (22") tires and aluminum wheels (all trail tires with good bite) rear seat, hd rear sprinds and head and tail lights (holding a flashlight in the dark aint too neat) and brush guards etc. Did a few other mods too.....but now I am busy with a tractor.....so......the cart waits further improvements....like a guard for the brakes throttle assy (brush can prevent a stop...etc).

I just tried it in about 8" of snow. Does real good and despite what I heard about steering....seems to handle this rig pretty well. I really like this cart!!!.....and so does anyone who has operated it....from kids to adults. My wife likes it too....as she can haul tools and equipment around our land and do her thing with brushing and such (what a girl )

You can read all about carts by googling buggies forum . com

 

[foggy1111]

Ohhh....and I did consider a side by side UTV. I really like the cart as a better alternative for my purposes (NO noise, easy for anyone, no odor, cheaper too!! ) I figure I have about $3200 invested in the cart as it stands now....and that is a good deal compared to a UTV. (I paid 2000 for the cart...with almost new bats, and about 1200 in the mods). I would do this again.

 

[J_J]

I picked mine up at a scrap yard. A little fixing and paint made a great little cart to run down to the front for the paper and mail. Beats wearing out the vehicles on a short (1/4 mile) run. I made a bracket to mount on the back to hold a tank sprayer. Use it along the drive and fence line to control grass/weeds.

This was taken pre-digital camera. The light stripe is a bad scanner.

I had a cart just about like yours, purchased it for $350.00, and new batteries were another $350.00, I left it the night before on a timed charge, and the nest morning when I went to use it, and it had caught fire and burned really good , also melting the fiberglass roof that was attached to the shed. The only thing that stopped the fire from burning the rest of the shed, was, that the roof was covered in wet leaves, and they must have dropped on the fire and smothered it.

 

[txdon]

I use my golf cart everyday. The conversions include, red paint (so I don't lose it) knobby tires, high-rise kit, brush guard, headlights, tailgate bed. I have had it for 4.5 years an have changed out the batteries once. I charge it overnight every four or five days.

No noise is a big plus after the tractor. It can go up my steepest dam with no problem and goes about 9 mph.

Being a Club Car is a plus also because of no rust. They have an aluminum frame.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...767-vote-fun-buggy-ii-stay-433736-clubcar.jpg

 

[yankeerider]

We have a gas (2 stroke) EZ-Go that we bought 16 years ago for $300. It was formerly a golf course maintenance cart, so it came with a light steel "pickup bed" on the back. The only thing I've done to it over the years is replace the starting battery about every 3 years and feed it its oil/gas mix.
My wife used it to haul gardening and maintenance materials around our hilly 5 acre property. I always intended to add a hitch to it, but it was always quicker to just use the tractor instead. (Although once or twice I did tow the leaf vac around by hooking it to the tow lug on the front of the golf cart and driving backward!)

This past summer she decided she wanted more hauling capacity and a power dump capability, so we bought her the Gator HPX. The golf cart is now relegated to carrying the fruit tree spray rig and and serving as my UTV when she is using "her" Gator.

 

[Ductape]

I'm not sure what the definition of "convert" is........ but if its disconnecting the governor and letting that baby run wide open, then i've converted one ! A few years back I had a ParCar gas cart..... had it painted up company colors, added stereo / CD player , strobe lights, etc. to it. We used to use it for beer runs down to the convenience store and such. A friend also had a gas EZGo, but it wouldn't hold a candle to my ParCar..... but of course that never stopped us from drag racing up and down the street ! Luckily it was a quiet street. Good times !! I'm not sure i've ever laughed as hard as the day we were racing side by side up the street , and just as i started to pull away..... my competitor leaned over and reached across my passengers seat and turned my key off. He couldn't stand to lose.

One day, i can see me wanting a Gator or RTV, but it'll never bring the smiles to my face like the ole ParCar did !!

 

[Taylortractornut]

Ive helped do a few conversions, and am planning on doing 2 more soon. We took the variable pulley off the drive of an old Gas cart and put in an old 4 speed light truck transmission with a pulley weleded on the output shaft and a larger one on the inpute side with a belt lcutch like a mwer to a 5 hp engine. workd dood the tranmission had to be shifted in a sideways H pattern. The olderones had alot beefier frames than the TSC utv. I have an old 3 wheeler cart that has an automovie type rear end in it and a place for a motor I picked up a little 3 speed at the scrap yard last week for it and a set of trencher tires from a rental store. Also I have an older Yamaha gasser that wil make more of an offroad utv. I think ill use the 3 wheeler around the farm abit its got a nice box on the back. One of our earliers ones had a Samuri rearend in it and some donut wheels they came out the sides and we added a ne donut to the front wheel to it made a super handy truck at a chicken farm.

 

[foggy1111]

I just tested my newly updated cart in the snow to see how it does. Seems like about 6 or 8" of fluffy snow is about the limit....then it will spin out. This is with new all-trail 22" tires. Not too bad in my opinion. I had heard that carts are hard to steer in the snow.....but mine seems to be ok...definitely not a 4 wheeler...but not too bad. We may use it for ice fishing. I think the stability is improved with the offset wheels...even tho the cart is a lot higher now...for much improved ground clearance.

I used our cart (2002 EZ GO PDS) during the fall for getting around our land and during deer hunting. The quiet feature of the electric makes this the ideal vehicle to get to and from hunting stands (quieter and less scent than walking....and you dont get all "sweated up" getting to your stand). The biggest drawback on the "standard" cart was the lack of traction and low clearance.

After seeing its many uses and generally good performance.....I went ahead with my mods and improvements: 5" drop axel, 10" aluminum wheels and the more aggresive 22" tires, hd rear springs, flip/flop rear seat and a beefed up rear support post, ss brush guard, head and tail lights. The cost of all the improvements was about $1200. and seems like it was all worth it.

Prior to this...I had considered buying a UTV for the side by side riding on trails and the general utility.....but this works out pretty well for us....and its a whole lot cheaper (and more friendly to the land too). I think you can sneak up on the critters with this rig too...and not run 'em out of the area, as in a UTV.

I like the idea of my grand kids driving this around on our trails - instead of a 4 wheeler....and my wife likes using it for her maintenance work too (that flip/flop seat makes for a good tool carrier). Fun to drive....less chance of injuries, etc etc etc.

Last thing for me will be adding an inexpensive "chip" which allows me to control how fast it will go vs how much torque it will provide. I should be able to control the high limit on speed from between about 12 mph to about 25 mph...depending on our needs and who's doing the driving. It's been a good winter project.