Simple EZGO Canopy

[Midniteoyl]

Finally found a decent price on a EZGo canopy locally, and got a hold of a 3 piece front bar kit for the same. A little chopping, u-bolts and some Flex Tape (for anti-rattle) and a nice little removable canopy is born. Not done done as some cleaning, painting, and final bolting needs to happen still, but pretty much done with the mock up.

(I resized the pics to pretty small, but still looks big when posted, sorry about that)

Bar kit started like this:

Cut a couple of 6" pieces from the middle cross bar:

Slip in side uprights now turned into braces:

Add canopy:

And viola! Removable canopy:

Don't mind the 'temporary look' of the place in the background. Still working on clearing out the place, cleaning it up, and getting ready for some garage/shop additions.

 

[davedj1]

Looks good!

 

[Midniteoyl]

Looks good!

Thanks. Need a way to secure it in the back, just in case. Thought about painting black or orange, but kinda like it the way it is.

 

[kjg26]

The 3 piece bar kit you refer to.... it's that factory stuff from the ezgo top?

 

[Midniteoyl]

The 3 piece bar kit you refer to.... it's that factory stuff from the ezgo top?

It was aftermarket. The EZGO bars are, I believe, one piece and cost $$$. This one can be found on Amazon for under $90. I found it locally for even cheaper.

 

[the old grind]

I like the QA configuration esp with it's no drill 'socket' attachment. A tractor that nice deserves no less. Agree perhaps best not to paint it. That's really nice work and I'm sure it will inspire others among us.

btw, my EZ-GO Marathon [22] ('93) has a later Medalist top ('95) cobbed-on. I braced the rear supports where connected to the box and after 15 years it's still almost like new. Count on yours to last a while.

Also btw, I removed and reloaded my avatar to get the whole pic back in it. OP has too) Not saying I don;'t appreciate seeing a front wheel, grill, and 1/3 of an FEL bucket vs a whole tractor, but some stuff is easier to fix than some seem to think.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I like the QA configuration esp with it's no drill 'socket' attachment. A tractor that nice deserves no less. Agree perhaps best not to paint it. That's really nice work and I'm sure it will inspire others among us.

btw, my EZ-GO Marathon [22] ('93) has a later Medalist top ('95) cobbed-on. I braced the rear supports where connected to the box and after 15 years it's still almost like new. Count on yours to last a while.

Also btw, I removed and reloaded my avatar to get the whole pic back in it. OP has too) Not saying I don;'t appreciate seeing a front wheel, grill, and 1/3 of an FEL bucket vs a whole tractor, but some stuff is easier to fix than some seem to think.

Ya, the tan's grown on me. My plan of using the flex tape for anti-vibration might not be such a good idea, at least higher up. Darn stuff is sooo gripy it's very hard to slide the rails out of the sockets.. LOL. Works perfectly to keep things in place lower down though.

 

[the old grind]

One way to cushion/preserve paint is with cut-up inner tube bits. Spray 'contact' or 'carpet tile' adhesive to both sides and let dry then apply like tape. Sticks like a no-lick envelope and if removed (easy peel vs scrape) the residue can easily be removed with DNA or mineral spirits, charcoal starter, lighter fluid and a few minutes of patience. btw, if an adhesive just turns gooey vs disolves with a chosen solvent use a guitar pick or an old or unactivated-junk-mail CC to remove the mess. You guys knew all that ....

 

[Midniteoyl]

One way to cushion/preserve paint is with cut-up inner tube bits. Spray 'contact' or 'carpet tile' adhesive to both sides and let dry then apply like tape. Sticks like a no-lick envelope and if removed (easy peel vs scrape) the residue can easily be removed with DNA or mineral spirits, charcoal starter, lighter fluid and a few minutes of patience. btw, if an adhesive just turns gooey vs disolves with a chosen solvent use a guitar pick or an old or unactivated-junk-mail CC to remove the mess. You guys knew all that ....

Flex tape is basically rubber stretch tape with rubber cement adhesive (you can see the residue in the pics) already.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Painted up the u-bolts and end cuts (Ace no primer paint. Bubbled some). Pinned the bracket arms in place 'cause the roof wanted to rattle up and out some, and added some straps to the rear to also help. Whats not painted is stainless.

Tested it out for ~5hrs today and not once did the sun even hit my shoulders, much less my head. Works good and pretty steady and sturdy. There's recessed spots front and rear for bar light mounts too

Now to get the hazards off the rops...

 

[Williy]

Just the top part I would paint pure white
help to reflect the sun and it stays cool

willy

 

[Mrsig]

Looks great! This is the way I am most likely going to go.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I like it a lot!! I would love to do something similar. How much to you think you saved putting this together over a new canopy from a manufacturer?

 

[Midniteoyl]

I like it a lot!! I would love to do something similar. How much to you think you saved putting this together over a new canopy from a manufacturer?

The canopy and bars were $150 locally ($75ea), plus the hardware sourced at Ace. Took some time and stopping in at every place that even remotely were connected to golf carts though. Most places wanted $100-$150 just for the top.

 

[Buggs67]

The canopy my local Kioti dealer mentioned in another thread is from A&I and goes $405. I was thinking of one more for rain and snow. Good idea here.

When you say locally sourced was that a yard sale? salvage yard? All the ones I saw online were hundreds of $$$

 

[Midniteoyl]

When you say locally sourced was that a yard sale? salvage yard? All the ones I saw online were hundreds of $$$

Local shops that deal/work on golf carts. As said, I had to hit several before finding one willing to deal a little.

 

[Trippy1313]

I love it. This is spot on exactly what I was looking to do for my Bobcat tractor. Thank you for posting this.

Question, I see the brackets aren't factory EZGO but are they factory style? As in if I am lucky enough to find a cart for parts, will the brackets on it likely be similar?

 

[Midniteoyl]

I love it. This is spot on exactly what I was looking to do for my Bobcat tractor. Thank you for posting this.

Question, I see the brackets aren't factory EZGO but are they factory style? As in if I am lucky enough to find a cart for parts, will the brackets on it likely be similar?

The factory bar is not 3 piece, as far as I could find, so a lot more modification would be needed if you wanted it to slip in/out like mine. You could just cut the factory one in 2 and simply clamp them on with the u-bolts and loosen them when you wanted to remove the top, but its hard for one person to manhandle the top, u-bolts, and ratchet at the same time.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I like it a lot!! I would love to do something similar. How much to you think you saved putting this together over a new canopy from a manufacturer?

Apologies. Just realized I didn't answer fully. This top cost me ~$180 w/hardware and flex tape. Kioti wanted $750 for theirs at the time. Rural King had a thin plastic one for $200 at the time, but was backordered for months. So I saved ~$20 to $600 depending.

 

[Trippy1313]

Not bad at all. For my Bobcat dealer wants I think it was $500. I prefer this setup simply because of the ease of install and removal. I have woods in the back half and definitely can't have the roof on going through there.