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Old 07-21-2021, 02:32 PM   #1
BossCat
Not Yet Wild
 
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Club Car
 
Join Date: Jun 2021
Location: Coastal South Carolina
Posts: 7
Default 2006 Club Car DS Rebuild

I started this project with my older brother who passed away last October. This project has given me a lot of time to reflect and keep my mind occupied. The Golf Cart was sitting at my parent’s house rotting in the driveway and was told I could keep it if I brought it back to my house. My brother helped me with some new batteries and wires for a wedding gift. I was able to clean it up real nice and it worked fine, but slow and old. After he passed, we had previous discussions about “pimping” it out. I found my self day after day in my garage listening to all the music, we loved just working on the golf cart and thinking about life.

All in all, it took me about 3 months to tear it all down and build it back up. My brother was a private military mechanic with Oshkosh for 15+ years, so he was the mechanical brains in the family. I took everything he taught me while helping him restore old CJ Jeeps in the yard growing up. I started with taking it down to the aluminum frame. Once the frame was down, I took steel brushes, a Dremel, and some rotary attachments for the drill to clean any rust, dirt, and grime off. This process was the longest and most painstaking. It took a good 50-60 hours to complete. After the brush work, I went and gave it two acid washes and pressure washed it. This made the Aluminum, nice and clean looking.

Once the frame pass inspection, I started on the trans axel. During this process I was calling around different shops and inquiring about engine upgrades, controllers, etc. I spoke with a Gentlemen who was the Manager of a Club Car in Hilton Head SC who was extremely friendly and helpful. He recommended sending my Engine to Plum Quick for an upgrade. I immediately took my motor off and sent it off to plum quick for the Bandit upgrade. While this was being completed, I took the time to take all the rust off the transaxle and gave it a nice protective coat of Plum Purple, to match the Plum Quick Purple Bandit upgrade.

https://plumquick.com/bandit-electric-motor-golf-cart/

I bought both front and rear heavy duty leaf springs from Golf Cart King and took off the old ones off. I ran into problems with taking off the U bolt on one side because it was completely rusted. I ended up taking a Sawzall to the U bolt and hitting it off with a hammer. This also occurred with another bolt on the rear leaf spring. The next problem I ran into was trying to get a rear shock that would fit along with the heavy-duty leaf springs. I went through and returned about 4 different shocks and tried to make a fine threaded shock extender with grade 8 hardware. All the shocks on Amazon said they were rated or long enough for heavy duty leaf springs, but it was just FALSE. I ended up finding these perfect shocks that I bought at O’Reilly’s.

Rear Shocks used with Heavy Duty Leaf Springs
Monro-Matic Plus Monroe Monro-Matic Plus Shock Absorber | MON 31176 | Qty: 2
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...ber/mon6/31176
New U Bolts
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


While working on the transaxel, I periodically took my leaf blower to clean all the dust and debris coming off and hit the break drums with it too, there was a lot of debris! The break drums were cleaned out with some dry plastic bristles and left alone as they were still in pristine condition. I coated the outside of the break drums with more protective paint.

Next was replacing the front shocks, front leaf spring, adding a aluminum block leveling kit, and cleaning and greasing the front end. I was able to use shocks I found on Amazon on the front, but it was a BEAR to get on with the attached Aluminum block leveling kit. They did just not want to go on. I research all the grease points on Youtube and since I live on the Marsh, I wanted to get a Marine Grade Grease to protect the components.


Front Shock
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Front End Leveling Kit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Front Leaf Spring
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Corrosion X Grease
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The next job I did was taking out all the old wiring from the head / tail lights and replacing it with a new RHOX LED Adjustable Light Kit, Club Car DS 93+, 12-48V LED kit. This kit was extensive and came with an entire wiring harness plus some extra ends to attach accessories. This was not that difficult to do. I made sure to buy a Heat Gun and a bunch of random wiring accessories to help with replacing any old rotten wires.

New Head and Tail Light Kit
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wagner Heat Gun
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Electrical Accessories
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I tried several times to get a LED light bar to work, but it fizzled out. I used a 12V converter, from the main power source, but I burnt out two lights and ended up canning that idea.


The Engine turn around at Plum Quick took about 5 weeks to come back. While speaking with them I was given great customer service and advice by the Steen brothers. They recommended a Navitas 440amp controller upgrade which I did. While working with the Controller I ran into several issues, but Navitas helped me work out the kinks. The first Controller I got was DOA and did not work. I had to undo it all and spend several days of troubleshooting and phone support before having that fixed. The customer service was very helpful, and I recommend their company for sure! The most important lesson I also learned was to know beforehand whether your engine is SHUNT or SERIES wound before taking the leap of faith. You will need to know this before ordering the correct wiring harness for your controller.

https://www.amazon.com/Navitas-Prece.../dp/B07KWNXKQM

I also learned that Curtis Albright Heavy Duty Solenoid on the Shunt Motor DOES NOT need a Resistor and to make sure that you position the diode so that the stripe and red heat shrink is on the switch side of the circuit and that both the strip and red are facing each other. You must also download the correct firmware to your aftermarket motor which is SIMPLE to do in the Navitas App.

I replaced all the wiring with 2 gauge wiring that I found here for a great deal of $88.00

2 Gauge Battery Cable Set
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After getting the wheels to spin, I focused on doing BONDO work to the body, sanding it all, and then about 10 coats of a Matte Patriot Blue which turned out great.

If you read this far, please let me know if you have any questions and I would be happy to help you because this was my first project and I watched ATON of YouTube videos an read a lot of forums to accomplish this.
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