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Old 12-19-2019, 12:29 PM   #1
075Limited
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: PCB, FL
Posts: 30
Default **DIY 4x4 Golf Cart: ATV swap**

I recently moved to a beach area where people commonly commute via golf cart. I thought this was pretty cool but didn’t want to pay $5,000-8,000 for a new golf cart. I also didn’t want something underpowered and boring so I hatched a pretty fun plan that I figured I would share:

This is a write up on how I built my 4x4 ATV swapped golf cart. I want to note that I do not have a whole lot of fabrication experience. I’m confidant that anybody who is moderately mechanically inclined and knows their way around YouTube could pull this off too.

Highlights of the swap:
On-demand 4x4 with front locker if you opt for the 98-01 Arctic Cat donor
Hydraulic 4 wheel disc brakes rather than mechanical drum just in the rear
Independent front and rear suspension
Air cooled - no complicated routing of coolant lines
5 speed semi-auto with reverse - auto-clutch
High, Low, and Super-Low sub transmission - 15 possible forward gears and 3 reverse
Theoretical top speed of around 50 mph
I believe this is the most cost efficient way of upgrading every mechanical system of a golf cart. Example: you could always do a big block swap but you still end up with a live axle with leaf springs and drum brakes after all that money you spend.

Donor Vehicles:
[IMG] https://ibb.co/Jmwt8p2
https://ibb.co/zGj4zqj
https://ibb.co/8g0YVKQ
https://ibb.co/ynk5vC3
https://ibb.co/5BTmqCH [/IMG]

I started out with a 1998 EZGO TXT with a bad motor and no batteries I picked up for $200. I went with the EZGO because parts are plentiful and it has a steel frame (unlike some brands) which I can weld to easily. What made this project so do-able is the ATV donor I chose. I did a lot of research on what ATV to use and I came up with either a 1998-2005 Arctic Cat 250 or 300, or a Suzuki King Quad 300. If you take a look at these ATVs you’ll see how rearward the engine/transaxle combination is, which is key to this swap working so easily. They both use the same Suzuki engine/transaxle. These are also air cooled which simplified the swap. The ATV that I really wanted was the 1998-2001 Arctic cat 300 4x4 because those years had a front locker. However, after searching for 3 months and still not finding an affordable option I ended up with a 2002 Arctic cat 250 4x4. In the future I could always swap in the older front diff to add the locker. I could also swap out the jug and piston for the 300 or get the 331cc big bore kit if I need more power. Even at the 900 pound curb weight, the 250 powers the cart on or off road without issue. I would suggest going with the Arctic cat over the Suzuki because the Arctic cat comes with an improved suspension design, hydraulic disk brakes (rather than drums), and simpler shifter linkages. An advantage the King Quad has is that all come with front lockers and they are generally cheaper. I paid $500 for my ATV but found out I overpaid after finding that the frame was bent, most of the wheel bearings were shot, and the driveshaft giubo had disintegrated.

Golf Cart Disassembly:
[IMG] https://ibb.co/x8bD8Vk
https://ibb.co/1qG0xV5
https://ibb.co/rb9sktw
https://ibb.co/ZJqFGrs
https://ibb.co/x6FZd33 [/IMG]

I began by removing pretty much everything from the golf cart: roof, seat, seat supports, body panels, dash, front and rear axles. I cut out the old battery tray to allow room for the engine. The steering wheel and steering box were left in place because the stock ATV tie rods bolt right up to the golf cart steering box arm.

ATV disassembly:
After making sure everything runs and functions properly, I removed the front and rear racks, all the plastics, handle bars, foot rests, gas tank, carb, air box, foot brake, foot shift, shift linkages and wiring. I also detached the oil cooler, set it on top of the engine, and detached the brake line running from the front to the rear. At this point there is nothing in the way for when I cut the frame.

ATV straightening & chopping:
[IMG] https://ibb.co/CH24514
https://ibb.co/ZBXJccx
https://ibb.co/xq0Th0G [/IMG]

The front of the frame was bent towards the right side like the previous owner slammed the front right of the quad into a tree. I used heat, straps, and a come-a-long between two trees to straighten this back.
The ATV has almost the exact same track width as the golf cart but needs to be lengthened about 21” in order to be the same wheelbase. I cut the top part of the frame away in areas other than where the front and rear suspension attached. The rear frame where the seat attached was also cut away. I then found a nice straight portion of the lower frame (which was the only thing holding the front and rear together) and cut to separate the frame. With the golf cart on jack stands I was able to roll the rear and front “sub” frames underneath the golf cart and trim any additional areas that got in the way. I saved all the excess frame material to use it to connect the “sub” frames with the golf cart frame.

Golf Cart-ATV marriage:
[IMG] https://ibb.co/0mKjtmV
https://ibb.co/zxS2Krp
https://ibb.co/ThnkYky
https://ibb.co/bRCdvVP
https://ibb.co/6D5N0G8
https://ibb.co/1nv0kq0 [/IMG]

I went to my local hardware store and found some thick-wall steel tube that fit snugly over the stock atv frame. My idea was to sleeve the frame to minimize the amount of measuring and re-aligning I had to do. I cut this to length (so that the ATV frame extended into the tube 2-3” on each end) and used it as the extension tubes that re-connected the front and rear ATV “sub” frames. I plug welded and seam welded these in place. Now that the ATV frame has been successfully lengthened I used the recycled ATV frame to connect the ATV frame to the golf cart frame in 8 locations. I tried to do the best I could to make sure everything was level and measured perfectly but my frame had really taken a beating in the past.

Controls:
[IMG] https://ibb.co/CV4HRLB
https://ibb.co/9yP3K6t
https://ibb.co/HpsbrJX
https://ibb.co/RbxY3wW
https://ibb.co/R3r2s9m [/IMG]

I used the factory golf cart gas pedal, brake pedal, and steering wheel. I added on the shifter for the 5-speed semi-auto transmission, reverse lever, as well as a lever for the sub-transmission (ATV has High, Low, and Super-Low ranges) right between the driver and passenger. I also added the lever for the 4x4 engage off of the ATV. For controls transferred over from the ATV, I cut the metal rods connecting the control to whatever component it was attached to, and just welded in an extension rod when needed. This worked out well for the 4x4 engage, reverse and gear shift. Since the subtransmission selector didn’t have a lever on the atv (it was just a push/pull rod), I chopped off the old brake lever from the atv as well ball-joint end from one the old golf cart’s tie rods. This allowed me to add this control as a lever like the other controls. The thing that required the most thought with the controls was where to place them as well as what the control will look like. What I did was add some metal supports in the area where the stock F/R shifter for the golf cart was, and made rod that the shifters rode on. I repurposed the foot shifter as a hand shifter and repurposed the foot brake as the sub transmission shifter. I eliminated the controls for choke and bought a new 32mm carb off Amazon for like $28 that had and auto-choke (actually auto-enrich) feature. It seems to be working out great for now. For steering I attached the stock ATV tie rods directly to the golf cart steering box arm. I ended up needing more steering angle because the tie rods made contact with the frame so I repurposed some of the old golf cart suspension brackets to lengthen the steering box arm and thus giving more travel. For the throttle I gutted the factory throttle pedal box and was able to directly attach the cable using some of the old ATV thumb throttle mechanism. For the brake I cut a small portion of the handle bars and welded it to the golf cart frame to allow me to attach the ATV master cylinder backwards. The stock golf cart brake pedal mechanism attaches to the trimmed atv brake lever via a home-made clevis, bolt and lock nut. This method of installation also allows me to utilize the Factory golf cart parking brake. In order to bleed the brakes I used the reverse bleed technique where you use a syringe to push fluid from each caliper to the master cylinder. This did a great job at removing all the air especially since the master cylinder is no longer the highest point in the system. My donor atv had a pretty nasty master cylinder and super glazed over brake pads so I picked up a new master cylinder for $30 and new pads for $10 off eBay. I did have to lengthen two sections of the brake system with some hard line I picked up from AutoZone. I also rented one of their flare tools to finish up the job. The two sections that needed to be lengthened were running between the front/rear distribution block to the front left and front right distribution block (about 2 feet) as well as from the front/rear distribution block to the rear caliper soft line (about 4 feet). Another reason why this atv works so good for this swap is that all three hydraulic brake calipers (two for the front, one for the rear) run off of the same master cylinder which makes fabricating the controls a bit easier. The atv had an additional mechanical caliper on the rear rotor which was controlled via a foot pedal. I removed this altogether.
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