Club car slow uphill.

[Dodge1812]

But it is slow with new batteries I understand my model is slow but I think it's really slow compared to my friends he has to wait on me and he has the same cart

[Dodge1812]

Average speed on a 2 mile ride was 9mph

[klubber]

Series carts are workhorses but not known for speed. It could always help to increase amps to the motor, but you are limited with the stock motor Even increasing cable size, solenoid, and controller, you would be hard found to even get speed up over 17 or 18 mph. YOur best start is a new motor. Great cart, but if speed is your goal, I dont think any other modifications are going to thrill you.

[joesam]

Some DS models had problems with accelerator linkage wear - resolved simply by doing something like this link. Some have also used correct sized fuel tube sleeved over the pushrod.

[Out2Sea]

Originally Posted by joesam

Some DS models had problems with accelerator linkage wear - resolved simply by doing something like this link. Some have also used correct sized fuel tube sleeved over the pushrod.

[mrgolf]

Originally Posted by Sasgrf

Good afternoon,

Just bought a 98 club car ds 48v. Had the batteries replaced. All are new trojans.

It slows considerably up hills. I read a bunch of threads on fixing this, but I really just want to know if it is a problem or indicative of a problem. If it is normal, I'll just deal with it for now.
Thanks.

If you are still out there, the reason to know the actually speed is so we can tell if it is normal or not. Series carts usually run about 12 mph on level and about half unhill. If you have a regen cart they will run about 12-15 on level and about 8-10 uphill. Regen 1 and 2 carts have a coil on the dynamic braking solenoid that will try to carry the load when that solenoid fails which will slow you way down. The serial number of your cart will help determine what is going on.

[Sasgrf]

Ok. Checked speed. 12-14 on flat ground.
The hill is about 25 to 30 percent grade and I was 7-9 mph up it. Down it was 24 mph. Lol

The pedal seems to be pretty responsive although I will pay attention to that.

Thanks for the help, just seeing if this is normal.

[CP241]

Originally Posted by Sasgrf

Ok. Checked speed. 12-14 on flat ground.
The hill is about 25 to 30 percent grade and I was 7-9 mph up it. Down it was 24 mph. Lol

The pedal seems to be pretty responsive although I will pay attention to that.

Thanks for the help, just seeing if this is normal.

Sounds about normal to me. I recently had a carryall 48V series cart. It was strong, and you could drive it a good 10 miles before the batteries would dip under 48v under a full load! But speed... it was a DOG. It would do 12-13mph on pavement (which is nowhere near my house) but driving through softer grass like in my yard, it would drop to about 9-10mph. Going up hills was about the same, or even slower depending on how steep or long the hill was.

I asked the same question as you here and the conclusion I came to was this is totally normal and expected of any series cart. I currently have a 48V DS that's got every possible component upgraded... motor, controller, solenoid, FNR switch, cables, etc. It'll cruise 23+mph on pavement (stock 18" tires) but if I hit a steep hill it will drop to around ~17mph as it's climbing up it. Once I get to the top it picks right back up again. Not a lot of hills around me so not really a big deal.

My gas carryall doesn't lose any speed going up hills. It just keeps a chugging

[Sasgrf]

So...cart is fully charged. Cart is in neutral and key is off. The orange dash light is on. Is the light even reliable at this point? Does it mean anything? I have seen aftermarket guages with bars, is it worth to do that?

Thanks again for all the assistance.

[CP241]

Scrap the dummy light and get a digital voltage gauge. Bright, easy to see, and tells you exactly what is going on.

I wired my first one direct to the battery pack because there was about a 1.5v drop between the pack and the key. My current ds the key was the same reading as the pack so I just wired it up at the key switch.