Yamaha ride improvement project

[Ajgoldsmith]

Hi, first post I've been reading but wanted to try to get clear. I recently bought a 2010 electric G29 which I bought with no lift and 14" wheels, 20" tires. Ride is harsh and I want to soften it up a bit. Can someone help with if I swap to the JW1xxx (gas cart version) shocks, what was the approximate drop in ride height, if any? I would really appreciate guidance from those who've been there done that. Thanks!

[Volt_Ampere]

Gas cart shocks may not work for you because of the battery weight. That is the difference between gas and electric carts. The problem is that your tires are probably low profile and stiff. You can try lowering the air pressure. What pressure are you running?

[Ajgoldsmith]

Thanks Volt.

You're right on low profile tires. Just yesterday I lowered them from 20 to 10 and the ride improved for sure.

I am also considering going to a smaller wheel with higher tire sidewall to absorb some of the shock. I've got a request out to some buddies to loan me their 10s or 12s to try that.

I was actually thinking of just doing the front shocks since the backs are for the batteries. I should have said that. The battery weight in back makes the shocks more compliant and I don't have much clearance as it is.

[Volt_Ampere]

I'm not sure if the gas cart front shocks differ from those of electric since the weight difference is heavily shifted to the rear. By the way, I have a Yamaha cart and I went to Lithium batteries which are 250 lbs lighter than the FLA batteries they replaced. I obtained a set of shocks from a gas cart for the rear and it greatly improved the ride. It's still harsher than I would like due to the same low profile tires I now have. I wanted larger tires / wheels but there is no room for them and I don't want to lift the cart.

[Ajgoldsmith]

Thanks for your thoughts on this Volt. My batteries are 2018s now and I had planned to do the conversion in another year or two after I fixed the ride and they start to age out. But what you are saying is the conversion would help in both power and ride, which makes perfect sense. I'll go read some threads on this but in the meantime what are the most highly recommended vendors or packages? I really appreciate you helping me out here.

[Volt_Ampere]

The conversion does not help the ride at all! It makes it worse due to the decrease in weight. You need to soften the shocks to get the ride back to where it was with the heavier batteries.

[Ajgoldsmith]

I think I'll spend time on that and then maybe the best thing to do will be the air coilovers to get ride height and firmness right. Thanks for all your help Volt.

[Frizbgolf]

I put the gasser shocks on mine and it did help to soften the ride, however I get a little more body roll with them nothing that I am overly concerned with though. I didn't notice any difference in ride height between the gas model shocks and the electric model shocks.
The low pro tires aren't helping.