Pulling the trigger on new vs used

[runnyrunnerton]

1st real post on here. I was inches away from pulling the trigger on a cart today, but I spoke to an old timer on the phone who jerked the wind from my sails.

I was going to buy a used club car 2007ish. It was a wholesale rig, so I'm assuming it was an off lease deal this dealer picked up from an auction. don't ask me for details further as the guy was going to bring it in from his warehouse and i was going to look at it before I bought it. However before i started the process the conversation with the mechanic happened.

Ill paraphrase: Wholesale carts get 30 years of use in 7 years. I have a gas cart you can buy, but it wont pull farm duty like you think it will. (towing a light trailer with limbs/logs etc) Lifts kill these carts, electric or gas. Gas engine go boom-new one cost more than cart. Electric motor cant handle lift + tow and batteries will die sooner. This is a pleasure machine that can be used for some work but lift + work equals death. You will be better off with a ranger for a small farm. He was knowledgeable and friendly, and wast trying to ruin my day.

Guys what gives? AM I the only one that wants a gas cart, wants a small car type machine to take the garbage down the drive 1 mile ish, haul brush to the fire, drive around with 3 buddies and a cooler at the woods, occasionally "Ill bet it can make it...watch this", I had a rhino and sold it because of the god awful noise, and total flipping overkill approach. It was fun but it was just too much. Am I asking to much from a cart, should I be looking for a polaris?

Can these things be outfitted to become workhorse reliable? He said my best bet would be to buy new, at least then i would have some reliability out of the machine and part failure could be managed and forecasted.

[93yellowclubcar]

You can use a golf cart to do what you want, and with a lift. As long as you don't go crazy and get any larger than 22 or 23 inch tires. Will you be able to use it as a skidder for huge fallen timber? No. Will it pull a light trailer with limbs and whatnot reasonably well? Yes, with a few mods.

Bottom line, with a few easy modifications a cart (gas or electric, electric more $$$) can do what you are asking as long as it is used and not abused.


Welcome to BGW by the way!

[BrewCityMusic]

Hmmm ... MY driveway is a mile and a half long, we take 4-5 cans down in the Workhorse every week, rain, sun or snow ... I have just over 80 acres and have stacked logs in the bed til there was no room while pulling a 4X6 trailer stacked full too (and my acreage is an old Ski Area, all hills) the mile or so back to the house ... I've had 3 adults in the cart, 2 kids in the bed, and a trailer with another 4 kids and blankets, a cooler, etc MANY times when the cousins come up from the city and want to go have a "Picnic" ... So IMHO the answer is "Yes" - and I also own an AC Prowler which to be honest, I use about 10% as much as the carts.

Here's the trick - do NOT buy a standard cart and expect it to do it all without a lot of mods. Buy an EZGO "Workhorse" or "MPT1200" model, they come with the bigger motor, carb, etc as well as a much heavier-duty clutch (hence more power pulling) and a beefier frame and suspension right from the get-go. They also come with a nice, large dump box.

That said, also steer clear of anything EZGO 2009 and up, even though the "New 401cc 13hp Kawasaki Engine" sounds like a good selling point. I have had many, MANY Workhorses and MPT's (old and new drivetrains) and those drivetrains are junk - even with the expensive "TEAM" clutches they pull about 75% as well as the good old Robins 350cc twins that were discontinued in 2008. Add in the completely poor service records (including multiple recalls for suspension, clutch, steering, and rear end failures, do some web searching) and they just aren't the carts the older Workhorses are. As to use, I have bought used WH's with 2500hrs on them and they still pull as good as day one, provided they were maintained well (and if they weren't treated well and DO ever let go, a rebuilt, modified 375 Performance motor putting out an extra 3-5hp over stock is $675 through CT Rebuilds and about a 2hr swap with no special tools or knowledge required) ...

Lastly, as to Club Cars - I *just* bought a carryall 2 about a week ago because it was a "good deal" and wanted to get to know the CC's a bit better ... The engine is tight, good compression, runs great - and any stock Workhorse I've ever owned could easily pull it backwards until the Workhorse ran out of gas in a tug-of-war. Not saying they're bad carts, I've seen them put through some relatively heavy stuff - but if You go that route, at very least find one with the 350 or 400 engine and be ready for some clutch mods to turn it into a real "Worker".

As to "30 years of use in 7" that's not an issue for ME personally, as I live in Wisconsin and buy my carts through an EZGO service tech friend who has some good connections and only from local courses. We're lucky to have 6 months a year of good golf weather, and generally we can cut that by about 10-15% for rain days and sometimes more when spring and fall get stuck in that "This weather SUCKS" mode, LOL - now, an off-lease cart from Florida, Arizona, etc is likely going to have literally 4-5X the use per year of a Northern cart, and that's HARD, hot, dusty, etc use. If You're in the south, best to find someone who knows carts to really go over it good prior to purchase.

Hope these little bits helped, I could ramble about my carts for hours, hahahaha

[09MPT1200guy]

I carry around ridiculous amounts of stuff with my 07 EZGO TXT at work. It's a leased fleet vehicle that was several years old when it was assigned to me. It works as hard as what you're describing, seven days a week, ten months or so a year. We have 1200 acres or grass, asphalt, sand, and mud. The best thing to do is keep the engine full of clean oil, and keep the cooling fins clean with either compressed air or water. They run much hotter if they are caked with dust and dirt. I also have an 09 MPT1200, with the single cylinder Kawasaki engine. I've had it for about six months. No big complaints so far, just not as smooth as the twin cylinder Robin engine in the TXT. Trailers are hard on them in general, but mostly because they are only rated at 9 and 13.5 horsepower. They have limitations, but are cheap and easy to fix.

[Vinny73]

If I were to do the purchase again, I would have bought a Workhorse 1200. I ended up buying a Club Car Carryall 2 cause that's what we use at work. BUT... I just swapped the motor for a 18hp V-Twin and should be happy with that. But IMHO, the workhorse seems to be the way to go!

[Left Coast Kiteboarding]

I work the crap out of my Club Car DS. It has a utility bed and a trailer hitch. Drive it around town all day and regularly 2 yards of dry soil on a trailer over hill and dale. Works like a champ. I only have very basic mods, air filter, carb jet, heavy duty drive belt. Couldn't be happier. Get yerself a cart!

[runnyrunnerton]

I see so an ezgo workhorse is the way to go. My father has one, however I sm almost certain it is a single cylinder and I hate the way it accelerates. I'm certain I've seen posts on here about a v-twin in a workhorse. If anyone has a link much as gracias for model info and years on the workhorse. I know I'm not supposed to venture past an 2009 but what is the model specific to the twin?

Further I've been scouring craigslist and can't find much of anything. I'm a north Florida resident, anyone know someone reputable up here who deals in used carts? I'll drive, a long way, if I can grab a solid cart. Any info would be great!

[FloridaCart]

Originally Posted by runnyrunnerton

I see so an ezgo workhorse is the way to go. My father has one, however I sm almost certain it is a single cylinder and I hate the way it accelerates. I'm certain I've seen posts on here about a v-twin in a workhorse. If anyone has a link much as gracias for model info and years on the workhorse. I know I'm not supposed to venture past an 2009 but what is the model specific to the twin?

Further I've been scouring craigslist and can't find much of anything. I'm a north Florida resident, anyone know someone reputable up here who deals in used carts? I'll drive, a long way, if I can grab a solid cart. Any info would be great!

Runnyrunnerton , What part of North Florida are you near? I'm just south of Jacksonville in Clay county. Maybe I could keep a eye out. I have friends that own a couple of cart shops.