Our new to us 2005 Club Car DS

[Sqznby]

Hello,

New to the Golf Cart world and recently got my family an 05 DS. A co-worker was relocating and sold it to me for a decent price, I think. Replaced the front shocks, spring and ball joints and rear springs. I'll replace the rear shocks when I repaint the body because the top nuts are too much of a pain to get to.

I wanted a lift kit but tried to keep this budget minded since I've never dealt with one before. Figured it would be a fun project to get to go through it, so, I spent the last couple of weeks going through it because of a random noise that started about a month ago and noticed a wheel was hitting the front leaf spring. Turned out every bushing was completely gone and the passenger spindle was cracked. I took everything off the front end, cleaned, prepped and re-welded the spindle because the crack was not separated too badly, maybe a 1/32". Cleaned an repainted the control arms, spindles and two bottom plates and re-assembled it with a rebuild kit and all new bushings and hardware. Unfortunately it is still making contact with the wheel so it seems the spindle is bent and will need a new one. And after trying the back wheels on the front and visa versa, looks like the wheels are bent and out of round as well. I think I'll end up getting larger diameter wheels to make sure clearance is not an issue, it is very tight in between the front leaf and wheel. Then it came to mind, I remember my co-worker telling me a story of him jumping his cart over a rather large pile of sand in his yard. Now it all makes sense on everything being bent and out of round haha.

I'm looking forward to getting into this a little deeper especially removing the body and maybe making my own long travel kit. At this point, I just want to get it up and running because I miss it as does my wife and daughter especially since we live in a golf cart community.

Well, that's enough of me blabbing. Thanks for listening haha.

Here it is.

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[Swan]

Nice cart to build on and welcome to the addiction . just to warn you carts love wallets

[jakesnake27]

The DS- one of the best (if not THE best) carts ever made. Have fun with it!

[Sqznby]

Originally Posted by Swan

Nice cart to build on and welcome to the addiction . just to warn you carts love wallets

Thanks Swan, I appreciate it.
Oh yes, that certainly is the truth. I'm shocked at the amount I have invested thus far. Could've bought a sweet long travel and some nice wheels n tires.

Originally Posted by jakesnake27

The DS- one of the best (if not THE best) carts ever made. Have fun with it!

Thanks jake, appreciate it. We certainly do have fun with it puttin around the neighborhood.
We finally got out today on it after spending another wonderful day working on it. Had to get new wheels n tires because the original ones were so warped they kept hitting the leaf spring up front.
Its still not perfect but its finally useable though, so we're happy about it.

[Sqznby]

Thoughts after all that work = its definitely a rough/firm ride with the HD leaf springs f/r as well as having the street tires.
I need to tweak the alignment a bit and it'll be sitting pretty square up front. Not sure about the back though.
The drivers side rear looks to be sitting a little cockeyed. I jacked it up but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary or any bent brackets. Two things I did notice I may have installed one of the leaf springs wrong even though they measured almost the same from each end, so I turned it around and I took a measurement from the center of each tire to a reference point on the back seat mounts. One side is off by almost a half inch, looking like the drivers side is too far forward.

All this will be sorted out when I disassemble it to paint the body and give it thorough cleaning. I'll also evaluate the suspension to see if its worth keeping the leaf set up or go with a linked rear. Up front I am planning on making a double a arm set up. I've seen the TRX arms are pretty popular. May give them a whirl otherwise, I'll make my own.

We are definitely happy with it though, it was nice to get out on it yesterday.

[Sqznby]

Here's a shot of it all back together with the new wheels/tires.

I like how it sits, still a bit of a firm ride eve after letting a little air out. I'll let a little more out and see how that works. When we tear it down for a cleaning and paint, I'll probably remove one of the leaf springs out back and possibly up front as well.

Everyone loves pics

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