Looking At A "Taylor Dunn Truckster" - How To Evaluate?

[jtcweb]

I'm looking for something to use as a utility cart around my 10-acre property. I've seen listed for sale a Taylor Dunn Truckster that the seller thinks is about 20 years old. It has brake problems and the current owner bought it as a project and never ran the cart and now decided he doesn't want to take it on, so I really don't have any way to test the various systems.

I'm considering ripping out all the electronics and installing a solid-state system from the start. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated as this is a bit of new territory for me. I am confident in my abilities, I'm just lacking knowledge around electric golf carts/utility vehicles.

[ThreeCW]

Taylor-Dunn vehicles are typically designed for low speed (+/- 8 mph), heavy load capacities, heavy towing capacity and for use on pavement.

Being a heavy load capacity, the suspension may make the cart a pretty rough ride on anything but pavement ... and you may be limited to a fairly slow speed.

My advice would be to confirm the model number of the cart and look up the specifications to make sure it is fit for your purpose.

Have a look at this work cart thread to get some ideas on what people are using for work carts for off pavement applications.

https://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=126073

And here is a Taylor-Dunn that was rebuilt and converted to solar.

https://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=145444

Here is a search for other Taylor-Dunn's on BGW. I had a quick look and found other BGW users who had converted their T-D's to controller systems.

https://www.google.com/search?client...esgonewild.com

[jtcweb]

I'm not worried about the speed at all as most of my travels will be less than 1,000'. I have landscaping to do and firewood to cut, move and stack. Do you think I should be looking for something more like a carryall (very had to find in my area) over a Taylor-Dunn or Cushman?

[ThreeCW]

Have a look through the threads that I linked ... they should give you a better idea what other people are using their carts for. We live on a small farm in a hilly area, so my requirements would likely be different than yours. 95% of the time, our cart is used for personal transport with less than 100 lbs in the box. But the other times it is with loads ... 1000 lbs in the box or towing up to 2000 lbs. Most of our use is under 10 mph.

Post a photo of the cart if possible to give an idea of how it is configured.