1987 DS Gas, Rear Leaf Spring Install

[Robthefishguy]

Hi everyone, I just picked up this cart, my first cart ever. This past weekend I installed a rear flip seat (Steeleng, and I like it). I purchased the RedHawk dual action springs, bushings and bolts for everything with the plans to get the springs on also. It has single leaf springs and rides ok with just one 50 pound kid in back, but bottoms out easily with anything more.
I have read a bunch on BGW and watched some very informative videos in preparation for this, but when I jacked this thing up and pulled the wheels off I realized that its different from anything I had researched.
I was all prepared to cut the stuff out, remove a brake clip or two, and loosen the shock. What I found was that the whole engine and such is on this carrier supported by the springs, ant lots of old rusty bolts.
So I sprayed everything well with some penetrating oil and went about the wheel/tire change, oil change, and seat install.
My question is, does anyone have any advise, links, videos that relate to th 87 gasser?
I've looked for and purchased/ downloaded some manuals, but I couldn't find mine.
Any help is appreciated, I think I can tackle it, but I'd like to have some ideas of what I may run into.
p.s. I did get a quote from a popular somewhat local shop/dealership who said it would be 'about $150.' But again, I am new to the cart life so I have nothing to gauge this off of.

[Fairtax4me]

Yeah the older carts the cradle runs all the way to the back. If you just got the D/A springs you shouldn't need to modify shocks or anything like that I don't think.

Basically you have to loosen/remove the axle from the cradle, which can be a bit tricky because there are several attachment points. There's a bracket sort of in the center of the axle for the transmission mount, which will need to be removed in order to get the axle to separate enough from the cradle for you to get the springs out from between. Start by removing that, then move to one side or the other, remove the brake cables so they are not in the way, remove the nuts on the rear shocks and you should be able to slide them off and push them up out of the way. If they're stuck they may need some persuasion with a pickle fork.
Remove the bolts on the front and rear of the spring, but be sure to only do that on the side you're working on, so the other side will hold the engine cradle in place. The ones on the front can be tricky if the center sleeve of the bushing is rusted to the bolt. Air tools can help if you have them. Otherwise it's sawzall or cutting wheel fun and then knock the remaining pieces of bolt out with a drift/punch and hammer.
On the side you're NOT working on, Loosen but don't remove the nuts on the U-bolts that secure the axle/ cradle together. Then on the side you are working on, remove the nuts and the U-bolts, lift the axle up off the cradle and you should be able to slide the spring out from between. Reverse the process to install the new spring.

Repeat on the other side.

When you get it all back together you may have to make a new mount bracket or elongate the holes in the existing bracket if you can so it can be bolted back to the cradle. If you leave out the transmission bracket, you may get a lot of shuddering on takeoff due to the transmission torquing forward as the belt starts to engage.

[Robthefishguy]

Yikes. That all sounded pretty straightforward until the part about the transmission bracket. Although it'll take some time, maybe I can swing at it.
I'll likely get the time to have at it on Friday, so I'll update back with any progress.
Thanks for the in depth answer!

[Fairtax4me]

Oh I also forgot, It also helps to remove the drive belt before you start. The belt may try to pull the axle forward and make it difficult to line up the axle on top of the new springs.
And it’s also a good idea whenever you do this sort of major work to disconnect the battery negative.
Yeah the newer ones are much easier. The older ones are still not terrible, they just require a few extra steps to get the axle separated from the cradle. The important thing is to make sure one side is still loosely connected so the weight of the transmission doesn’t try to flip the axle over.

[firemanrick]

I just did this on my 92 DS. Went from single leaf rear springs to triple leaf, dual action HD. Fairtax4me is spot on with everything I went through. Removing the front spring bolts sucked. You can’t pound them through from the inside because you can’t swing a hammer in there. Ended up prying them out. Took forever. The bracket he spoke of was easily fabricated out of some aluminum angle I picked up from Home Depot. ~$8 for 3ft of it, but I only used 3 or so inches. It’s important to know you’ll have to notch the bottom of your new bracket so it will clear the engine mounting plate. You’ll see what I mean when you get to it. Here’s a picture of what I did.


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[firemanrick]

Come to think of it, I had to notch both ends in a similar fashion. The bottom to clear the engine plate, the top for easy wrench access.


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[Springbok]

I didn't install new leafs on my '87 gas cart, but I did have to completely remove them in order to flip them from the bottom of the axle to the top when I did my 6" lift in 2013. Yeah the bushings were a pain, but the bolts around the axle were not terrible to remove.

Here's the build thread for my cart:
http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/membe...-club-car.html

[Robthefishguy]

Fairtax4me and firemanrick, thanks for the info and pics. Pictures are worth a lot.
Springbok, thanks for the link, I'll check out the thread for sure!