The yard machine takes shape
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The yard machine starts to take shape
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I have been collecting bits and pieces of electric golf carts for many years, and decided that it was time to put them to some use.
I took a rear end from a club car golf cart, and a front wheel with steering bearing from an ezgo.
The three wheels were attached to a welded square frame. I chose to eliminate the rear suspension to make the buggy more or less load independent.
I wanted a single front wheel so I could turn the long machine in a short radius.
The chassis was very easy to twist, and was not stable until I welded in the central torque tube and cross braces which stiffened things up nicely. I bent some steel tube into some handle bars, and mounted an old car seat. The brakes were fixed and adjusted, and a mechanical ratcheting brake from a golf cart was mounted and connected. now that I had some brakes I added a kelly controls PWM motor controller with reversing contactor and mounted it in a water proof aluminum box right behind the motor. The six golf cart batteries were split into two battery hangers and mounted low and just in front of the rear wheels.
Partners in crime Paul Provost and Troy Coverstone ran some test runs to confirm that the thing was fun to drive and reasonably safe.I added an instrument panel with what was supposed to be an led SOC meter. It was not very accurate until I hacked into it and figured out how to adjust it (see mikes tips).
We mounted the leaf vac next, with an e-tec motor and additional controller.
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