Technically Speaking, A Golf Cart Isn't...

...a cart at all. Carts are, by definition, not self propelled. I guess if you run out of gas, or juice on the back nine and have to push, then it might be considered a cart. But in general, they are more properly called golf cars.

Well, we bought a golf car(t) last week. We figured some day we'd end up getting one. But they are pretty expensive - $2,000 or so for a newer one in good shape. And then a lot more for any extras - like windshields, rear seats, lift kits, lockking dash, stereos and all that.

Well, Rachel's boss...well, one of her bosses, took another job and is moving to Las Vegas. And he gave us lodge brother pricing on his used cart that he won't need any more. And a charger. It's a bit beat up, but it made it up the hill to our house. We are now the (proud?) owners of a 1984 Club Car DS Electric. It's rehabilitation is going to be a long term family project.

It was filthy, the seats are ripped, the hub caps were dented, and the steering was dodgy - a lot of play, and it was really slow, especially up hills. I wish I took a before picture.

Here's our first mod that Jake came up with...


We attached a little LED flasher from his BMX bike to the rear post to drive at night and be seen. I also picked up a bicycle front headlight and attached it to the front cross bar.

I gave it a good wash - lots of mud, and several tree branches lodged under the fenders and bumpers. And some crap in the dash - pencils from a golf course I've never heard of. Oh, and about 85 cents in loose change. I also cleaned the battery compartment and discovered that the cables were pretty corroded.

Then I figured out how to get those moon hubcaps off with a screwdriver and checked the tire pressure. They were at 5, 6, 7.5. and 8.5 PSI. Max is 22 PSI. So I fired up the compressor and took them up to 20 PSI. They are old tires and I was worried about blowing them. That helped a lot with the sluggishnesss. And while I had the hub caps off, I banged the dents out with a rubber mallet. I also changed out the battery cables - 5 of them at $3.85 a piece. That helped even more with the speed. But there was still the matter of the steering.

I could deal with the play in the wheel, but when we were going downhill, the wheels would turn on their own. That wasn't safe.

I went on line and found some great websites. And I'm really proud of myself for figuring out how to do this. I took the front cowl off, jacked it up, and removed one of the wheels. I isolated the problem to a loose ball joint on the spindle. It was difficult to adjust, but I managed to use a pair of channel locks to hold the bolt in place, removed the pin, and managed to tighten the nut with a Polish Torque Wrench (a spanner, or crescent wrench). The play is gone.

Jake and I also used some black duct tape to patch the ripped seats. We ended up making it look like a pattern, so from a distance, and if you squint up close, it looks like we have black and white seats.

So for 25 bucks more and a couple of afternoons, we now have a safe, functional cart. Rachel and I took our coffee on the road this morning and tooled all around the neighborhood. We went down to Little Beach and all around the lake to Big Beach. We drove around for about an hour, and it was a blast. We talked, and looked at houses and stuff. Rachel thinks it will be neat to drive around at Christmas time and look at the decorated houses. I'm looking forward to using it instead of the car for short trips. We can make it to the grocery store, to the clubhouse, to the beaches and even out to Tony and Eva's new place. And, of course, it will save me $20 a round at the golf course. I'm sure I'll play 25 rounds over the next few years. I'm also thinking it will be nice to take the bikes down to where it's flat to ride around.

Rachel wants to paint it Burgundy and we are hoping her Dad can make us some wood molding like we saw in a kit for sale on line. It will look something like this when we're done...

Just the side panels - the dash kit looks pretty complex. Anyway, that should be cool. Maybe play some Beach Boys on a boom box or something.

Rachel has named it "The Hotel Yorba Courtesy Car." The next time you're here, we'll go for a ride or play a round in it.