Got another new(ish) Yamaha today

Those that are keeping track will remember that I picked up a 2012 Rhino a couple weeks ago, and today I got another Yamaha, though it probably isn't what you are thinking....

It's a 2008 Yamaha electric golf cart minus the batteries, drive motor and controller.
If you remember, a couple months ago I picked up an old Honda Rancher 350 ES. It has since been partially dismantled. It has a plethora of shit wrong with it but still runs pretty damn well.

Yeah, the SOB is leaking oil all over my floor.
I toyed with the idea of building a kid's buggy but somewhere along the line decided that a four wheel drive golf cart would be the way to go. As it turns out, an old fraternity brother of my youngest brother owns a golf cart business. He buys used carts from golf courses and then rebuilds them to resell. I went by his place today, an old TG&Y store if you remember those, and the guy must have 300 golf carts there in various stages of (dis)repair. Anyway, I told him that all I needed was a good late model body with a steel frame. After looking at a few options we decided that the Yamaha was the way to go. A few $100 bills later and that beauty was on my trailer.

I did a few quick measurements and it looks like the Honda will be a pretty good drive train donor. So phase one of the build is disassembly, guess I'll get started on that tomorrow after I get the wife and kids off to school.

I really don't have any idea what the heck I'm going to use this for. But I thought it would be cool anyway. I see these hunters buying those Bad Boy Buggies for $15k and thinking what a freaking waste of money that is. Anyone with a little ingenuity and some elbow grease could build something a whole lot better for far less money. So this will be the litmus test.

I've also been reading a website called cartsgonewild.com. There's a section for folks that have done motorcycle and ATV conversions. A few have done four wheel drive conversions but to my knowledge no one has used the Rancher ES yet.

You need to go over to www.buggiesgonewild.com Nathan. Lot of ATV to GC builds there. Some good,some not so good. I've been diddling in them too here lately.....Been flipping them. Lots of money to be made. I'd honestly  re-electric it , lift it ,vs. a one-off ATV conversion. The market for fast electrics is big! Hunters in-general, don't want noise. A good series-cart will climb like you would not believe.

Yeah, buggiesgonewild, that was the site. Not sure where my brain was last night.

When we went to Myrtle Beach this summer, an old guy, who is also the Mayor of a small town just South of Myrtle Beach, was working at an RV Dealership. He rode us in his sons golf cart with a hopped up Kawasaki engine. He said it was in the Guinness Book for being the fastest at that time. I think he said it would do about 70 mph plus. Said they had 15 K in the engine though.

Oh, I don't have any desire to build anything quite that wild. I just think that a four wheel drive golf cart would be pretty cool.

njcraddock wrote:

Oh, I don't have any desire to build anything quite that wild. I just think that a four wheel drive golf cart would be pretty cool.

Sounds like a fun night ride adventure.