Project... Dumpster Fire? Crispy Cart? Burnt Up to Turn't Up?

[iamdub]

Watch yo' ass! Acid sux!

It's nothing to take lightly! I had an old welding jacket, goggles and a face shield on when I was removing them from the cart and moving them to behind the shop.

 

[iamdub]

Found a cart salvage yard about 30 mins from me. Scored a good rear body section for $100 and main wire harness for $50. I found after they pulled the harness that a rat had chewed a small section of the wiring. I'll just splice in sections from my existing harness to keep the colors and gauge sizes matching. Considering a new harness is $360+, I'm happy to do the extra work. Although it's technically a separate harness, the motor power harness was attached to it with a zip-tie, so they included it, making it an even greater deal.

I think there's another small harness for the accessories and maybe the brake lights I still need to get. I'll sort it out once I start dismantling the charred stuff. Those harnesses are cheap, like $30-$50. The last big piece I need is the battery bucket. I'm gonna search some other places for a good used one. If I strike out, the local Club Car authorized dealer said they'll order me one and it'll just be the cost of the part ($110.xx) since it'll ship along with their other freight.

 

[08grey]

That’s a cool end of summer project


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[iamdub]

That’s a cool end of summer project


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Indeed. It's finally cool enough to venture outside!

 

[iamdub]

Made some nice (and quick) progress last night.

Here's how I started, viewed from the left:




...and from the right:




I removed all the wiring and used my new-to-me recip saw to cut the bulk of the body to break it free from the molten battery bucket, then removed the bucket. This is what I'm left with:




In all of this, I realized that I actually didn't need that main harness. There's only a few wires with mild-moderate burn damage and it's only on the last ~4". I can easily splice on new wire, terminals and replace the loom and it'd be 100%. Since the replacement harness I got yesterday needs splicing in the middle of it, repairing the original harness would be easier. I wish I had known it wasn't so bad so I could've saved a few bucks on that other harness. But, I wanted to have the replacement in hand for reference since I thought the original was destroyed. It was mostly just covered in melted battery bucket plastic that peeled and flaked right off. The harness that got the most damage was the power cables to the motor. I got this harness as well yesterday, so that's handled. Although, I'll probably remake it with larger gauge cables since I'll be making upgraded battery cables.


While inside the cart, I noticed this label:




I filled out the questionnaire on the company's site to get the details on it- Modded for torque? Speed? Both? Either way, this was an exciting little bonus to find.



I'll have to remove the flip-flop seat to remove the remains of the body (those two rear fender/side pieces). The only remnants of the fire damage will be that back lateral span. It'll be covered by the new body and battery bucket, so I'm not messing with it. I'll scrub it to get the stinky soot/molten plastic smell off when I spray down the cart.

 

[iamdub]

EMP emailed me back:

"This motor was sold March 2016 to Top Carts 413 for this application: 48V Club Car IQ lifted with 23" tires, 4 passenger, stock IQ control Curtis 1515 or 1510, wants some speed ~19MPH flat ground for NEV use."

I guess this means the motor was built for speed rather than torque. I hope the torque wasn't reduced any or much. It's flat where I'll be driving it with the biggest slope being the ramp on my trailer when transporting the cart. I would like to be able to drag a small garden trailer for yard chores, though.

 

[iamdub]

That new battery bucket the dealer quoted me was actually for the '08+ Precedent, which has a six 8 volt battery configuration. I went back to the cart scrap yard yesterday to bring a load of batteries to recycle and to make a deal on the used bucket. He was still kinda firm on his original $100 quote even after I told him the new one was $120 after tax. He knew that (1) I didn't wanna wait 2+ weeks for it to come in and (2) I really didn't wanna cut the bottom out of my existing one to drop inside the new one to change the battery configuration to four 12 volt batteries. He offered me $30 for my load of batteries, which was about what I was expecting (I was just glad to get rid of them all), so I got the bucket for $70. One side has a large chunk busted out, but that side on my original bucket is good. I'll cut out the broken section with straight and square cuts, then splice in the good section from my original one using JB Weld Plastic Bonder. Just extra work I didn't wanna have to do, but these buckets pretty much only exist in scrap yards. If any new ones are around, they're buried and forgotten about in some cart part's storage. I'm fortunate to have found this one just 30 minutes from me. Getting back to work...

 

[Rocket Man]

Nice little project. It’s always kind of cool to keep removing stuff until you get to the point of where you feel comfortable to start the rebuild. Like you said, it doesn’t always have to be back to the parts that have zero damage. Looking forward to more progress.

 

[Dpayne]

There is your problem. Says it right there US Battery. Lost 4 custom carts at once all burned to the ground and half of our house at 3am. All the carts had new US Battery 8 volts. Fire marshals determined that the batteries in on the carts was the cause. Not plugged in or anything. Just sitting in the driveway with for sale signs on them.

 

[iamdub]

Nice little project. It’s always kind of cool to keep removing stuff until you get to the point of where you feel comfortable to start the rebuild. Like you said, it doesn’t always have to be back to the parts that have zero damage. Looking forward to more progress.

Yaaaaas! It was literally like unbolting the fire damage and removing it in pieces.