Petrol Head
New Member
Greetings, Everyone!
I’m new to the site and new to the cart world! I recently purchased what I think is a tired 2002 Pioneer 1200, although the serial number starts with BK. I gave $200 for it and I’m thrilled to have it! It needs a lot of love, but I’m mechanically capable. It appears to be totally stock and has been sitting for a few years, but it’s all there. It has the FE350 engine, and I’m going through everything before I attempt to start it. The fuel tank had trash in it, the fuel pump and carb were gummed up, but it’s all cleaned and awaiting new diaphragms and gaskets. The engine turns over by hand and has a good bit of compression resistance, so I’m hoping there’s still some life in it. While it’s complete, the whole cart looks ratty, which has prompted it getting named Fungus!
My goal is to get him back up and running for cruising around on my country property. When I was younger, I would have probably wanted to hotrod the hell out of it, but I intend to carry around shovels, chainsaws, bags of soil, and Labrador retrievers!
Someone had put on some oversized and aggressive, tractor-like mud tires with deep-dish slotted mag wheels on him (which do look cool), but I want to go back to the original sized tires (23x10.5-12). Current fronts are 26x12-12, while rears are 28x12-12. I assume new original-size tires will mount on the current, cool rims. My property is grass and dirt trails with some minor hills, so I’m torn between turf tires and something with more bite. I realize larger tires cut top speed and place more load on the running gear, so that factors into my decision to go back to the original size tires. My question is around the rim backspacing. I’ve looked around and have only found some general statements that most golf carts come with little, if any backspacing. On a machine that won’t do 20 mph, would a few inches of backspacing impact the handling or cause excessive tire wear? I do like the old-school, deep mag wheel look, but should I consider buying new wheels with no backspacing?
Thanks in advance for any replies - I figure this is the place to get accurate answers!
Mark
I’m new to the site and new to the cart world! I recently purchased what I think is a tired 2002 Pioneer 1200, although the serial number starts with BK. I gave $200 for it and I’m thrilled to have it! It needs a lot of love, but I’m mechanically capable. It appears to be totally stock and has been sitting for a few years, but it’s all there. It has the FE350 engine, and I’m going through everything before I attempt to start it. The fuel tank had trash in it, the fuel pump and carb were gummed up, but it’s all cleaned and awaiting new diaphragms and gaskets. The engine turns over by hand and has a good bit of compression resistance, so I’m hoping there’s still some life in it. While it’s complete, the whole cart looks ratty, which has prompted it getting named Fungus!
My goal is to get him back up and running for cruising around on my country property. When I was younger, I would have probably wanted to hotrod the hell out of it, but I intend to carry around shovels, chainsaws, bags of soil, and Labrador retrievers!
Someone had put on some oversized and aggressive, tractor-like mud tires with deep-dish slotted mag wheels on him (which do look cool), but I want to go back to the original sized tires (23x10.5-12). Current fronts are 26x12-12, while rears are 28x12-12. I assume new original-size tires will mount on the current, cool rims. My property is grass and dirt trails with some minor hills, so I’m torn between turf tires and something with more bite. I realize larger tires cut top speed and place more load on the running gear, so that factors into my decision to go back to the original size tires. My question is around the rim backspacing. I’ve looked around and have only found some general statements that most golf carts come with little, if any backspacing. On a machine that won’t do 20 mph, would a few inches of backspacing impact the handling or cause excessive tire wear? I do like the old-school, deep mag wheel look, but should I consider buying new wheels with no backspacing?
Thanks in advance for any replies - I figure this is the place to get accurate answers!
Mark
