EZGO Workhorse Slows Down Going Up Hills

[greghutch13]

Looking for some help and from the detail in the posts I've read I believe this is the right place.

Purchased an EZGO "Workhorse" mfr code J2000 serial 1305177 at a going out of business sale. Put 6 new batteries in her and she runs great on a flat, hard surface.

Still have the stock harder/flatter tires, but with the weight of this cart (listed at 1114 pounds with batteries and 682 w/out) and its 800 pound payload capacity (I'm just running it with my 200 pounds in the driver's seat and maybe 50 pounds in the dump bed) how can I improve its ability to go up a grade? I plan on going to more of a turf tire for starters.

It eventually makes it up even a 30 degree incline, but its running at barely a crawl. Running on the lawn is significantly slower than the concete and even a slight incline (maybe a 2 foot elevation change over 40 feet) brings it to a snail crawl.

Is this the best I can expect since I'm sure this was designed to run on hard, flat surfaces?

 

[HotRodCarts]

Welcome to the forum...

If the batteries are brand new it will get a little better after a few charge cycles. After you climb a hill get off and raise the seat and feel the cables, forward/reverse switch, solenoid and controller and see if anything is hot. Be careful it's possible something may be real hot. If everything checks out normal heat wise about the only thing you can do is start upgrading. Larger cables, and higher amp controller will help with torque...

 

[greghutch13]

Thanks for the suggestions. I ran it up and down hill for about 20 minutes and the cables from the F&R switch box (under the passenger side seat) got warm at the most. The cables from the batteries were cold. As soon as I hit hard level ground it runs great so I think upgrades are going to be in my future. Still showing 7/10 bars on the charge indicator, but I plug her in anyway.

I'll go with some different tires too since the current ones aren't very aggressive.

Anywhere you can direct me to on the site that would give me info on the upgrades? I'm sure the info is here its just a matter of finding it.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[HotRodCarts]

Try a search here for Alltrax. That should give you a quite a few hits on upgrading controllers.You can buy the Alltrax controller from D&D, their link is on the top of the pages here. Tell them you saw their ad here and you'll get a good price... If you need more info let us know...

 

[greghutch13]

Thanks for the help - this site has proven to be a great find!

 

[HotRodCarts]

Thanks for the compliment on the site...

 

[greghutch13]

As usual the more time I spend under the hood (or in this case the seat) the more questions I have.

Hit the D&D site and found lots of good info. I was set to get the 4 AWG wire kit, but wanted to make sure that 6 AWG was currently on the cart since the wiring looked rather stout and since my hill climbing trials led to only mildly warm wire. I measured the conductors at 5mm +/- (about 7mm with insulation) and the 4 AWG standard says they would be 5.16mm - so I think I have 4 gauge already.

That got me thinking about what else might be of higher grade on the cart. Looking for some guidance on whether the solenoid and controller are stock.

The solenoid is a White-Rodgers/RBM type 124-117111

The controller is a CurtisPMC, part number 25864G05, serial number 0059-P038086


Looking through the D&D pages to boost torque by maybe 40% their info says I can upgrade the motor without upgrading the controller or F/R switch. The info also says if you upgrade the controller you should upgrade the F/R switch, solenoid and wire.

Assuming my wiring is 4 AWG would your recommend a motor upgrade on its own? Haven't gone so far as to get a price quote, but the D&D selector (no lift kit, no larger tires, yes to utility bed and yes to hilly terrain) recommended a 2780 rpm, 8HP motor (#170-004-0001) or a 3700 rpm, 8.5 HP (ES-52-Type).

Controllers recommended were 650 or 700 amp.

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[HotRodCarts]

I'd go with the 2780 rpm 8HP motor (#170-004-0001), Alltrax 650 amp controller, White Rodgers 586 or Albright solenoid, HD buss bars and new contact studs in the forward and reverse switch. If you already have 4 guage cables I'd go with 2 guage cables if the cables are getting warm now with your current setup. With the above parts you'll have a torque monster...

You can also call D&D and tell them what you want out of the cart and they will give you their recomendation...