Wheel Bearing Bad Wheel Rubbing Spring

bogman

Cartaholic
The wife was riding around on the old 2003 Club Car DS and stopped to pick me up to go show me something and as soon as she took off I heard metal scrapping. I asked how long it had been doing that and she said that it was the first she heard it. Probably my added weight I thought and got her to stop so I could see where it was coming from.

As soon as I looked at the inside rim on the passenger side, I could see a ring of paint being rubbed off by the bottom leaf spring. So I took it to the shop to see what could be causing that and decided to jack up that side to check for wheel play. Sure enough there was some slop. So I figured the axle nut needed to be tightened up a bit and I took the wheel off.

After I popped the dust cap off and took the cotter pin out I decided I would slide the hub off to check the grease. As soon as I slid it off I saw that the inside wheel bearing was bad as all the rollers were laying in the hub. The grease was hard and gummy.:thumbdown:

Went to the resources on this site and found the bearing number 1011393 and went to NAPA and they cross referenced it with PBR2 which is a common riding lawn mower wheel bearing for $7 bucks and change. It took about an hour all told to put it back together as I had to beat the inner race off the spindle, but she's running like a new one once again!:thumbsup:
 

bogman

Cartaholic
Well Hot Rod, I declared victory over the scrapping noise too soon.:stop: Everything sounded fine when I took off for a test drive after replacing the wheel bearing, but it was just me in it then. Today the wife picks me up to go riding and bam, it starts scrapping again.

Certainly the wheel bearing was bad and needed replacement. But I'm thinking now that it might be the rubber bushing in the eye of the bottom leaf spring that might be bad. I'll check it tomorrow.
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Yes if the bearing had fallen apart like you said it's a good thing you found it when you did. Did you check the bearing on the other side of the cart? Let us know what you find.
 

bogman

Cartaholic
I haven't checked the drivers side wheel yet, but I know if the grease is in the same shape and it probably is, then at the very least I need to repack those bearings. I would bet that's the original grease from the factory. So now I know that every 14 years I need to check the grease.;)
 

bogman

Cartaholic
As you can see from the pic, the bushings in the eye of the leaf spring are completely worn out. The worn out side was on the bottom, but as you see in the pic I turned it 180 deg. so that we can run it till the new ones get here. Just got through with a test drive with the wife and there was no metal to metal noise. I added a pic of where the leaf spring was rubbing the inside of the rim.

While I was at it, I took the drivers side wheel and hub off. And faint and fall out:D it was nice and well lubed. Daylight and dark difference between this side and the other.
 

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bogman

Cartaholic
The new bushings came in from Golf Parts Unlimited for $10.50 shipped in 3 days. Kit has all bushings needed for all leaf springs front and rear with the metal inserts. There was nothing wrong with my old metal inserts but I went ahead and put the new ones in. Pic shows front right all the way to the right then front drivers side then the rear. Notice the front drivers side was fixing to be in the same shape as the other side.

I put the old rear ones back in the envelope and hung it on a nail in the shed. They could come in handy someday.:)
 

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John6020

New Member
I have the same rubbing problem with my 2007 Club Car. The 'experts' on several other pages point to bushings, bearings or other such reasons for the tie rod scraping. The mechanic at our local sales/repair shop said "Oh yeah, that's quite a common problem with the Club Cars.. it will come and go without warning.." While Bogman's worn out parts surely contributed to the scraping, there is only ONE sure-fire, ever lasting cure:
If you're close to needing new tires, and are running the stock 8" wheels/tires, swap them out for 10" wheels and low profile (205-50/10) tires.
This sent my clearance between the tie rod end and inside wheel hub from about two sheets of paper width to almost 1". It'll NEVER scrape again!
Of course, if your tires are newer and don't need replacing, the bushings/bearings solution(s) are for you. Just keep in mind that those may not be a permanent fix, like going from an 8" to a 10" wheel/tire would be.
 

Patrick L

Cartaholic
It pays to keep an eye on tie-rods, bushings, bearings etc. I like to repack the bearings about every 5 years or so. Doesn't take long.

I've had to cut bearings off the spindles. Some folks have replaced only the bearing and not the cup/race only to ruin the new bearing/cone in short order.

I have a friend that I did the wheel bearings for a while ago [ had to cut them off] and he refuses to spend the few extra bucks to replace the bushings. You can hear him rattling along 100 yards away.
 
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