7 Tips to Keeping Your Golf Cart Running Well
In the United States, there are more and more ways to get around. Golf carts are being allowed to be driven in more and more places. In many places, people are allowed to drive golf carts on any street where the speed limit is under 35 miles per hour. Just like other motor vehicles, it is important to perform maintenance on all golf carts.. Here are a few tips to help you keep your golf cart running well:
- Pay attention to the tires. No one does not know to look at the tires on their car but people often neglect this vital thing on their golf carts. Check the tire pressure once a month, you should go out and check this. Most golf cart tires should be at 22 psi. Under inflated tires can be problematic for a few reasons. They can impact the performance level of the cart and they can cause uneven wear and tear on the tires, which will reduce their lifespan. Make sure you look for any separation on the wall or cracks, these mean you need new tires.
- Check the alignment. One sign that your alignment is off is that you will see uneven wear and tear on your tires. There are a number of ways the alignment can go out. If you hit a hole or a curb that can do it. When you check the alignment, one thing that may help is to rotate the tires. If you keep the alignment right, the tire pressure at the right level and the tires rotated, the tires will last longer.
- Have the brakes checked regularly. The brakes on golf carts should be checked and serviced once a year. This includes having the technician check over the brakes, adjust and clean the drums, pedal and cables. When you neglect to have the brakes properly checked, you may miss problems with them that lead to making the golf cart too dangerous to drive. It can also mean you have to end up spending a lot on expensive repairs. You should get to know what your brakes should sound like and if you notice changes, bring the cart to a mechanic to be looked at.
- Check the rear differential. The rear differential sits at the back of the golf cart and is what actually drives it forward. You should make it a point to check it for lots of dirt or oil. If you see either, the chances are good that you have an oil leak. This should be taken care of sooner than later as it can cause a lot of problems.
- Have your steering and suspension checked. You need to have these checked for lose nuts or bolts and for any wear and tear. This needs to be done once a year.
- Keep it clean. The paint on golf carts is similar to the paint on cars. It is also the first line of defense for the engine of the golf cart. Keeping your cart clean will help keep the paint job at its best. You need to clean the outside and make sure you wash the underside of the cart. Make sure you also get the area behind each of the tires and wheels, mud and grime are known to collect in these areas.This will extend the lifespan of the golf cart. If your golf cart has a battery, that should be cleaned on a regular basis as well. You need to use air pressure to clean the battery as using water can be very dangerous.
- Have the battery serviced. Cart batteries are not quite like car and truck batteries. They need a little more care and feeding. How much care and feeding depends on the kind of you have and the amount of use it gets. Some carts, such as those used on golf courses but your probably does not see the same level of usage. You need to water your batteries. Not everyone is comfortable doing this themselves. Talk to the golf cart dealers who sold you the cart to get an idea of when the battery needs to be watered and serviced.
If you keep your golf cart maintained, it should last a long time.