Quote:
Originally Posted by Village Discount Golf Car
I'd like to step in here and clear up some confusion. I'm going to call this my very very educated opinion, as I don't need the powers that be around here having their attorneys send me letters.
We recondition hundreds of Yamaha golf carts per year. Currently 2012 and newer Yamaha Gas Cars. I'm going to call "Yamaha"as the manufacturer and the "dealer" as any dealer that might sell Yamaha Golf Carts.
In 2012 1/2 Yamaha came out with EFI carts. At that point all of their golf carts , whether they are EFI , or carbureted came with a new clutch set. That's a drive clutch and a driven clutch. These were not manufactured by Team any longer, they are referred to as FBT clutch, even though the entire rear end was manufactured by Team. The dealers don't know why Yamaha switched , none of them were in the room at the time. Everyone's best guess is that the new clutch sets were cheaper. What the manufacturer did not take into account at the time was the performance of the FBT clutch when high-speed gears were added along with 10 inch tires. Unfortunately , many of you are frustrated and want to go after the manufacturer, I would strongly suggest not wasting your time and money, as they can hide behind their stated warranty in regard to "modifications".
Now, what we must understand is that the manufacturer sells over 40,000 golf carts per year in America. And their golf carts perform fine at 14 mph as they were designed to work on golf courses. They have The ability to put a more expensive clutch in their carts , but evidently it does not make sense to them to spend that money on 40,000 carts for a few thousand that are used in the manner in which we use them in the villages .
In Florida the State Statute in regard to speed of a golf cart is no more than 20mph on a level surface. To that end, prudent dealers install a higher speed gear into every golf carts rear end. This enables the car to do 19.9 without destroying the input shaft, and then the entire engine. The 10 inch tires give the cart a much nicer ride , and handling. Though 10 inch tires do give you 2 mph more speed , that is not the reason they are installed on golf carts in the villages. Dealers turn the carts down to 19.9 miles an hour after adding the 10 inch tires. This gives your cart a much lower RPM , it runs cooler , burns less gas, and is quieter. It's usually the end user that turns the carts up to travel faster than the state law, but that's a whole other conversation.
The good news !! Though the manufacturer has chosen not to remedy the problem and help dealers in the villages, there is a cheap and easy fix to the "Clutch slip" issue. As it turns out it is a calibration issue with the FBT clutch. The fix is a different drive belt and different spring in the driven clutch. We install this on every 2012 1/2 and newer car before it leaves our showroom.
For you do it yourselfers google Gboosttechnology Formerly Earlandson Technologies. The owner Glenn is "The Man" when it comes to clutching issues and has been doing just that for decades. The drive belt part number is DBYAJ57H and is $54.95 , and the spring part number is DRYA13 "white" and costs $24.95 .If you don't replace the spring also , fix won't work. If you do decide to do it yourself be warned you need a special clutch tool and press to install the spring. If you are not a do it yourselfer, all dealers in this area have accounts with this company and should have these parts in stock. If you are reading this and you own one of our carts, please call us as the fix is always free.
More good news ! Though you might be extremely frustrated right now , my best advice would be to let it go. It's not the dealers fault, and the manufacturer is doing way better than the competition when it comes to frustration factor for the dealers. We are an independent golf cart dealer and can sell any golf cart brand we choose. When it comes to gas golf carts , it is our opinion , for several reasons , that Yamaha gas golf carts are "the best golf cart for the villages" .
Regards,
Sal Granata
Village Discount Golf Car
Ps . Please excuse punctuation and capitalization as I am speaking into my iPhone..
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Thank You Village Discount Golf Cars for your input. Your explanation and solution is most welcome and I hope that it truly is "The Fix"
Some on this forum have been complaining about this for a long time but it has subsided lately. I'm not yet having that problem but I'm told that I will in the future. I've copied your text into a file and saved for future reference.
Wouldn't you think that Yamaha would treat their top two dealers in the country better?
(perhaps in the form of a recall to those customers here experiencing problems)
As I understand, #1=The Villages Golf Carts (has 3 locations) and #2=Carts and Clubs.