Long Travel Suspension for your golf cart!

Oct. 01, 2005 By Mike Lyon

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We visited Strech Plastic’s to add some power to our 2002 EZ-GO golf cart as well as a major suspension upgrade! We added some motor modifications, their front a-arm kit and the all new rear reverse 3 link suspension system.

Strech started in 1974 making windshields for golf carts. They now have a 50,000 square foot facility in Banning, CA and make just about everything you can imagine for golf carts. Items like: full bodies, lift kits, a carbon fiber dash, front a-arm suspension, and now an all new reverse ‘3 link’ rear end. Strech Plastic’s makes everything in-house from fab to powder coat.

The front suspension consists of upper and lower control arms, spindles, heim joint equipped tie-rods, and 2 16” coil over shocks. This kit offers 12” of travel and is very easy to bolt on!

The rear reverse 3 link system is all new. It consists of trailing arms, shocks, new sub-frame, and all the necessary hardware. The kit takes a little more time to install than the front, but is still relatively simple. The sub-frame pivots in the center on a heim joint. The trailing arms bolt to the sub-frame and the shocks bolt between the frame and the trailing arms. This kit also slightly lowers the motor which allows the rear suspension to articulate similar to a full size truck. The rear kit allows for 12 inches of independent travel and 9 inches with both wheels at the same time.

Strech Plastic also has some performance modifications for the EZ-GO motor. We installed their exhaust system, which is basically a straight pipe with an ATV style silencer used as a muffler. This system is noticeably louder than stock. To keep the motor running cool we added an aluminum oil cooler which allows for more oil capacity. We also had Andy and Dave, Resident Golf Cart Guru’s, who did the grunt work on our cart do some custom jetting to make our cart run to its maximum potential. Since there are not very many different size jets available, they had to drill out the stock jets a few thousandths to make it run perfect. They did a great job and seem to know these carts inside and out, real pro’s!!

So how does it all work? We were skeptical at how much better the front suspension would be. Tony Tacchia at Strech Plastic took us for a ‘cruise’ in their fully modified company golf cart. We got in and Tony hands us a helmet “put this on and hang on tight!” he says. We were thinking “what am I in for wearing a helmet in a golf cart?!” Tony hits the gas pedal and heads full throttle towards a ditch with a 5’ high bank on the opposite side. Just before hitting it, we tensed up like you would just as you realize you’re about to hit a witches eye pinned in 5th gear. Tony hits the ditch, sails over the 5’ bank with all 4 wheels off the ground. To our amazement, we land like a long travel sand rail; nice and plush! Amazing!! He continues on his ride trying to scare the hell out of us by hitting every bump and ditch he can find, all at full throttle. This thing is amazing!

After that ride, we were eager to try our newly out-fitted EZ-GO! We did, at least, wait until we were at the dunes to find a jump to give this golf cart ‘the full test’. We managed to find a mound of sand that had surrounded a bush in a flat area. We decided to use it as our launch ramp. The 1st few attempts we hit it at about half throttle simply because we were chicken! After a few runs we decided to hit it full throttle. Approaching the jump you can feel the adrenaline building up. You hit the face, the front end points sky-ward, and you sail off! All 4 tires off the ground and you’re greeted with a smooth landing, what a rush! We quickly found out that our rear shocks were set to the stiffest setting and the fronts on a softer setting. The landings were nose down and would throw you forward in the seat. After a quick adjustment the front end would not dive near as much and felt much safer landing from a jump.

After a few test runs we decided to find a bigger and better jump. We found a 30’ tall dune with a 3’ slip face about ¼ of the way from the top. Hitting this at full throttle was even more of a rush than our previous flat land jump. You sail off the slip face and land while still having 20 feet of downward dune to transverse. Simply amazing to do in a golf cart! Even with 2 or more people in the cart the landings were all very plush! All of this jumping without a helmet, seat belts and a roll cage is far from safe in a golf cart. We do not recommend getting big air in a golf cart! DO NOT ATTEMPT! Since we also added a few motor modifications we were able to take this golf cart from the stock 15mph up to over 25mph. Strech Plastic’s must leave the factory governor set to 20mph. It’s up to you to adjust it for increased speed. We did find that the rev limiter was easy to hit. While headed down hill the motor will sound like its popping. We asked if there was a way to fix this and were told it was the rev limiter and there wasn’t much that could be done other than letting off the gas a small amount. When on flat ground or headed up hill we never had this issue.

Our improved golf cart made a huge difference, it felt like a totally different cart! We tried very hard to break our new suspension but found it to be indestructible. And believe us we’ve put this cart through a rigorous test!

If you’re looking to upgrade your cart, check out the Strech Plastic web site. Since they only deal with certified golf cart dealers, you can have your local dealer order anything you need directly from Strech Plastic and pick in up in just a few days

http://www.strechplastics.com/