1968 Taylor-Dunn Tee-Bird Golfcart

[chuckufarley]

Here is what I spend my day doing. I found it in the free section of craigslist a couple months back....Another guy and his brother got there first but I gave them a 60$ home depot card and my Dewalt grinder for it they even helped me load it in my truck........Lots of fun and pretty fast but still pretty ugly.....The best thing is there is no controller Just a sliding contact for the throttle.....Love it OLD SCHOOL!!!

 

[Arlo1]

Looks like the motor I have. And they can make a lot of power!

 

[Stone Meadow]

Looks like a 3-wheel version of the '84 Tee Bird GT371 I have. 36 volts with a slide contact "throttle"...300 amps!

Mine is quite heavy (near 1000 lbs?), but has plenty of torque and gets right up to its governed 12 mph in a hurry. I see on the Vintage Golf Cart website that the motors are rated for just two hp, tho. Anybody have any insight into that?

 

[chuckufarley]

It has no controller just a mechanical slide contact made with copper bars and resistors. and no limit to the voltage I can put to it....I'm running it at 60v and I think it goes about 25 mph it's pretty fast I've cooked some belts already nothing even gets warm ....I'm going to try it at 120 volts.....all the wiring and windings are huge. this thing will spin a brody when I'm done with it..... I need to go buy more belts tho. 8)

 

[chuckufarley]

Oh and also mine weighs in at at about 400lb or less I picked it up and moved it so it cant be 1000 lbs but the rearend is like a chevy .....4.11 gears?? a big ass blower belt for a drive.... I'm thinking I need to be able to break the wheels loose around corners to stay upright I almost flipped it over yesterday...... My neighbors got a good laugh though I jumped ship and pushed it back upright.....My my imagination has been spinning for days I have a top I am covering with solar cells to keep it charged and im going to plug my A/C into the battery bank into the winter .... Cheap mobile solar battery ...I have an enphase mppt inverter to use and a xantrex charge controller. AND ........Dramatic pause. LED ground effect lights....my kids love it!

 

[Stone Meadow]

Oh and also mine weighs in at at about 400lb or less I picked it up and moved it so it cant be 1000 lbs but the rearend is like a chevy .....4.11 gears??

The later 4-wheel ones were heavier than the early 3-wheelers like you have. The "dry weight" of mine is generally listed as 400+ lbs, then add ~400 lbs more for the batteries, and more yet for the optional windscreen and roof mine has. It doesn't add up to an actual 1000 lbs, but it's damned heavy. :wink:

And yes, it doesn't have a "controller". I was using the term colloquially... :lol:

Good find!

 

[chuckufarley]

I am powering it with agm gel cell 35 amp hour batteries at the moment. it's a lot lighter that way I am considering building a lithium battery for it. and installing a raptor front end but yeah I will definitely weigh a lot more when it's finished.... but I want to try and keep it light because it does haul ass... could be the next 3 wheeled white zombie.....

 

[chuckufarley]

I've worked on her some more I need to do some metal work on the floorpan to fix the rust holes. But i thought some paint and a seat couldn't hurt also a tailgate for my kids to ride in. I've also decorated and added wheels to my charger. I also am leaning strongly toward installing this vintage spotlight I got cleaning my grandpas farm.