Towing and transportation of golf carts are necessary in certain cases.
For example when taking your golf cart for maintenance, from your home to the golf course, or even when covering massive distance between two parts in the same golf course.
It is important to have a detailed know-how of the best techniques to tow your golf cart from one place to another with ease.
How to Tow a Golf Cart on a Trailer
Before digging deep in the tiny details of the towing mechanism of the golf carts, it is important to first understand the basic towing procedure:
- First, it is mandatory you have a proper towing vehicle in good condition. It should be capable of towing payload on a trailer. Then you need to attach a universal joint ball receiver at the rear end of your towing vehicle by properly installing it with a hitch.
- It is important to factor in the weight of the trailer and its contents to ensure the safety of the towing vehicle and trailer itself.
- Once the hitch ball receiver is attached over the top of the available hitch ball at the rear end of the towing vehicle, you should secure it by locking the latch with a pin or a lock.
- Next, you need to connect a wired harness from the tow vehicle to the trailer in order to make sure a secured connection is established between the two.
- After completion of trailer installation, the next step is to load in the golf cart on to the trailer. Remove the side pins and unlock side latches so that trailer is inclined and then push your golf cart in. Make sure to set your parking brake on the trailer.
- Finally, close the rear ramp of the trailer and secure its lock using the side latch pins. Now you can safely tow your trailer and golf cart using your towing vehicle. Make sure to pay attention to the speed limit and traffic hazards.
Video Example of transporting a Golf Cart On A Trailer
Choosing the right trailer
Golf carts are now everyday utility vehicles and require safe and high-quality trailers for their convenient transportation.
If you own a golf cart, then it’s a good idea for you to look into purchasing a suitable golf cart trailer to haul it from one place to another.
Before choosing a trailer for your golf cart, it is important to do some research regarding weight and size of your golf cart and trailer.
A golf cart on average weighs between 600 and 1400 pounds depending on the model and manufacturer.
You should have this knowledge of your golf cart’s weight and size beforehand and then look for the trailer capable enough to support your golf cart.
Trailers come in different sizes depending on the requirements.
The most common type of trailers are single cart supporters i.e. they can only transport one golf cart at a time.
A trailer sized between 5 to 10 feet is best for supporting a single golf cart.
Other important factors you should consider before buying a golf cart towing trailer are:
- Material of the trailer
- Shape
- Tire and Axle quality of the trailer
- Payload capacity
- Price
How to use a trailer to tow a golf cart
The use of trailers is the most common procedure followed in the world to tow not only golf carts but also other vehicles and payloads.
Here we discuss the correct procedure of using the trailer to tow a golf cart:
- First, attach the trailer to the hitch ball at the rear end of your towing vehicle. Next, in order to ensure safety of the golf cart and trailer, it is handy to attach the golf cart to the trailer, before loading, using safety chains.
- Next, you can load your golf cart(s) onto the trailer by extending the rear ramp of the trailer.
- Once the carts are loaded, you can use nylon strips or wheel nets to secure the vehicles or other payloads on the trailer.
Use of the tow dolly
Tow dollies are becoming widely popular as they provide a convenient method of loading golf carts and other vehicles on the bed of the trailer.
Tow dollies have become increasingly popular in cases where there is a requirement of towing multiple vehicles at the same time.
Here is how:
- The tow dolly is attached to the rear end of the trailer bed. You should tow the vehicles on top of the dolly ramp. There is no other way but to drive the dolly in order to establish a firm connection between the vehicle’s front tires and the dolly.
- This method only works for towing vehicles coming with front-wheel drives. And the inclined movement of the towed vehicle may cause damage to the transmission shaft and rear differential of the car.
- To avoid this damage, it is safe to cut off the driveshaft from below the vehicle by disassembling the driveshaft and differential housing.
Different cases of towing a golf cart
So far, we have discussed a basic towing mechanism and its procedure.
But towing a golf cart is not always as simple as it sounds.
There are hundreds of different models of golf carts having different kinds of features, modes, and geometric aspects.
1. Golf cart in run mode
Golf carts have gone through rapid technological developments over the past few decades.
Recent models of golf carts come with dozens of exciting features enhancing performance and security of the cart.
It is fundamental to be aware of the features offered by your golf cart.
One of these features include the Run Switch.
Almost every modern golf cart comes with a run switch enhancing the ability of the cart to reduce manual labor and provide constant minimal power.
If you are not aware of this feature and you try to tow the cart in run mode, then it can be seriously dangerous for your vehicle.
These tow switches are handy and come with a motor having logic and machine learning memory, similar to the digital stereo of a car.
When turned on, the controller here helps in drawing minimal power from the motor even when the cart is not in use.
Hence, in run mode, you can easily get the cart rolling without having to push the cart on the trailer bed.
This minimal freedom of roll is enough to tow the cart right onto the trailer bed without causing any sort of nuisance.
2. Golf cart with a roof
People owing a golf cart with a roof on it find it extremely difficult to tow their golf carts and in some cases are found to be very reluctant due to the risk factor involved.
Load your cart onto the trailer bed safely.
If you have ensured the strap safety of the cart’s roof to the trailer and towing vehicle, then there is no need to worry and fear the damage to your cart.
You might want to pay attention to speed limit though, because driving unnecessarily fast with a trailer attached to your vehicle can be risky in any case.
3. Multiple golf carts or golf cart and a car together
The towing procedures, which so far we have discussed in this article apply to towing of golf carts and cars too.
The method in both cases more or less remains the same.
However, in some cases you might encounter having to tow a car and golf cart together at the same time.
Before doing this, you should be well aware of the loads of the two vehicles and select the trailer bed accordingly.
It should be capable enough to support the weight requirement.
After getting your hands on the trailer suitable for your task, you may carry out the procedure discussed above in the article – you can use either a simple trailer ramp to load your vehicles one by one or use a tow dolly.
4. Golf cart with a windshield
One advice you may always get from the experts is to never tow your golf cart on a truck or trailer bed facing rearward.
The reason behind this is to protect the windshield of your golf cart from snapping off and causing damage to your cart, vehicle, or other people on the road.
Golf cart windshields come with a snap-on feature i.e. they are mounted on by pushing the windshield into the C-shaped channels at the front of the cart.
This makes these shields capable of withstanding pressure from the front side of the cart but vulnerable to any kind of pressure and force coming from the backward direction.
Hence, we recommend you to either completely remove the windshield while transporting your cart or never to load it in the rearward direction.
5. Towing a golf cart behind an RV or camper
In some cases, you may encounter having to tow your gold cart behind a camper or a recreational vehicle.
In such cases, we recommend you choose either of the three steps on the basis of the feasibility:
- Use of a flatbed or enclosed trailers – These types of trailers are large and safe, having room for different kinds of payloads including your golf cart.
- Use of tow bar – Tow bars come in handy to easily get the golf cart on top of your camper or RV. Tow bars come with safety chains, cables, and in some cases supplementary brakes to ensure complete safety of the cart and vehicle while driving.
- Use of tow dolly – A tow dolly is another option you can use – the method to use it is similar to the procedure we have discussed in detail earlier in the article. However, it is worth mentioning the risks involved in the use of a tow dolly. It can damage your vehicle and rear transmission-differential assembly of the golf cart if installed incorrectly.
Conclusion
Towing a golf cart is indeed a tricky task and a minor fault can result in major damage to your vehicle or your golf cart.
We hope this article has helped you in developing a better understanding of different towing procedures and details you should know before carrying out transportation of your own golf cart.
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