1963 Cushman Golfster: gas model 735


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Old 09-07-18, 07:36 PM
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1963 Cushman Golfster: gas model 735

I have a completely restored 1963 Cushman Golfster Gas Model 735 that I have all the options for except the canopy. Does anyone know where I can get an original or a reproduction? Maybe even a drawing of one?
 
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Old 09-07-18, 09:20 PM
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I found this on Pinterest. Apparently it belongs to someone on the site called "Buggies Gone Wild".

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Old 09-08-18, 08:34 AM
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Cushman Golfster Canopy

Thanks Pete,

I can make one from that photo, and given the age of it, I will probably have to. lol

Have a great day!
 
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Old 12-27-18, 12:39 PM
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Golfster Canopy

Pete, I tried to find fittings that would work to construct a cage out of 1/2" EMT conduit without a lot of creative welding. the closest things I could find were out on the west coast, and the part I need (It had a pn of F-3 at both places) is a 90 degree Flat corner. It requires that I use 3/4" EMT which is Ok I guess. I have tried to contact both companies Creative Shelters (Oregon) and Canopies and Tarps (California) to make sure that the part i see on their web site will work for me, and to make sure the companies actually exist. i got no answer from several phone calls, but did get a computer response from Creative Shelters. You can see what the Flat corner top cover fitting looks like on either site, but I thought maybe you might know a company closer to Ohio that might have them too, that I could at least talk to. I don't like doing business with just a machine.
 
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Old 12-27-18, 01:09 PM
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Nothing on 1/2" but this one is 3/4" and up.
Had this one in my favorites..... Canopy-Fittings-3-4-Inch-s/6.htm

More 3/4" fittings on amazon
 
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Old 12-27-18, 01:33 PM
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Damn Pete, I am going to have to hire The Beer haulers from Smokey and the Bandit to cover you for your post back. My fittings are on the way to me from Arizona! Of all the sites I found for this item they were the least expensive, and obviously a respected source!

Happy Holidays to you as well! (This golfser is going to look like a Humvee now with the heavier pipe!
 
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Old 01-01-19, 04:51 PM
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Cushman Golfster

HI Pete,

With your Arizona source, I now have a 46" square cage made of 3/4" EMT conduit bolted to my Golfster with a roof made of aluminum siding panels. A local uphostery shop will make a zippered vynyl wrap around enclosure for me, but my neighbor who likes to bug me when I am working on one of my garage projects, said "you do everything else yourself, why don't you make the enclosure?" I started poking around looking for a source for clear vynyl, and tough zippers that I would need if I DID decide to make it myself, but had no luck. If you look at picture of the canopy at the beginning of the post, that is basically where I am am now, (without the white material covering the top of the frame) I just have to cut some clear vynyl into 46" squares, sew them together with long tough zippers at each corner, and then just drop the whole thing over the metal frame in the winter time. I just need to know where to get the stuff to do it! Any ideas?
 
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Old 01-02-19, 04:57 AM
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Search for tent or awning supplies. Many places have the hardware including zippers in varying weights and lengths, screens and cleary vinyl. Also check your local Walmart. Mine carries clear vinyl in three different weights.
 
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Old 01-02-19, 08:17 PM
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You can also check with a place that does boat covers as they use zippered plastic windows..
 
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Old 01-03-19, 06:23 PM
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Tent and Awning supplies

Well Gentlemen,

A quick Google search for "boat cover materials" brought up the Seattle Fabrics.com site which appears to have everything I want for a cover except the skill to do it as well as I would like. I'm sure I could destroy a lot of material at $3.95 a linear foot before I came close to what I want the cover to look like when finished. I think I may just let the shop do this one lol Thanks for the suggestion!
 
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Old 03-08-19, 05:08 PM
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Cushman Golfster

Pete, I got everything looking so good with the Canopy and enclosure that I started a search for Aluminum wheels like the ones on the photo you sent me early in the post. I found some that are a close match on Vintage Golf Carts, but those require adapters for mounting them to the Cushman. (Cushman has their wheel lugs mounted on 3 and 3/4" centers instead of 4" like everybody else. ) Since the Golfster has one front wheel, mounted on axle that goes thru the center hole in the rim, adding an extra 2" for an adapter is not possible without a major machining to the front fork, unless I am missing something. I haven't heard from Vintage Carts yet as to how to do this, but I always have the challenges! Any clues?
 
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Old 03-08-19, 05:41 PM
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mounted on 3 and 3/4" centers instead of 4" like everybody else.
Why does that not surprise me.

Wow.... that's a toughie. Such a limited market. I'm going to have to peruse around.
 
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Old 03-08-19, 07:44 PM
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Cushman Golfster

Im thinking that the guy we need to find is the guy who owns the cart in the picture, but good luck with that! I will look forward to whatever you can dig up!
 
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Old 03-12-19, 07:14 PM
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I registered on Buggies Gone Wild and placed a post on the Members Rides forum. Vintage got back to me with a photo of their WM11-150 which would be great for the back axle, but that one is only polished and made to be viewed from one side. I would have to buy two extra wheels for the front and cut them in half with a band saw and then weld them back together, and hope I can get it right so the axle fits. Maybe the owner of the cart above just put in the wheel for the photo, but I hope he bought a front wheel cast the right way somewhere!
 
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Old 03-13-19, 04:55 AM
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Can you take a modern wheel to a machine shop and have them drill and counter sink new mounting holes for you.
 
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Old 03-13-19, 09:14 AM
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Cuahman golfster wheels

I can do just about anything, The trick is finding a modern wheel that is finished on both sides and is not offset too much to adapt an axle and bearing set up that is presently made for a one front wheel only set up. I had no idea that None of the big manufacturers makes one like the one I need to even start thinking about doing the machine work. I am not sure whether I even want it bad enough to as I said previously to cut two of them in half and weld the two opposite facings together to make a whole new wheel.
 
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Old 03-13-19, 04:37 PM
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I'm pretty sure I found the owner of that cart on Buggies Gone Wild. The thread is in the link.
The thread is three pages long. He discusses where he got the wheel on page 2.

B.G.W.
 
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Old 03-13-19, 05:52 PM
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Hi Pete I tried several times to determine where he got the wheel and rim he raves about on Ruppparts.com, but I cannot find it. Another guy said the same thing on the stream of replies on page 2. I did get the name of the Eagle Rim company (that he says are cheaply made) from the discussion. Perhaps you can make more sense of it? I would just call Rupp, but find a number on the site? good luck!
 
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Old 03-13-19, 05:55 PM
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That site is gone. It's asking if you want to buy it. Unfortunate.
 
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Old 03-13-19, 06:35 PM
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Cushman Golfster

Take a look at the drivers side view on the BGW site of the front wheel. I would bet that the guy used the wheels from vintage and did not worry about the unfinished side being visible. THAT would explain a lot, and solve a lot of problems. Let me know if you see what I do.
 
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Old 03-18-19, 06:01 PM
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Cushman Golfster

We're going to mill out the 4X4" alloy wheels and insert fittings to fit the 3 and 3.4" original hubs and won't need to use adapters. The front wheel will be milled out to fit as well and then sanded and polished so both sides will shine....
 
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Old 03-18-19, 08:58 PM
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That sounds like a plan.
 
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Old 03-19-19, 04:46 AM
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I can't wait to see the pictures when you are done.
 
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Old 03-25-19, 02:20 PM
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Cushman Golfster

I will be happy to show it off, the wheels are on a ups truck. I have another phase of the project I am looking for some help on. I have a custom made 3 Speed, 1 reverse transmission in the vehicle. My Granddaughter will be the ultimate owner of this vehicle, and I thought I would look into a small automatic transmission for this machine to make it easier for her to drive. It originally had a centrifugal clutch in front of the conventional clutch, but I cannot find one just like it. It was not very well made, and required constant replacement of the lining tabs etc anyway. If someone has one on the shelf that needs rebuilding I might buy it from them but failing that, if I have to design and build a small torqueflite to fit, you guys know me well enough to know I will do it. Thanks for your support!
 
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Old 03-25-19, 03:21 PM
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CVT clutches are definetely the way to go if you can make it work.
 
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Old 03-25-19, 06:28 PM
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Cushman Golfster

If I had the engine in the rear, I could see going the CVT route, Since the Cushman has a scaled down automotive drive line with the engine in the front, I will keep looking for a small automatic . Lots of 90+ year olds in my family, and I am only 72. Something will come along....
 
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Old 03-26-19, 04:52 AM
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Take a look at places like Surpluss Center. They have a number of transaxles like used in riding lawn mowers. Normally they have a bigger selection but online you can find all sorts of hydrostatic and gearded transaxles that you might make work.
 
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Old 04-01-19, 09:36 AM
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Cushman Golfster Automatic transmissiion

Some good Karma came my way. I reached out to a guy who did some work for me a long time ago to see if he came across any Cushman Centrifugal clutches since I saw him last, and he had two of them and that I could have them! (these replace the engine flywheel and the fiber clutch facing rests against the inner part of the clutch) They are both on my bench at home right now. Both of them have some parts missing, but there is enough there to make the two into one complete. There is going to be some machining, and some scrounging for asbestos for the pads but I should be good to go!
 
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Old 04-10-19, 06:02 PM
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Cushman Golfster Custom Wheels

Just an update on the Custom wheel Project. My Machinist and I finally got together with all the wheels, axles etc in front of both of us, with some additional measurements we determined that adapters were the only way to go to be able to mount the custom wheels for summer, and change them back to stock rims and snow tires for winter use. The Adapters are on the way, and some slight machining has to be done to the front lug studs but should be good to go soon.
 
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Old 04-11-19, 05:06 AM
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Cool, I'm glad things are working out. Most people don't have it to stick with a project like this.
 
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Old 04-11-19, 06:49 AM
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Trust me, there were a couple of times that I wanted to just forget it! My tag line is "not too bright, but persistent" People stopped before when i was working in my yard and asked what this vehicle is. It will be interesting to see what happens now, that she is all dressed up. New canopy, enclosure, and wheels. whoo hoo! Couldnt have done it without all your support!
 
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Old 04-11-19, 12:02 PM
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No fun in giving up. We just keep plodding along.
 
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Old 04-22-19, 07:02 PM
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Well Pete (and Dane) the fun just keeps on coming! I was trying to put the new 18X950X8 tires on my new rims and they just wouldn't slip over the rim. I wanted another set of eyes on this because I was told by the rim manufacturer that this was the right size tire. My tech did a couple of measurements and told me the rim was made for a lot bigger diameter bead. like maybe 9.5 or 10 not 8. So now I am in a discussion with the rim supplier. I will let them find a set of tires that fit the rims, and still fit in the wheel wells of my Cushman. What doesn't kill me should make me stonger lol
 
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Old 04-26-19, 01:23 PM
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Well you guys know that I was mystified as to how a company who sells rims didn't know what size tire it took to fit them, but I guess I get it if a guy who just sits at a computer an deals with numbers all day might have to take someone else's word for a correct tire size. Since the rim supplier did not get back to me in a time line I liked, I went hunting for tires elsewhere, and found a great team at Buggies Unlimited. THEY had a diagram they sent me for measuring rims, and after taking measurements I made on the rims the other guys sent me, I sent those measurements back to them. They then sent me a selection of tires and prices that match the rims I have and allowed me to place another tire order with a lot more confidence. I am waiting right now for the UPS truck .
 
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Old 04-27-19, 04:30 AM
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If you've just found Buggies Unlimited be aware of what you are buying. Many of the cart parts are aftermarket and some are cheap imports. If a new carburetor seems like a great deal at $100 when an OEM/original Mikuni is $300 that's a warning sign. I've had good luck with their accessories and simple parts like suspension bushings but I stay away from their engine parts after having gotten bad carburetors, ignition coils... They do have a nice forum though. It used to be more prominent and easy to find but it still exists if you search. Another good forum is Buggies Gone Wild.
 
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Old 04-27-19, 08:24 AM
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Buggies Unlimited Parts

Thanks for the advice. I use OEM parts whenever I can get them, especially for engines. I am in some companies databases that span the country, (even in Yuma ARZ lol) I am kind of amazed at the workmanship in the allow wheels that I have now that were made in China, Aside from being a b word to install tires on, they are really well made, I should have some pictures to share before too long.
 
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Old 04-28-19, 05:45 PM
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I got the new (right sized tires) this weekend, and the rear two are installed with a minimum of issues. and they look great. I had to make a support arm out of 2 inch square tubing and clamped my Harbor Freight mini tire changer to one end, and fit the other into the Reese hitch on my Dodge Ram. It took all I had muscle wise and a cheater bar on the Harbor Freight Install bar to get the the tires on the rims, but I finally go them on without scratching anything. My front fork is in another town, so I will have to be patient for now!
 
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Old 05-05-19, 12:58 PM
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Front fork and axle are back with the RHOX rim machined to fit the 3 and 3/4 " center bolt pattern. With the rims, tires, and canopy, the Cushman looks great! (2012 Dodge Ram Deep Cherry Red (to match my Truck) with Black Trim) Still waiting for the Enclosure to be fabricated, but no rush now!
 
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Old 05-05-19, 02:19 PM
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Can't wait to see the pictures.
 
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Old 06-01-19, 02:28 PM
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I have been swamped with other projects and had to dress up the canopy for public viewing. The guy has measured the car 3 times and still hasn't been back to install the enclosure. I might have to do that too. I should send a picture of what I have when the canopy gets a quick repaint.

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Last edited by PJmax; 10-27-19 at 04:42 PM. Reason: added emailed pictures
 

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