Repower Article - 11/07/07
You may not spend much time thinking about the engine of your golf cart, but if you want to make sure that you don’t suddenly find yourself with a worn out engine then golf cart maintenance should at least cross your mind from time to time. Small engines can receive excessive wear when they aren’t properly maintained, and this wear can result in both a loss of power and an increased likelihood of electrical systems failing when attempting to use an electric starter. The last thing that you want is for your Club Car Carryall or other cart model to become stranded or to have to go into the shop for a massive overhaul when you could have eliminated the potential problems with the timely use of a small engine rebuild kit or the move from your older flat head engine to a Kohler small engine.
Of course, you might be wondering exactly how much of a difference it could make to choose the Kohler Command-11 instead of some of the other small engine options that are available on the market today. The difference lies in the added power that can be given to your cart from the overhead valve engine as well as the additional features that the Command-11 offers. To better understand the advantage of choosing the Kohler engine for your upgrade, consider the following information.
By choosing a Kohler Command-11 small engine rebuild kit, you can experience an increase in power over what you received from your old flat head side valve engine. This increase is due to a variety of features, including the 11-horsepower overhead valve on the single-cylinder engine. Overhead valve engines tend to have a longer life, lower fuel consumption, lower emissions, and even less noise than their side valve counterparts, and also experience a greatly-reduced amount of carbon buildup which could otherwise rob your engine of power as it ages. In addition, this Kohler small engine will stay cooler than some older engines due to its two-quart oil capacity and its pressure lubrication system which is designed to ensure superior cooling of engine components as well as providing ample lubrication to help prevent engine wear. The cooler your engine stays during operation, then the less you have to worry about it suffering heat damage or breaking down the oil that keeps it lubricated (which can result in both a loss of power due to engine sludge and eventual damage from engine wear due to the loss of lubrication.) To help keep your oil clean and your golf cart maintenance easy to perform, the Command-11 also features a disposable oil filter much like you would find on many larger engines.
In addition to offering an increase in power, the Command-11 features a manual start option in addition to the standard electric starter which would be available on your Club Car Carryall. This manual start recoil system serves as a useful backup to your standard equipment, allowing you to be able to get your cart’s small engine running even if the electric startup system is malfunctioning or beginning to fail. The advantage of this should be obvious, as you now no longer need to worry about what would happen if you were on the course or making your rounds and found yourself unable to restart the engine via conventional means. Having a manual backup available on your engine could mean the difference between being able to get back to where you started from and having to call for help.
Of course, if you’re considering purchasing a Kohler small engine then you’re going to want to make sure that you don’t have to put any more work into the conversion than absolutely necessary. Kohler had this in mind when developing the Command-11 upgrade for the Club Car Carryall I and II. The conversion kit includes a variety of new components, including the engine itself, a muffler system, the mounting plate for the engine, a drive belt, a starter generator belt, and even a choke cable so that you won’t have to worry about having older parts that might wear out before the core small engine components do. The repower kit has been designed with ease of installation in mind, allowing you to essentially drop the new engine in and have it ready to go in record time. After all, you want to be able to spend your time using your cart and not having to toil away endlessly at getting a new engine installed.
~Ben Anton, 2007