Our Wren's Nest

...sharing Our hobby farm adventures!

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Desserts
    • Side Dishes
    • Preserving Food
    • Quick Eats
  • Farm Inspired DIY
    • 3D Printing Projects
    • Photography DIY
    • Sewing Projects
    • Garden Projects
    • Holiday DIY
  • On The Farm
  • Our Farm Shop
  • Connect

The Chicken Mobile!

August 26, 2022 by OurWrensNest Leave a Comment

The adventure of turning an old golf cart into a useful farm tool!

Bringing tools back to life is something we love to do on the farm. Many older tools are much better than what you can get in the store today! We are always on the look out for tools to rebuild to make things easier on the farm!

Early last year we were offered a golf cart to rebuild. We were super excited about this project, but this golf cart needed some serious love. Unfortunately, the Northeast Ohio winter got the best of the golf cart, and there was a leak in on the golf cart batteries. It goes without saying, we had our work cut out for us!

The Clean Up

Our first step before we could do anything with the golf cart rebuild was to completely clean down the golf cart, and see it was even fixable. We had to be very careful because of the battery acid that had leaked out in the battery compartment of the golf cart. Everything was completely dry at this point, but you still need to be super careful with battery acid, scary stuff!

We coated all the old batteries in baking soda. Baking soda neutralizes the battery acid, and made it safer for us to get the batteries out of the golf cart. We didn’t have to worry about removing the wires on the golf cart, because they had worn through, and fell out for us!

We disposed of the old batteries properly, and learned quickly how heavy golf cart batteries are! Golf cart battery straps are a must! At this point, we were a little worried about this rebuild, there was a lot of damage on the side, but we powered on.

Inspection Time

After the old batteries were gone, we did a full inspection on the golf cart. Surprisingly, everything on the golf cart was in pretty good condition besides a little damage in the battery compartment, which was totally fixable.

The tires though flat, were still very usable, and all the rest of the wiring was in very good condition. After the inspection was complete, we took our trusty power washer, and gave the golf cart a good scrubbing, it was really starting to come together!

The Great Battery Search

The biggest challenge we had with the golf cart rebuild was finding batteries that wouldn’t break the budget. There are some very good golf cart batteries out there, but they were way outside of our farm budget! We even considered at one point converting the golf cart to solar powered!

We looked at getting some used batteries that had been refurbished but still the cost was pretty high. During a by chance visit to our local Sam’s Club, we were able to find our golf cart batteries at a really good cost! We needed 6 batteries total, and did I mention they are heavy?

The golf cart was coming along, got the batteries, all the batteries wires, golf cart was super clean now. It was time for putting this “new ride” together!

The Re-Build

It took us about a day to get everything together on the golf cart. We had to carefully place the batteries in the cart, make sure the initial damage wasn’t going to be an issue. Luckily we were good to go!

We then had to very, very carefully connect the wires inside the golf cart. There was very specific steps to connecting the batteries. I can’t tell you how many articles we read about batteries exploding, that made for a nervous morning!

Once everything was together, we put the key in the ignition, and we heard a noise but nothing happened. We doubled checked everything, and the golf cart wasn’t moving, just beeping! To say we were bummed was an understatement.

Grizz to the Rescue!

We quickly did a ton of research to see if anyone had any advice. Being a daughter of a car mechanic who used to work on golf carts, we got some advice from my dad. Went online and dug all over the place to see if there was a fix. We had a little thought of what it may be, but we just weren’t sure!

What saved the project was our dear friend Grizz. After digging around in the heat, and running a few tests, he could see it was the solenoid, which thank goodness was an easy part to get, and a quick fix! Oh and by the way, we guessed it was the solenoid too, yay!

It’s Aliveeeeee

After the solenoid was put in, we put the seat down, and carefully put the key back in. The golf cart zoomed out of the barn, and drove perfectly! We were so incredibly excited! Our “chicken mobile” was alive! We made sure now that the golf cart was running to grease all the bearings, and we put the golf cart to work! We even added a seat cover to the golf cart!

It’s amazing how much quicker are barn chores are now that we have the cart to drive across the property between the barn and chicken coop. The flock has even grown to know that when the golf cart shows up, its food time!

Grizz even helped us make the golf cart even better by attaching on a tow hitch and added a dump cart! We are beyond thankful and blessed with this amazing farm tool!

It has now been a year since we rebuilt the golf cart, and we couldn’t be happier with its performance. The golf cart holds charge great, puts up with some bumpy terrain, and is a tremendous help on the farm! Sometimes I work from the golf cart by the pond, it is so lovely!

Hopefully we have given some inspiration to rebuild a tool, maybe you have thinking about. It is so rewarding when you see that “new” tool in action!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

You might also enjoy...

Chicken Cell Phone Holder!
Concrete Hand Succulent Planter
Our Little Cabin
Concrete Pumpkin Planter
Mint Coffee Hand Scrub
Film Photography at Home – Developing with Coffee!
Marshmallow Chick Inspired Wall Hanging
Amazing Duck Gourd Feet!
Recycled Sweater Barn Mittens
DIY Photography Backdrops
Creepy Cool Concrete Ghost
Blast From the Past Crafting – Yarn Octopus!
Self Watering Wine Bottle Succulent Planter

Filed Under: Farm Inspired DIY Tagged With: chicken mobile, DIY, golf cart, rebuild

Previous Post Chicken Cell Phone Holder!
Next Post Concrete Pumpkin Planter

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome To Our Adventure!

Welcome To Our Adventure!

We love sharing all about our hobby farm adventures, and passing along the knowledge we have gained along the way. Hopefully we can inspire you to have your own amazing adventures as well!

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

* indicates required

ourwrensnestfarm

Some of the eggs we are so very happy our flock pr Some of the eggs we are so very happy our flock provides us! ❤️ Nothing is better than a basket full of farm fresh eggs! 

#ourwrensnest #farmfresgeggs #backyardchickens #backyardducks
Recently we added the Large Capacity Round Feeder Recently we added the Large Capacity Round Feeder (R-30) from @kuhlcorp and we are loving it so much! 🥳 It’s cut our feeding days in half, no food waste, and our adventurous bantams can’t roost on top! Total win in our books! 💪 

Visit @kuhlcorp on Instagram and drop them a message to order your own large capacity feeder! 

#ourwrensnest #hobbyfarm #backyardchickens #kuhlcorp #chickenfeeder #hobbyfarmlife #nikonphotography
Ohhhh so excited to find today our sweet Fern runn Ohhhh so excited to find today our sweet Fern runner duck is laying a green-blue egg! Always wanted a runner that lays this color. Adds some beautiful color to our duck eggs. ❤️

#ourwrensnest #backyardducks #runnerducks #farmfresheggs
6 years ago today we received our first ever box o 6 years ago today we received our first ever box of chicks from @meyer_hatchery ! Little did we know how life changing that box of feathered friends would be! ❤️ Such a fun adventure!

The hubby documented my excitement leaving the post office that day and I’m so glad he did! 🥰

#ourwrensnest #backyardchickens #hobbyfarm
Incubating and hatching eggs is such an incredible Incubating and hatching eggs is such an incredible and fascinating experience! This view never gets old, that tiny heartbeat ❤️🥹 Our call duck hatching eggs from @open_gate_farm are amazing, every single egg we received is developing! Such a fun adventure!

#ourwrensnest #backyardducks #hatching #hatchingeggs #hobbyfarm
This snowy evening called for homemade banana muff This snowy evening called for homemade banana muffins! 🌨️

#ourwrensnest #homebaked #bananabread #muffins #yummy
Little buddy was really on guard today protecting Little buddy was really on guard today protecting the ladies. 💪 We love our Silkie roosters, they are so sweet and protective. ❤️

#ourwrensnest #backyardchickens #silkies #hobbyfarmsofinstagram #silkiechicken
Always watching! 👀 #ourwrensnest #backyardchic Always watching! 👀

#ourwrensnest #backyardchickens #hobbyfarm
The duck crew is loving this wet, snowy morning. T The duck crew is loving this wet, snowy morning. They were having a blast playing in the snow! Fern’s run at the end is the best. 🤣🥰

#ourwrensnest #backyardducks #hobbyfarm #hobbyfarmlife #snow
Load More... Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

COPYRIGHT © 2023 Our Wren's Nest