Golf cart roofs and extended tops: replacement and 80-inch tops

A golf cart roof comes in three lengths that matter: 54 or 58 inches on a two-passenger cart, 80 inches on anything with a rear seat, and 88 inches and up on six-passenger stretch carts. Replacing a faded top in the same length is about $130 to $300 and an hour of work. Going from a two-passenger top to an 80-inch extended top, which you need when you add a rear seat, is about $350 to $650 with the longer struts, and it changes which enclosure and cover you need from the covers and weather guides.

Measure your top before you buy anything on this page. Front edge to back edge, with a tape, not from memory.

Standard, 80-inch and 88-inch tops

The standard two-passenger top is 54 inches on Club Car DS and Precedent, EZGO TXT and Yamaha G14 through G22. The EZGO RXV and some Yamaha Drive models carry 58 inches. The parts are not interchangeable even though the carts look the same size; a 54-inch top on RXV struts leaves a gap at the back.

An 80-inch extended top covers a rear-facing seat. It uses the factory front struts and a pair of longer rear struts that move the rear legs back behind the seat. Four-passenger Onward, Drive2 Adventurer and Express carts come with one from the factory; any two-passenger cart with a rear seat kit needs one added.

88-inch and longer tops are for six-passenger stretch conversions and come with center struts. These are specialist parts and the frame should be measured before ordering.

Colors and matching the body

Tops are molded in color rather than painted, so the color you buy is the color you keep. White, black and beige are stocked for every common cart and match most factory bodies. Red, blue, green and sand are available for some Club Car and EZGO tops. If the body is a custom or wrapped color, black is the safe choice and hides tree sap and bird droppings better than white.

A faded top can sometimes be brought back with a plastic restorer for a season, but once the surface is chalky and cracking at the strut holes it is done. Replacement is cheaper than it looks because the struts stay.

What an extended top changes

The windshield does not change. Extended top kits keep the factory front struts, so the shield from the windshield guide fits exactly as before.

The enclosure and storage cover do change. Both are sized by roof length and seat count, so once the 80-inch top is on you need four-passenger versions. The enclosure guide and the rain cover page list them by roof length. Buy the top first, then the cover, or you will buy the cover twice.

Weight and balance change too. An extended top adds a few pounds high up at the back, and the rear seat it covers adds a lot more. The rear seat kit guide covers how much weight a kit adds behind the axle and what it does to range; check the rear tire pressure and the leaf springs once the seat is on.

Strut kits

Struts are the legs the top sits on. Front struts carry the windshield; rear struts carry the back of the roof and, on many carts, the rear seat’s grab bar. An extended top kit includes the longer rear struts. A strut kit on its own, about $120 to $250, is what you buy when a strut is bent from a garage door or the mounting feet have cracked. Order struts by make, model and year like a windshield, because the profile differs between a DS, a Precedent, a TXT and an RXV.

Sun shades

A roof blocks the noon sun. A low sun at 5 pm comes straight under it through the windshield, and that is what a sun shade is for. A mesh or solid panel attaches to the front roof edge and struts and hangs down a few inches. About $30 to $80, no tools, and it comes off for a night drive. Check that it clears a folded windshield.

Which top for your cart

Cart	Stock top	Replacement	Extended
Club Car DS 1982 to 2013	54 in	54-inch DS top	80-inch DS kit with rear struts
Club Car Precedent, Tempo	54 in	54-inch Precedent top	80-inch Precedent kit; same kit fits Onward frames
Club Car Onward 4-passenger	80 in	80-inch Precedent-family top	Already extended
EZGO TXT 1994.5 on	54 in	54-inch TXT top	80-inch TXT kit
EZGO RXV 2008 on	58 in	58-inch RXV top	80-inch RXV kit
EZGO Express S4, L4	80 in and up	Measure; some are longer	Already extended
Yamaha G14 to G22	54 in	54-inch G-series top	80-inch G-series kit
Yamaha Drive, Drive2	54 to 58 in	Measure; both lengths were fitted	80-inch Drive or Drive2 kit
Yamaha Drive2 Adventurer	80 in	80-inch Drive2 top	Already extended

Fitment pages for Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha list roof lengths by model and year, and the fitment finder gives the stock length for a make and year.

Install: an hour, or three with new struts

A same-length replacement is an hour with a helper. Unbolt the old top from the four struts, lift it off, set the new one on, and start all the bolts before tightening any. Use the supplied washers or the plastic cracks at the holes over a few summers.

An extended top is two to three hours. Remove the old top, unbolt the rear struts from the body, bolt in the longer rear struts from the kit, then set the 80-inch top on all four and square it before tightening. If the rear seat is going on at the same time, fit the seat frame first because the rear struts often bolt through its brackets. Follow the maker’s sequence for your model.

When to leave the roof alone

If the top is sound and merely dull, a plastic restorer and a wash is a $15 fix for a season. If the struts are fine and only one is bent, a strut kit is cheaper than a top. And if you are adding an extended top so grandchildren can ride in back, the rear seat kit, the springs and a four-passenger cover are part of the same budget; price all of it before you start.