Best golf cart rear seat kits: flip seats by make and price

A golf cart rear seat kit bolts to the rear of the body, adds two rear-facing seats, and in most cases flips to a flat cargo bed. The kits worth buying are made by MadJax and GTW, run about $450 to $1,100, and are sold for a specific body: Club Car DS or Precedent, EZGO TXT or RXV, Yamaha G-series or Drive. Buy for your model, not your make. Start here before the rest of the seats and interior guides.

If you are not sure which body you have, the fitment finder will tell you from the make, model and year.

Flip seat or fixed seat

A flip seat has a hinged back that folds forward so the whole seat becomes a flat bed about 36 inches wide and 24 inches deep. The cushions sit face down under the bed, which is why most kits have a bed panel in diamond plate or painted steel. The hinge and latch add weight and a little rattle. Nearly every owner who has had both says the flip bed gets used more than the seats.

A fixed seat is lighter, sits a few inches lower, has no latch to work loose, and is better for passengers who find a high rear-facing seat awkward to get into. It has no bed. The MadJax Genesis 150 is the fixed kit most dealers stock.

What a rear seat kit adds to the cart

Weight first: 85 to 130 pounds, depending on frame material and cushion thickness. Steel frames are about 20 pounds heavier than aluminum. That weight sits behind the rear axle, so the cart squats a little and the rear tires carry more. On a lead-acid cart with tired batteries you will notice it on hills. Expect a flooded pack to give up two to four miles of range; a lithium pack will barely notice.

Length second: the seat extends 10 to 14 inches past the factory bumper. The kit comes with its own bumper and foot plate, and most include a grab bar, which doubles as a tie-down for a cooler. A cart that fit in the garage with the door closed may not after the kit goes on. Measure before you order.

Passengers third: a rear seat kit carries two more people without a seat belt or a roof over them. Add seat belts if children ride back there, and look at the extended tops page if the cart lives where it rains.

Steel or aluminum

Steel frames are powder-coated and cheaper. They rust where the coating chips, which is the frame rails and the bolt heads first. Aluminum frames (Genesis 300, Mach3) cost about $200 more, weigh about 20 pounds less and do not rust. Near salt water, buy aluminum. Inland, steel is fine for ten years with the occasional touch-up.

Cushions and matching the front seat

Entry kits use a standard vinyl cushion in a handful of colors. The deluxe kits use thicker cushions in a longer color list, and both MadJax and GTW sell matching front seat sets, which is how a cart ends up looking factory. If the front seats are faded, this is the time to re-cover or replace them; the seats page covers both.

Which one for your cart

Cart	Kit to buy	Note
Club Car Precedent, Onward, Tempo (2004 on)	Genesis 250 or Mach1	Most common body; every kit is sold for it and mounts without drilling
Club Car DS (1982 to 2013)	Genesis 250 or Mach1 (DS version)	DS has its own kit; the long square body takes a slightly longer frame
EZGO TXT (1996 on)	Genesis 250 or Mach1 (TXT version)	TXT and Medalist share a body; Express S4 is TXT-based and needs the TXT kit
EZGO RXV (2008 on)	Mach3 or Genesis 250 (RXV version)	RXV body mounts differ from TXT; do not use a TXT kit
Yamaha Drive, Drive2 (2007 on)	Genesis 250 or Mach1 (Drive version)	Drive and Drive2 share a kit on most listings
Yamaha G14 to G22 (1995 to 2007)	Ask the seller	Fewer kits are made; check the listing names the G-number

Fitment pages for Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha explain how to read the year off the serial plate if you are not sure.

Install: one to two hours

The kit arrives in two boxes: a frame with the bed and cushions, and a bag of hardware with the model-specific brackets. You need a socket set, a wrench to hold the nuts, a drill for the odd hole that does not line up, and a second person for ten minutes.

Remove the factory bag well or sweater basket and the rear bumper. Bolt the frame brackets to the body mounts the bag well used. Set the frame on with a helper, bolt it down, and fit the foot plate and grab bar. Hang the cushions last so you do not mark them. Check every bolt after the first week; the frame settles and the rear ones loosen.

The one thing that goes wrong is a kit sold for the wrong body. If the bolt holes are an inch off, stop and check the model before drilling.

Carrying things on the bed

Strap down anything heavier than a grocery bag. The grab bar and the foot plate are tie-down points, and a pair of bungees or a cam strap lives on most carts with a flip seat. A 24 to 30 quart cooler fits the bed with room to spare; the coolers page has brackets that bolt to the kit frame if you want it fixed.