1994 Marathon rebuild - Wanting some opinions/advice

Arkie_3_fan

Well, I've done my fair share of reading and looking and thought that I'd go ahead and ask a few questions now.
I've got a 1994 Marathon with some badly rusted battery trays. So bad that I'm going to take the body off of it to make sure that all the repairs can be properly made. The new battery trays and whatever else is repaired, will be repainted and most likely sprayed with some sort of rubber underbody coating or bedliner type spray to help protect things from corrosion.
My plans also include installing some new batteries at some point, depending on what I decide to do with my cart.
Here's where it gets interesting... See, my wife and I have a baby on the way (Due in March) and converting my cart to a decent trail machine for the 3 of us to use on the hunting lease would be nice and much cheaper than buying a Polaris Ranger or something of that nature. But, our cart is the slowest one of the golf course and has been for the three years that we've had it. The batteries have always held up for 18+ holes with no noticeable drop in performance but I'm sure it's getting about time to replace them.
I've read a few posts from people that say that particular model cart is notorious for being a slow poke. I'm not 100% sure of how true this is, but I know it certainly applies to my cart.
No matter if I put it in the woods or keep it on the golf course, I want to do something to speed it up a little. Should I be looking to go all out and upgrade the motor and controller or will 4ga. cables (currently running 4ga on the batteries and 6ga to the controllor) and HD bus bars work well enough?
My thought is that it would be nice to turn this rig into a trail machine (just minimum lift and tires is all that's needed for my location) and then pick up a gas cart for my golfing purposes... but if the Marathon isn't nearly as well suited as some other models for using in the woods, then maybe I should just build it up for use on the golf course and look elsewhere for a more suitable cart model or used side by side ATV for my hunting needs.
Any thoughts, advice, etc... is welcome.
Thanks in advance.

BGW

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Paxdad

After a total rebuild of my 89 Marathon I would have started with a newer model as there are many more after market parts available. 48 Volt conversion is well worth the extra money if you are at the point of purchasing new batteries as a charger will be needed but not an absolute.

Full_Throttle

I would upgrade to 48v. That + bigger tires will give you greater top end speed.
If you upgrade the controller to at least 400 amp (plus the solenoid) and change ALL the cables to 4 gauge I would think you will be pleasently surpirsed with the nice increase.

I did the controller/bigger tires/ cable upgrade and I am very pleased with how my 98 cart runs. I am still at 36V. With your older setup I am told that 48 volts can make a big difference.

Arkie_3_fan

Thanks for the replies, guys. Keep them coming.

Also, if I turn my Marathon into a bit of a trail rig, what would be the best cart to use strictly for golf?
I'm leaning towards a gas powered cart for that, but could still be talked into an electric cart.
Because my budget is somewhat limited, I'm probably looking to get a cart somewhere in the 1998 - 2006 year models.
Any particular models that I need to look for? Any that I need to avoid like the plague?

pggroves

2001 & up PDS. MHO.

rickw

I guess this is my first post on this forum. Could you clarify ? 2001 & up PDS... Good ? or avoid like the plague ? Thanks man. rick woodward

pggroves

Arkie was looking for suggestions on what electric cart to get. My suggestion to him was a 2001 or newer EZGO TXT with the PDS electrical system.



Now go hijack someone else's thread!

scottyb

Be nice PG! I too wasn't sure which of his back to back questions you were gonna answer? Until I studied the answer ... of course

pggroves

Who me? Not nice? I thought that was pretty tame in comparison.
And this thread didn't have a thing to do with:

1. Reverse warning systems:
(poor granny done got runned over by my EXGO Marathon lifted 12" with 27' mudders. That **** buzzer thingy was just plain irratatin so I just jerked the warres offn of it. Oh well, old granny was deaf anyhows so I'll just keep it unplugged. we,s gonna miss granny some tho )
2. 12v batteries:
(Hey, I just found this old golfing cart out in the field and can I use the battarries of my gramps traktors? and how do I hook 'em up? i don't know anything aobut warrring and don,t wont to get elcrotocroted. oh fogoet to say i got tweni doollars for this project. will that help???
3. Epsom salts:
(yo thid dude online says i can fix my 9 yres old dead batteroes with salt you guys know anything if this is real or he is scammming me where can i buy new batteriss/ i have tweni dollar to)

scottyb I thought I was ok on that one.
****, I even used all the smiley **** too!

Oh well, I guess 2,166 is one post over the line.








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--> Disclaimer: This post is t.i.c. Don't nobody get riled up. <--

rickw

Wow ...