Westinghouse Marketeer - advice or should I buy?

campkid

Hi, new here. Trying to find info on an old Westinghouse Marketeer model 135 that's for sale locally. It's the classic meter maid cart, may have belonged to a college campus security, it's the classic meter maid cart. Batteries (6x6V) are dead. The price seems to be right, $250, but I don't know what it will take to get it running. The owner says he used to use it, but it's been sitting for some years now.

Anybody have any idea of the age of this thing? Can one get parts?

How do these kinds of carts do on hills? And how tippy are they on inclines? It's tall but it doesn't look like much weight up high.

I have a cabin in a summer camp community in upstate NY. Lots of people there have golf carts. I thought this could be a fun alternative if it can be restored reasonably and can handle the hills.

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scottyb

Two key questions here.
1 can it be restored reasonably?
2 can it handle the hills?

Now some may pooh pooh me for saying so....
I would venture to say no on both of those. Spend another 250 (that's your sandpaper and paint budget) and find a newer (lighter) cart that needs batteries.

If you had simply asked can it be restored - I would say yes. I just don't think it's gonna do what you want it to do.


You were smart enough to ask now be smart enough to take my advice.

93yellowclubcar

I'm with Scotty on this one. As an owner of a 3 wheel EZGO, which is much less top heavy than that cart, let me assure you that they WILL ROLL OVER if you don't watch what you're doing, especially on a hill. Ask me how I know....

Personally, I'd find a 4 wheel cart if you wanna deal with hills, and then look about upgrading it. If you want something different, try and find an old CC Caroche or some other old cart that you can still get parts for to restore it (somewhat reasonably) and you can more easily upgrade to deal with the hills.

scottyb

I'll agree with the stability problem - Thank you for bringing that up. I plumb forgot about it
But I gotta disagree on the Caroache CC. I won't recommend it because it has out of date brakes that parts are not readily available for and it's a heavy old cart ... Get a cart like your neighbor has - look around and see what everybody is using to do what you want to do & get one..... you'll be glad you did.

93yellowclubcar

Not gonna argue with a guy who knows his stuff!

I only suggested a Caroche if you're looking for something that's not like what everyone else has, but scotty is right when he says go with a more standard cart. Heck, even a cool looking old cart body on a new cart frame would be cool and unique, yet give you advantages of a new cart (One of the big 3 being Yamaha, Club Car, or EZGO) like: Parts are easily and often more cheaply found, and if you want to have a cool upgrade like a lift you don't have to custom fab one yourself.

campkid

Thanks for the replies... the stability thing isn't that much of an issue as most of our paths and roads that go across the hill are leveled side to side, its ability to climb hills is more important. The electric EZ-Goes seem to do OK. This one was attractive not only for the price (just the beginning, I know!) but also because (I could be wrong?) it looks narrower than most other carts, which would be a big advantage on our narrow paths. OTOH, I can fix most anything but I really don't need another project right now.

If I knew it ran (i.e. batteries weren't dead, or if they were cheaper) I'd just spend the $250 and see how it did. I thought of hacking it with three 12V car batteries just to see if it ran.

Dave Box

The answer is within you. I found my cart in the woods, the engine was locked and then it had been beaten to death with a hammer. It cost me $2450 to make it what it is now, which is a stupid amount of money for a 1986 EZGO. However (and here is my point) every time I look at it I think "I did that" and I get an inordinate amount of pleasure from owning, looking and driving it.

For $250 I would take it in a heartbeat. I would convert it to 48 volt controller (leaving the 36 volt motor in). Then I would rub it down, spray it a nice two tone green and have the quirkiest ride in town and that is pride of ownership. Of course you could probably buy a working cart for less than the total cost of this project, it might even be a better deal but then you would look like everyone else.

Just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions.

Dave

campkid

Dave, that's kind of my thought. If it's capable of doing what I want, even if not optimum, then it's worthwhile for the fun factor, as long as it's not crippled by lack of available parts.

What are the ramifications of running the 36V motor onr 48V? Or do you mean just the controller, while keeping 36V batteries?

If I hook if up to a single 12V car battery will it move at all? Just to verify that the motor and gearing are OK, I mean.

93yellowclubcar

You can hook up a single car battery to test the motor -

Tests needs to be done with the motor bolted to the rear end


originally from Stevegrmich.


To test run a SERIES motor,

Remove all cables from the motor; connect a jumper from A1 to S1. Connect 12 to 24 volts, positive @ A2 and negative @ S2. Swap S1 and S2 to change rotation direction.


To test run a Sep-Ex (regen) motor

Remove all cables from the motor; connect a jumper from A1 to F1 and a jumper from A2 to F2. Connect 12 to 24 volts, positive @ A1/F1 and negative @ A2/F2. Swap F1 and F2 to change rotation direction.

CAUTION:
Allowing a motor to spin @ high RPM -OR- off of the rear end can cause catastrophic failure!

Running a 36 volt motor on 48 volts is a quick and easy way to get 33% more torque and speed, they run really well on 48 volts. You would need to, however, upgrade to 48 volt solid state (a controller setup).

Dave Box

93 is on the money ( and yes I meant run the 36 volt motor with a 48 volt battery pack and a 48 volt controller).

Dave