$1500 Budget Built Cart

carolinasled

$1500 Golf Cart, Can it be built.......

Ok, the story goes. My wife, our 3 children and I were at ocean lakes with another family in June for weekend this year. 4 adults, 5 kids and 1 bluetooth cooler is all we were rocking. I knew that we would be back for labor day weekend and just needed a cart to cruise, commute and have fun with was a must BUT...... a $3500-$4000 golf cart was not even a joke. I'm saying I still haven't purchased my ls engine yet for my truck. Anyways.......

Got on Craigslist with no luck, Got on facebook, posted a ISO add on my wall and the local for sale wall. Buddy of mine hit me up on a saturday one month ago. Said he had this old cart, it ran the batteries fell out of it and he just left it sitting a few years in his field. I knew right then it was a Marathon. I have had several of these for fun projects that was never finished for the family. The last one I converted from electric to gas in this forum:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/clone...200-clone.html

Ok So He was like $100 come get it. This is the way I found it.

BGW

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carolinasled

So I trucked the cart back home, The 28 year old 4.3 c10 did the duty that day. Got home and was to no suprise of the condition or shape of it. The normal basically. The cart rolled, Kinda. The wheels held air, The brakes were sticky, battery tray was held up with the help of some rotted out 1/2" sheet of wood and nails as a crutch. The electronics was there, The batteries had broken and melted lugs, The charger was still semi ok looking for a total charge. He also gave me a reman golframa g632p pds controller and a 2001+ drop axle lift, and an extra FnR switch.

cart at the house








what was given with the cart that i need to sell still.




The wife looked at me and was like we are going to ride this? Labor Day? My son was like lets put the batteries in and go, for a 5 year olds mind....He was determined....lol.

carolinasled

So we started gutting out the rusted battery tray and started with a semi fresh slate.

carolinasled

While the battery tray was out, We kinda decided we wanted to go back with 36v. Basically we had a plan to budget this cart around $1500 total or close to it with in reason. So I checked the pot box and it was reading 0-5k ohms in foward and 0-2.5k ohms in reverse. Basically just long wires on the pot box is NO & NC readings, Made sure the motor ran with 12volts, checked the solenoid, it was fine but had to just take a chance with the stock 275amp curtis controller.

So I picked up some 1.25 x 1.25 x 1/8 angle $25, I wanted to build the tray like the new carts, but I knew this cart used a rod for the pot box. So I built the tray to fit in between the frame rails of the cart but allowed like 3-4" between the pack for the pot box to be mounted.



The installed the tray by resting it against the factory angle up front, leveling it and welding it in between the frame rails and the rear factory brackets.

carolinasled

So while checking on new batteries, I called from Charleston to Myrtle Beach. I ordered new brake cables from ebay.....Yep you guessed it, The brakes now work again.

Found a New pack of batteries at Carolina Batteries in Timmonsville SC. They delivered them to the dealership in Kingstree on a thursday morning for no extra charge. I paid $530 which wasnt to bad I didnt think. That weekend I had to install the batteries, So I went to my local cart shop and picked up a new set of 4ga cables for the entire cart minus the charge cable and a 2 prong key switch.

Update
Cart - 100
Tray - 25
Brake cables - 40
batteries - 530
cables and switch - 50

So far I had $745 in it.

carolinasled

That was a Long Weekend! To start off which since I moved all the batteries between the frame rails of the cart I had to relocate the Controller, Key switch, FnR Switch, and Solenoid. I mounted the Pot box in the original location but between the batteries.

I mounted the Controller to the driver side wheels well along with the solenoid and the FNR switch.

carolinasled

By the end of that sunday evening I was give out, Had everything wired, The cart didnt work, it kept arcing at the pot box. I just knew something was wrong with the controller. A lot of emotions, I didnt cuss one time that whole weekend or nothing was thrown. Had 2 sets of eyes helping me the entire weekend misplacing tools and talking up a storm. I aint gonna lie, I wanted to give up. it was all I could think about while laying in bed that night.

Next day I picked up a new solenoid, New diode and installed it and the same thing happened. It was getting to the point of just pulling the trigger on the controller and that night everyone went to bed and I walked out in the garage with a tall glass of ice milk and seen the problem. The 36v small wire from the potbox to the top of the controller was pinched on the (-) of the controller. I fixed the problem and Took the cart for a ride, I was grinning ear to ear at 10:30. The cart rode like a dump truck, blown left shocks, leaning like it had hydraulics on it. and hit a maximum speed of 8mph.

carolinasled

Another Good thing, The charger does work, Well its loose but i have to clip it in a certain way to charge the batteries. It had 40V coming out the end of the connector, I charged the cart up and took it for a Spin and It Ran 10mph with the new freshly charged batteries, original controller and original Motor. Last weekend I ordered a set of wheels for the cart. They came in last night and now it runs 12mph now. Not as fast as my buddies precedent but still making small improvements. These are the polished Fairway Alloy Bullets in wrapped in 205-30-12.

Wheels $462
Solenoid and Diode $25
+ The rest $745

New Total $1232



This is where Im at. I have 2 weeks before the beach still more work to do.

pachanga90

Very Cool.Im the same way,I refuse to let it beat me.And whats wrong with an old Chevy(Looks sweet too)??My daily driver is a '89 R3500 3+3 Dually with a Cummins!

93yellowclubcar

That ol Chevy looks GOOD. Plans for a motor swap or sticking with the 4.3? I have the 4.3 in a 93 S10 (my daily driver, after a 2 year hiatus) and I absolutely love it - best V6 GM ever made.