How to get a free cart (eventually) (long)

[LSUgoTIGER]

Hey everybody,

I'm new here, and just became the proud new owner of not one.....not two.....but THREE non-running EZGO TXTs. Forgive me if this first post is a bit long, but I think I've created an interesting project/challenge for myself here that some of you might like to follow.

First and foremost, I should mention that my primary objective is to not spend any money (or as little as possible). I don't need a cart for hunting, or even golf for that matter. I don't actually "need" a cart at all. If I were to have a cart, it would be simply to ride around the neighborhood to go over to friend's houses, or to take the family up to the neighborhood pool or park. For those reasons, I couldn't justify spending thousands of dollars on a nice lifted cart with nice wheels, lights, backseat, speakers, etc. Of course if I'm gonna have a cart it has to have all that though because it looks cooler and is more fun.

I looked at buying a stock cart that was running, as well as project carts that didn't run. Everything I found still would end up costing me more than I wanted to spend. After a lot of searching online, I ended up buying 3 carts at auction for $1,100. I did a lot of research and studied my local market for used carts to get a feel for pricing/features. I figured I could just get 2 of the 3 carts cleaned up and running and be able to sell them. In theory, I should be able to fix the first cart up to running and clean condition, sell it, and come close to being at a break even point on my money.

Then fix up the second cart and sell it, and then actually have some profit along with a 3rd free cart to keep which would get fixed up with the profits.

So I kinda took a bit of a gamble, and bought these carts essentially sight unseen (with the exception of having one picture of the group) and a little bit of vague information on their history and condition. Allegedly, they were not flooded, and were in service at a golf course within the last year or 2, but had since been retired and had been sitting up in a cart barn for a while.

I ended up with two 2007 36v series carts, and one 2011 48v. Once I had them delivered to my driveway and saw what I had to work with, I decided I'd keep the 48v for myself, and sell the two older 36volts. Unfortunately, one of the first things I noticed, was that the 48v was missing the controller and motor!

All the batteries are bad. But I tested the motors on the other two last night, and they both kicked on, and controllers/solenoids are intact and look nice and clean. Everything else about the carts is filthy though and will need a lot of cleanup.

Hopefully it's just batteries and a spit shine for the first 2, and then I'll be on my way to fixing my own cart with other people's money.

Should be an interesting project. I'm fairly handy as long as I have sites like this and youtube to do my research to get started, but I really don't have any hands on experience with golf carts to this point. My wife is very skeptical of this whole "idiotic" project, so I'll need all of your help to prove her wrong.

Adam

[bobbycason]

If one of the 36 volt ones are in better condition you could always upgrade to 48 volts with just batteries( and charger if you don't have one), controller, HD FNR switch and 2ga cables, the motor will run on 48 volts. As it is right now you have to buy a 48 volt controller, motor, and batteries for the 48 volt one so you might get by cheaper with upgrading one of the of the 36v ones.

There's definitely a lot of learning on batteries and the electrical systems and drive types if your as new as I was a couple months ago.

ScottyB has a lot of info on his page and helped me a lot with upgrading mine.
http://www.cartsunlimited.net/ is his page

[LSUgoTIGER]

Originally Posted by bobbycason

... so you might get by cheaper with upgrading one of the of the 36v ones.

In any case, I need to be able to sell 2 running carts in order for my math to work in my favor, so I'd have to buy a motor, controller, and batteries for the 48v no matter what. As far as condition goes, they're all about the same.

good thought though, and thanks for the link!

[coosa]

Sounds like an interesting project. The thing that is gonna be hard to make your math work will be the high cost of the batteries. I just paid $813 for a set of Trojan 105s. I have found that people don't want to consider the cost of a new set of batteries when they are on the buying end of the deal.

If you can find 6 decent batteries out of your 36 volt carts, you might try to sell one of them with old batteries, telling the buyer their age of course. If you have 2 carts pretty much alike, and both will run, most newbie cart buyers will choose the one that is $800 cheaper. Good luck with your project

[cgtech]

It is now our mission to prove her wrong !! It shall be done!

[LSUgoTIGER]

Originally Posted by coosa

Sounds like an interesting project. The thing that is gonna be hard to make your math work will be the high cost of the batteries. I just paid $813 for a set of Trojan 105s.

If you can find 6 decent batteries out of your 36 volt carts, you might try to sell one of them with old batteries

I wont be putting Trojans in the flip carts. They'll get the Sam's club special at best. $89 a piece, out the door less than $600, and I factored that cost into my planning.

Gonna try and force a charge into some of the batteries but I have very little hope.

[bobbycason]

Originally Posted by LSUgoTIGER

I wont be putting Trojans in the flip carts. They'll get the Sam's club special at best. $89 a piece, out the door less than $600, and I factored that cost into my planning.

Gonna try and force a charge into some of the batteries but I have very little hope.

That's how much I paid for my T875s wholesale.

[bronsonj]

Battery prices vary with region it seems from reading other posts on here. $89 Sams Club batts is a really good option. I know that Advance Auto *used to* sell batteries that were older than 5 months at a deep discount. The Advance Auto near me said they no longer do this, but it may be worth your while to ask the parts houses near you.

This looks like it could be a very profitable endeavor. Your 2011 48v may be a Sepex or Series cart. I have a 2011 48v sepex EZGO and really like the cart.

Where I live a cart that the owner claims will work without any batteries is often seen on craigslist for 600 bucks. Sounds to me like you got a steal! Even with batts that only will get you 200 feet the carts sell for a grand...

Congratulations and good luck!

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by bronsonj

Battery prices vary with region it seems from reading other posts on here. $89 Sams Club batts is a really good option. I know that Advance Auto *used to* sell batteries that were older than 5 months at a deep discount. The Advance Auto near me said they no longer do this, but it may be worth your while to ask the parts houses near you.

This looks like it could be a very profitable endeavor. Your 2011 48v may be a Sepex or Series cart. I have a 2011 48v sepex EZGO and really like the cart.

Where I live a cart that the owner claims will work without any batteries is often seen on craigslist for 600 bucks. Sounds to me like you got a steal! Even with batts that only will get you 200 feet the carts sell for a grand...

Congratulations and good luck!

<=== I love this, everything local on CL and stuff in my area is total stripped junk not worth rebuilding, or total obvious scam like "super cart, only 2 years old- $2500" scam. But, I'm not a "cart flipper" either, so I don't watch that like a hawk.

[Mooncarter]

Without seeing them I would say you got a great deal.