Yet Another Battery Issue

[19thHole]

Recently purchased 2013 CC Precedent with 2016 US batteries. After a full charge it's only hitting 49.6 volts so I figure the pack is pretty stuffed after reading the batteries sticky.
With an impending Covid-19 work loss I'll be cleaning all the terminals and contacts as a couple of them are a bit fluffy. Water levels are fine, got a single point fill system but still removed all caps to see what was what from the get-go. I intend to load test it up the driveway which is steep enough too.
Hit 80% (8th of 10 bars) on my led meter and the charge light was flickering on and off here and there. Got down to 7 bars and she shuddered like me in a Southerly Buster (it's Aussie for a cold South wind). All my reading have pointed to a stuffed pack which is fine (well I did expect more from the pack but them's the breaks I guess) but I'll still clean all the terminals etc.
Two question to you gurus;

Q1: If the pack is stuffed how far can I run it, with regular daily charging, without risk of a full scale battery meltdown? It's only used around a 2.5 acres property for transporting bods, tools, prunings and trash cans so it doesn't matter if it conks out anywhere. I do have concerns about throwing charge into failing batteries and do not want to risk a fire or worse (they are wet cell but still, stranger things have happened).

Q2: I have 6 x 8V flooded bats. Lithium is a total waste for my needs but I do like the prospect of running maintenance free AGMs yet have struggled to find any solid info on the pros and cons of going gel. Are they a viable option or not? If yes, would I need a different charger?
Many thanks in advance.
Serial Number for those that need it:
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SOC meter (getting a digital readout one soon)
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Sorry looking terminal posts yet to be cleaned and sealed
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Battery charger - the big silver one, black on to the right is for a mobility scooter
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Could be just an Aussie thing but I have no idea why the pics are upside down and I'm not going to try to change them. Sorry not sorry

[19thHole]

So all the cells levels are 4cm from top of plates except one that is 3.5cm and another that is 4.5cm.
Cleaned all the dirty connections and got 50.00 volts.
But now...cart is dead. Yes, it's switched back into Run mode but nothing. Not even the led bat. meter is alive.
Any ideas would be welcome.

[meimk]

Best guess is that something got pulled / yanked on and disconnected while cleaning battery cable connections. If you've got the 50 volts across your pack, but not showing on your meter - where are the connections for your meter? (-) on the pack neg terminal or the controller? (+) on the pack pos terminal or the solenoid? Where ever you're losing the feed to the meter is likely where you're losing everything else too.

[19thHole]

Originally Posted by meimk

Best guess is that something got pulled / yanked on and disconnected while cleaning battery cable connections. If you've got the 50 volts across your pack, but not showing on your meter - where are the connections for your meter? (-) on the pack neg terminal or the controller? (+) on the pack pos terminal or the solenoid? Where ever you're losing the feed to the meter is likely where you're losing everything else too.

You're a prophet. Work concluded after dark with buggy half way out of the shed so some dark shadows were being cast over the battery box. I failed to connect the main negative wire - connected the battery meter thinking it was the main -ve and forgot about the battery meter wire if that makes sense. It dawned on me in the middle of the night. All fixed now.
Still...would like some info from the first post regarding gel batteries.
Also, is 50.00 volts an indication of a failing pack? 5 batts read 8.3 volts and one reads 8.2.