'84 Marathon "smoke test" - NO SMOKE, but questions

[rlw]

Got hammered by the "Land Hurricane" that hit Ohio, WV, and VA on Friday. Power came back on Sunday morning, so I put my cart up on jack stands last night, and ran a jumper cable from the battery bank on the garage floor to BL+ and BR- in the cart. Put the FNR switch in Neutral and didn't see any smoke. Then I turned on the key, put FNR in Forward, and the beeper started beeping. Took a look at the wiring diagram from the '83 Marathon manual, and (I think!) the perspective on the FNR switch in the diagram is backward to what I had. Moved the terminal from the beeper to the FNR switch to the left lug, and that fixed the beeper. Putting FNR in Reverse made it beep.

Pressed the accelerator, passenger side wheel spun up, driver side wheel turned about a half turn. Flipped to reverse, wheels spun in reverse direction, but driver side still just a half-turn.

Loosened the brake turnbuckle under the cart to see if I had too much tension on the driver side brake, but got the same results. Thought maybe there's a problem with the differential, but could turn driver side wheel clockwise and passenger side went counter clockwise, that works on both sides of the cart. That tells me (I think!) that the differential is OK.

I'm guessing I have a sticky brake shoe on the driver side. Anyone else ever run into this? I'm really hoping it's not the differential.

All-in-all, I'm happy I got the new wiring right (except for the beeper), and none of the terminals or wiring seemed to be getting hot. Just tiny sparks (no arcing) on the accelerator wiper as I pressed the pedal.

Next steps are to figure out and fix the driver side rear wheel spin problem, hook up lights, install the batteries, and install the canopy. Hope to be using the cart by this weekend.

RLW

[yurtle]

Take it off the jack stands and give it a brief test drive. I made the mistake of looking at the wrong wheel when I hooked up my new motor. I can't remember which one it was but it spun the correct direction on jack stands, but was backwards during its maiden voyage.

If the wheels seem to turn freely, you may not have a brake problem, but a short test drive will tell you. If you drive a short distance and the lug nuts stay cool, you should be fine. Compare the lug nuts on both wheels. Mine got hot on the side that was adjusted too tight.

[rlw]

@Yurtle,

Thanks for the tip. Only problem is that the batteries are NOT in the cart - they're sitting on the floor. Interestingly, the cart seems to move freely when I push it around. I guess I'll wait 'til I get the other stuff done - if I have to, I can always jack it up and pull the driver side rear drum off.

Thanks again,

RLW