Wheels Lock Up After A Few Seconds of Moving

[Harrison1982]

I have a 2007 Yamaha G29 Electric which I just picked up a few months ago. I was driving down the road at a pretty run down campsite in Jersey last weekend and me and two of my kids (very small) hit a ditch that was about 2 inches deep and two inches wide and spanned the road, kind of like an upside down speed bump. The rear wheels immediately locked up and the cart would no longer move.

I believe that it was the emergency break catching, but I think (could be wrong) the parking brakes and the regular brakes are all in the transmission housing. I could feel the cart getting power to go, but the wheels were still locked. Fully charged battery. Only when I actually applied the parking brake and released it would the cart move. But then after a few feet, the wheels would lock up again.

If I set the parking brake and then released it, the wheels became free again. I could switch it to tow mode and it would move. Only when I used the cart to power itself would the wheels lock up again.

We use the cart at home a lot and live on a few acres that is all hills. The cart is jacked up and rolls fine while it is on level ground. If I put two adults on the cart and try to get up a grassy hill, it cannot make it. I'm just throwing this in to see if it helps diagnose the problem. I would consider replacing the trans/brake setup and the motor to get this thing to cooperate on the hills and I'm wondering if now is the time. I also have four kids so in a few years this thing will be carting around much more weight.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[cgtech]

The brakes are actuated the same when the cart is rolling, or the motor is pushing. There is absolutely nothing electrical about the brake pedal and its brakes in the axle, just a cable to a arm that twists a cam, the cam rotates a plate with ramps to squeeze the brake discs inside the axle.

[Golf cart guy]

make sure you don't have a rear bearing failure which is allowing the axle to hang down a little bit. Had one that did this.