88 Marathon Lift kit options

[littlecarguy]

I want to install a lift kit in my 88 Marathon Gas cart. What are my options? What do you guys recommend?

[BrewCityMusic]

Go onto Ebay and search for item number 230529770412 - That's the 5" kit I used on my cart, and I am VERY happy with the quality construction ... I've seen far too many cheap, cheesy lift kits that I was afraid wouldn't hold up, I've got this kit on my '88 gasser with 22X11's on it and am really happy.

A few notes before you jump in, first, if you are going to reuse your stock rims with bigger tires you will need to purchase wheel spacers, a 2" set for the entire cart will run you around $50 (post type) or $100 (milled type) - the other option would be to purchase 2" offset rims. You will need to do this for clearance, both on the rear swingarm as well as to clear your steering components and drivers side fender up front with 22" tires.

Second, with the 5" lift, you may want to look at replacing the hose between your air cleaner and carb - the factory one *will* work but it will deform a bit and make it a real b*tch to aligh your air cleaner assembly.

If you're doing the lift alone, you're looking at about 45min for the rear and around an hour for the front install, a buddy (and a six pack) makes the job a LOT easier, IMHO

[littlecarguy]

Thanks, I ordered the kit. Now the fun begins!!

[ChevyRacing75]

Originally Posted by littlecarguy

Thanks, I ordered the kit. Now the fun begins!!

yep, now your going to want wheels/tires

[littlecarguy]

You're right Chevy. I just ordered a set of 22 X 11 X 10 All-Terrain tires mounted on polished aluminum rims with 2.5 offset.

[BrewCityMusic]

Good call on the offset, 2.5 should give you plenty of room to work with! One note, when you're ready to do the rear part of the lift, you're going to want to put the body/frame of the cart on jackstands as high as you can get it - it's amazing how high you need to get the cart to be able to slide the rear coil spacers in place (you wouldn't think the swingarm had that much travel, but it does!)

Also, when you're installing the front lift blocks, there's one bolt on each side that youre really going to nead to , ahem, "coax" into position as the clearance is a few mm short of what it needs to be for a painless easy install - this pic shows my solution, instead of making myself crazy trying to install the through-bolt, I used 2 shorter bolts to hold that corner of the lift block(s) in place:



(pardon the rust - I was in a hurry to get the cart together a couple of months ago, I plan on pulling everything and redoing the ugly parts over the long Wisconsin winter!)

If you get stuck anywhere along the way, PM me - I have some pictures from along the way that may come in handy for you!

[littlecarguy]

Thanks BCM, the lift kit whent in with no issues. Now I'm disassembling everything to redo the body. I'm installing the new nose from Bu with the light kit. My wife picked out a metallic dark blue paint. Should be an interesting winter project.