92 marathon rebuild

[1colt2]

1st time ever doing a post on internet. Long time listener 1st time caller kind of deal. My wife was given a "free" '92 marathon(our 1st golf cart). It does not run and needs a $$ investment. Was told controller was bad. Batteries are shot. On plus side body looks really good and it pushes easy I feel pretty overwhelmed by all options available. Since I need to change controller and batteries I'd like to do upgrades at the same time. We will use the cart mainly on the ranch and bringing with us to some of the bigger rodeos. If it's OK I will list some of the options I am looking at. I am a total noob. Any help will be appreciated.
The list is not in any order just a list.

1st - going to convert to 48 volt system
2nd - needs tires/ going to do 4 inch lift and probably a 22 inch tires
3rd - trying to decide to go with an AC or DC system?????
4th - looking at lithium batteries?????
5th - will add rear seat
Thanks again for any help.

[adrianp89]

If your willing to spend the money go to AC Lithium.

[bronsonj]

I love my lithium batteries. Back when I still was on my stock controller it gave me a big boost in acceleration and 4-ish mph improvement top speed with just the battery. Add that to an aftermarket controller and it's fantastic.

But AC + Lithium is the top tier of upgrades. And with it comes the top tier price.

Your cart has many options available to upgrade it.

If you stay DC, going with an Alltrax controller is $500 to $650 including the solenoid.
A new Lead Acid battery pack is going to cost you $700+. A drop in Lithium pack is going to cost you $1800+ but will far outlive the lead and give you a performance boost. You can build your own lithium pack for less if you are comfortable dealing with that kind of power.
If you add a rear seat and keep the lead acid batteries make sure you upgrade to HD springs. If you switch to lithium you can use standard springs.
If you stay DC you can run your 36v motor on 48v without issue. Stock motors can generally handle up to 400 amps, if you go over that you shorten their useful life. So if you buy the 500 amp controller turn it down in the settings to 400. You may never want to upgrade the motor but at least it'll be an option.
If you do end up wanting to upgrade the motor Plum Quick will take your motor and juice it up for you. That's about the cheapest motor upgrade. Beyond that you can buy a new motor from several places if you're not happy with the stock one after the upgrade.

While you are at it, the big fat cables that connect the batteries, controller and motor are likely in bad shape. You'll want to upgrade those but upgrade them all, not just the easy ones connecting the battery.

That cart probably has never had the front end greased. If you have any steering play grease the cart and you'll likely see all/most of the steering issues go away.

Lastly, take detailed pictures of how everything sits now before you upgrade. When you go to put stuff back together you will like the pictures. Label all cables before you unbolt them, etc.

And have fun! This is a great little corner of the internet!

[1colt2]

Wow!! Thanks for that writeup bronsonj. I ordered a system from scottyb. Going to stay DC. I would go lithium if I could find the batteries! This is going to cost some $$$$. But when I get it done I will know what I have. The goal is to have this thing running by Christmas. It is going to be a family Christmas present. I got everything ordered today except batteries and a charger. I have been looking at options since we got the cart in June. Now that I have finally pulled the trigger I am getting pretty excited. My oldest daughter is the only one who knows I'm doing this (she helped me push it into the shop). I think this will be a deadly gopher hunting rig, fun to have at big rodeos, and may even do some golfing on the ranch.

[bronsonj]

You are absolutely welcome. I made a lot of mistakes earlier on but this forum really helped. When I finally was ready to upgrade I ordered my controller from ScottyB as well. Did you get the solenoid and cables too? If not the stock solenoid should work for a while but you will need to replace it with an HD Golf Cart solenoid at some point. The more amps you push through it the faster it'll need upgraded. What controller did you get?

It sounds like you are going to 48V since you're also needing a charger. When I needed a charger I had to buy one online. You can easily get the batteries locally but chargers are harder to come by. The cheapest Golf Cart batteries I found were at Sam's Club and sometimes they offer a $20 discount on the batteries but you have to watch the flyers. They do require a core, but Sams will take any lead acid battery as a core.... so I gave them the dead batteries from my kids PowerWheels car as core when I went.

Did you verify your cart is series or sepex? If you are series and going 48V you will also need the HD F-N-R switch. If you have a sepex cart you won't need to replace the switch.

When I first installed my controller the cart went maybe 3mph max. Turns out the wrong motor field map was installed. It was an easy fix by downloading a new map from ScottyB and installing. Also you can select which type of throttle you have and I think my controller was set to expect a Club Car throttle which obviously didn't work in my EZGO. Again, just a setting to flip in the software once you know to look. So if you install and it doesn't immediately work, don't worry too much. It's most likely something simple.

A 4" lift and 22" tires should look nice. I have a 6" lift and 23" tires and wish I had a 4" with 22. The ride gets more squirrely the higher you go. Also, with the Alltrax and new batteries you'll be able to go considerably faster than the stock cart. Just remember you only have two drum brakes on a narrow vehicle that you just lifted, so be careful on going too fast. Everyone likes going fast but nobody likes laying their cart on it's side.

[1colt2]

Except for pushing this cart I have never seen it move.. The batteries in the cart had been frozen when we got it. I was told the controller was bad and that was the reason they had quit using the cart. It made sense to upgrade to 48V since I had to buy batteries and a controller anyways. After visiting with Scottyb on different upgrades I ended up pulling the trigger and upgrading the whole electrical on this cart. Under that same logic I talked myself into a motor upgrade, suspension, some body parts, lighting, and miscellaneous other items.

My wife and kids have been asking about getting it running since I hauled it home in the stock trailer.. I warned her that it was going to be expensive although I didn't ever give her an exact figure. That has been one of the main reasons for dragging my feet on getting it going. I could have probably gotten it running stock for a tiny small fraction of what I just spent on upgrades. I have been accused of going overbookard once or twice (maybe).With this being a Christmas present I talked myself into really splurging just to make the cart "functional "...In for a penny in for a pound!! That said I am pretty sure my wife will call me an idiot and may even kill me if or when she finds the total bill.

I did finish ordering everything today. Most of the stuff will be here Monday or Tuesday. Everything by Wednesday barring decent weather and luck....I will take some before, during, and after pictures. Right now the only question that I should be asking is ------‐---‐----------


"Is there a golf cart anonymous? If so when and where are the meetings???"

[Cartmaster]

Originally Posted by 1colt2

"Is there a golf cart anonymous? If so when and where are the meetings???"

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