Newbie,advice with 90's ezgo freedom

[Wesman976]

I have decided to restore a 80's-90-ish ezgo 36v maraton freedom. It's a little rusty, no batteries, no charger but hey, it's free. It will be a project for me and my 7 yr old son. A couple of questions though, being that it has a metal body, is everyone doing rust repair and bodywork similar to a car? I am thinking of roughing it and maybe spraying bedliner or something similar. Also, what charger should I get (not top of the line).

Any advice, tips and so on would be greatly appreciated as I am new to carts.

Once I figure how post pics, I will. Thanks in advance!

[Sir Nuke]

Wesman976, you got it for the right price, that is for sure!! as far as the body work.....its the same, no difference at all.

oh and btw.....

CONGRATS on your ride and Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to BGW. There is a BIG fridge on the back porch with anything you can think of in it...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. Make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom's, dad's, wives', husband's, girlfriend's and boyfriend's here don't care....and take it easy.



oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!!

[anthonywebb]

Wesman976, I was a little perplexed by the picture thing as clicking on the image insertion simply wanted a URL for my pics. What you need to do instead is click on the attachments button under the message area, this will let you upload images (as long as they are not too big) it will automatically create the thumbnails for you. Welcome to BGW!

[sowilliams]

Only one charger to consider, DPI from cartsunlimited.com

[Wesman976]

thanks, also the frame after the bend near the battery tray is pretty shot out. Anyone ever use angle iron or something similar to weld some support there? Pics would be great. My father-in-law is a mcguyver so I am sure we could rig up something, not worried about re-sale value.

hopefully the pics worked.

[kernal]

Pictures are fine.

In case you were unaware, that is a resister cart. If you need a wiring diagram ask for one for a resister cart. It is possible to convert it to modern solid state electronics. Cost ~ $600-700 in addition to other restoration costs. You could maybe reduce that a little with a used or rebuilt controller. That cart looks to be late 80's early 90's. There might be a tag under the dash by the passenger's left knee. Serial no. on the tag can be decoded to find year of manufacture.

[kogieblack]

A 1989 model, I would think. Great find. Brake cables for this year model is a little different from other year models. Otherwise, all parts are the same.

[Wesman976]

Resistor cart? Is that old school technology? It will mainly be used to sport around on the property,kids and maybe an occasional vacation. Not looking to break speed records. If I rebuild it, new batteries and clean up all existing connections and such, will it suffice for my needs?

Thanks for the info!

[kernal]

Originally Posted by Wesman976

Resistor cart? Is that old school technology? It will mainly be used to sport around on the property,kids and maybe an occasional vacation. Not looking to break speed records. If I rebuild it, new batteries and clean up all existing connections and such, will it suffice for my needs?

Thanks for the info!

Yes, very old school but was reliable in it's day. Basic parts for the speed control are essentially mechanical and rebuildable. Parts are still available and cheap (relatively). Max speed for these carts was 12-14 mph when new with 12 more likely or even 10. A good speed for the kids I think. They are only efficient at WOT. At partial throttle, excess battery energy is burned off in the coils. They can get very hot. Be careful about parking it in tall, dry grass. Sounds like it might do all you need it to do. These are tough old birds except for the battery racks and they can be replaced.

[EZGO-MY-WALLET2]

Nice Find