what cart is this?

[flashbk13]

Hi all,
I just picked up this cart/car. I can't find a mfgr ID on it so far. Only the built-in charger partially says ...osborn, el monte calif.. There are only 5 6V batteries in this, so 30v. Does this run on the 4 grouped together (24v) and the odd man out is for the accessories?. As you can see in the pics, I need to clean off the corrsion. I opened them up (after wiping away the corrosion from the caps) and they are completely bone dry. can these be saved/ Do I just add distilled water or will they also need acid? Any help identifying this would be great. i assume this had an enclosed cabin as the wiper motor is still there, but i see no evidence of it being cut off. Thank you for your help, Rick.

[flashbk13]

more info., this is a 3 wheel, chain drive cart. The motor (via the chain) is connected to the right rear wheel. from what I could see from under the cart (as I can't open that rear hatch yet, wood work is in the way) this is a resistor type system as there is a row of coils under the back deck. Rick.

[Golf cart guy]

Is the motor a Chrysler starter motor?

[flashbk13]

hi golf cart guy,
I have no idea. I do know it is smaller than motors on newer carts. I will have to jack this up so I can get under it (the body is very close to the ground). Rick.

[flashbk13]

Hi all,
after lots of digging around, it seems I have a B&Z electra-king, year and model unknown. Do a search for B&Z electra-king and view the pics. They seem to have only made 2 models (that I can tell), both coupes. So mine must be a modified version (cabin top and trunk lid removed and stake sides added) to make it into a little utility truck instead of a commuter car? Also that extra grille added and the 3 chrome bars removed (all of the mounting holes are still there). Must have been done when this was restored. Still need to find the year. Maybe when I look underneath at the motor, I will find something. Also, this is a 30v system, but all of the ones I found were 36v (six 6v batts), whereas mine has 5 batts and the sixth position is where the charges sits. Very strange. I'll keep pokin' around, but at least I (85%) found what I have? Rick.

[flashbk13]

Ok, the motor is 36v. It is embossed:"Northeast Electric Co., Rochester, NY. Made in USA". And there is another embossment near one of the 2 terminals "adjust". the 2 terminals are not marked (that I could see. had to rub Clorox powder on the casing to see the letters). So there are 2 terminals and one jumper wire that comes out of 2 different holes in the motor case. No name plate or date tag anywhere on this car. Maybe removed when this was restored OR this is a special order car from Electra-King? Pics below, Rick.

Have no idea why the 4th picture is not upright, It is saved in my computer correctly. This picture is the original from the camera before I rotated it.

[flashbk13]

Batteries: I cleaned off the acid crud (coke zero and a wire brush did the trick) from the cables and posts. I put on the volt meter and got 2v on two of them and the other 3 were under 1v. I added some rejuvenator liquid and distilled water to fill them back to over the plates (they were not completely bone dry) and let sit awhile for the rejuvenator liquid to desulficate the plates and now the two are at 4v and the other three are at 2+v. I'll let them sit for the night before trying the charger on them. Now, How do I use this charger? It has a 4 position sw. (no timer that I know of) with off, hi, medium, and low. Thank you, Rick.

[flashbk13]

Tires: what is the correct rear tire size? One side has what looks to be the correct size as it fits inside the wheel well properly. The other side has a standard cart tire (8x18.5 which is too tall and wide for this car (body fender sits on the tire when someone is in the car). Don't know the smaller tire size as I couldn't read it (rubber falling apart).
Shocks: this car does not have them, just coil springs, which are too light and the car sways alot (just pushing it, can't imagine actually running it). Should this have helper shocks or do I just need to replace these old springs (with stronger ones)? Thank you, Rick.

[flashbk13]

I looked at the charger and it is hard wired into the cart and it is 24-30V, 20A. This is original to this cart. So it would seem they made 30 and 36V systems: 30 for industrial and 36 for commuter use.
As for the tire, it is 4.80-8 which turns out to be a common trailer tire, so it will be easy to source AND, that tire on the other side I thought was a standard cart tire is in fact the same small trailer tire, just the metal body is pushed in, so I will need to pull it out and all will be well.
Shocks, still need it investigate when I pull off the bad wheel. To be continued...

[flashbk13]

I tested the voltage out to the batteries from the charger (at least I know that works!), low= 22V, medium=29V, and high= 32V. Don't know if there is amperage difference at the 3 settings or not. As for the shocks, this never had them. It would have to go to a suspension shoppe and modified. I will leave it original for now, but will have to take turns slow or it may roll over! Correction on the motor, those 2 wires coming out of the case I thought were a jumper in fact one connects to the battery pack, the other goes to the row of solenoids/resistors in the back (see pic earlier in this thread). Rick