Newbie here with a few ? speed? alarm

[oldj]

I recently purchased an older Ezgo marathon ,I think its a 89 or90 model ,the thing is ,it takes off good but doesn't seem to have much speed after that ,should this have a speed control or something that makes it speed up? kinda like a 2nd gear? what do I need to look for ,Check on? also it has a back up buzzer(alarm) is there anyway to unhook this? I use it around the property & don't need the annoying noise. Thanks..

[JohnnieB]

Welcome to BGW!

There are some two speed aftermarket motors out there, but most electric golf carts have a single speed direct drive motor with something external to the motor that controls the speed of the cart.

Marathons either have a set of resistor coils that are connected in series with the series wound motor and reduce the current flow through the motor, or an Electronic Speed Control (ESC) in series with motor.

The resistor carts have 4 distinct speeds while the controller cart has a continuously variable speed.
With stock height tires (18"), top speed on both versions is about 12MPH.

If you are not getting about 12MPH, you are loosing power someplace.
Cables are most likely 6Ga, and could be the bottleneck.
So could the F/R switch.

If you want to go faster than about 12MPH, you'll have to do some upgrading.

The back-up beeper on a Marathon is located on the F/R switch assembly, but we live in a very litigious society, so disconnecting the beeper may not be a good idea, however some cart owners have been known to do so while others simply wrap some electrical tape around it to tone it down to a less annoying level.

[Spawn]

wrap it with Tape, you'll be glad you did, and you wont forget the cart in reverse either.