Upgrade to Solid State

[five5cooks]

I am relatively new to the addiction, but can someone offer some guidance on upgrading and older Marathon to solid state? The tag indicates it is an 86, which would make it a Series system. However, it looks like it has been swapped to resistor coils. Is it possible to upgrade the system a piece at a time or is it an all at once expense? I see carts unlimited has a kit and quite a bit of info but doesn’t necessarily answer the question of whether it can be done over time or not. Also are they the only game in town that offers an upgrade? Thanks for the help and advise.

[Sir Nuke]

Originally Posted by five5cooks

I am relatively new to the addiction, but can someone offer some guidance on upgrading and older Marathon to solid state? The tag indicates it is an 86, which would make it a Series system. However, it looks like it has been swapped to resistor coils. Is it possible to upgrade the system a piece at a time or is it an all at once expense? I see carts unlimited has a kit and quite a bit of info but doesn’t necessarily answer the question of whether it can be done over time or not. Also are they the only game in town that offers an upgrade? Thanks for the help and advise.

seeing as how you are new.....Carts Unlimited may not be the only game in town, HOWEVER, that is the place to go. the absolute best person to talk to would be ScottyB here.....he is the owner/operator of Carts Unlimited as well. He will answer all your questions and put you on the right path. You could always email him through the cartsunlimited website or PM him from here.

but the best way to do the conversion is to do it all at once.

[five5cooks]

I have tried messaging him here and his mailbox is full. Calling the store and the number is no longer in service.

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by five5cooks

I have tried messaging him here and his mailbox is full. Calling the store and the number is no longer in service.

My email is on almost every page of our web store? You cannot upgrade from resistor coil to solid state a little at a time because these are 2 completely different drive systems with different components in different locations. Conversion is done all at once.

[five5cooks]

Ok. Which parts do you recommend for this upgrade?

[Andy4639]

86 Ezgo Marathon is a resister cart.

You will need a controller 36 volt and a throttle. Ezgo Potentiometer which most call a pot box. They are the factory old style throttle for the 89 and up Marathon's. You can use the solenoid in the cart now and most of the wiring but will have to modify it to the new system. The hard part is finding the gas pedal stuff to work with the pot box but it can be found and if you find a old junk cart you can get everything you need off of it.
If the batteries are gonna have to be replaced when you do this upgrade I would do the 48 volts. You will need all new 48 volt solenoid, controller and charger though but if your gonna do it go ahead and go 48 volts.
The picture is the throttle you need.

[five5cooks]

Thank you for the info.... So now the hunt is on for the throttle. So will the Throttle not just mount in with the current throttle rod assembly?

[cgtech]

It wont exactly go like "unscrew the old setup & bolt the new one in" unless you buy a kit to allow you to do so. And it's totally incompatible with the current "resistor coil" setup you have now, only works in conjunction with the solid state controller when you do the conversion. I agree with the "convert to 48v" idea if you can. It works with the stock controller, and will get you 33% more speed & torque. The 48v batteries are the same size as the ones you have now, so batteries will fit just fine.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by five5cooks

Thank you for the info.... So now the hunt is on for the throttle. So will the Throttle not just mount in with the current throttle rod assembly?

It want be a bolt in. It can be made to work though with the right parts added. I have even done a cable pull for this type of setup.

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by cgtech

It wont exactly go like "unscrew the old setup & bolt the new one in" unless you buy a kit to allow you to do so. And it's totally incompatible with the current "resistor coil" setup you have now, only works in conjunction with the solid state controller when you do the conversion. I agree with the "convert to 48v" idea if you can. It works with the stock controller, and will get you 33% more speed & torque. The 48v batteries are the same size as the ones you have now, so batteries will fit just fine.

I meant "works with stock motor", not stock controller.