Resurrecting a Westinghouse Marketeer 437

[jld50]

I recently picked up a rusty old Westinghouse Marketeer 437 on craigslist and am looking for some advice about resurrecting it and getting it running. At this point it has no batteries, the frame is heavily rusted to the point where chunks are missing, and I have it torn apart for a ground-up rebuild. I'm not planning to restore it, but to instead use it as a platform for a totally custom electric car. Before I spend a bunch of money on the batteries, what can I do to determine whether the motor/differential are still working? There seems to be a lot of sludge on the underside of the differential and I see a plug on it that looks like it's where you add oil. Any info or tips on servicing this drivetrain would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[jld50]

OK I have found the answer to the motor testing question and I gave it a shot with my 6A 12V battery charger. The wheels did move just a bit but there seems to be a lot of resistance. When I was dragging around the rear end assembly, the rear wheels were making a lot of grinding noise which seemed to be coming from the brakes. I'm going to post up some pics of the rear end to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with here. Based on the amount of sludge it looks to me like this thing is going to need, at minimum, some oil added to the differential.

 

[HotRodCarts]

Welcome to the forum...

Do the wheels turn freely by hand? More than likely the brake drums are rusted from sitting. It sounds like the motor is good and those rear ends are tough so it's probably fine too...

 

[jld50]

Hi HotRodCarts,
Thanks for your help. The wheels do turn by hand, though it takes some effort. If I spin one wheel the other turns in the opposite direction. I'll try pulling the wheels and brakes off to clean them up and see how much resistance there is with the brakes removed from the equation. How can I tell if the gear box needs oil, and what kind does it need?

Also do you have any recommendations about what kind of batteries to buy and whether to upgrade the electrical system to 48V and/or controller-based?
Thanks!

 

[HotRodCarts]

To check the lube level with the rear end sitting level pull the plug on the rear cover and fill with 90 weight gear lube until it runs out of the hole and put the plug back in...

Trojans are the best but Interstate and Exide are cheaper and good batteries also.

As far as voltage goes that all depends on what you want out of it and how much money you want to put into it. If your looking for extended run time you could go with eight 6 volt batteries for 48 volts.