Ben's Elec-Trak

[Hondo]

Hey Ben, I was reading about some of the other mowers on the evalbum and they said sharp blades were very important for not pulling as many amps ie. the batteries will go longer on a charge. Also, it will feel like you have more power if the blades are sharp, and we all like MORE POWER!!!

Hondo

[wolfraven]

Eh...I always just used the nail in the table to see if the blade was balanced...but the Dremel part never occurred to me, though my old boss probably tried it lol! Also, if the blades are dull when you try to cut the grass...it has a better chance of getting clogged very good...and it's no fun unclogging a riding mower.

[Christ]

How does the sharpness of the blade have anything to do with the mower getting clogged?

I'm not sure I understand that... and I've certainly never experienced it.

[Christ]

Hondo - I can understand the feeling of more power if you've got sharper blades, b/c they cut easier... problem is, I'm used to working with 20-40 HP mowers... You wouldn't notice the difference either.

We have an attachment for a mower that is just chains bolted to a bar that spins. These chains beat anything in their path into a pulp of nothing. We have another attachment that has bars rotating in a deck, rather than blades. It's meant for taking down thickets and brush. You don't do that with a 10HP home-owner mower.

[orange4boy]

Congrats on the new Elec-Toy. Welcome to the club. I should pass along some of the links you or other ecomodders might need/want to look at.

Elec-Track owners club

The Electric Tractor Store

Kansas Windpower Elec-Trak parts

Fun Fun Fun.

[bennelson]

Thanks for the links!

I did get into the Owners Group to hunt done some PDF files of wiring diagrams and such.


Yesterday, I got some more work done. Rich called me up and said he was available to help on projects for the day. All-Right!

I threw the tractor in the back of the pickup truck, and hauled it over to his house.

We pulled off the front wheels and took apart the center console and steering.
Two bearings in the steering column are totally rusted away, so the driving gear no longer meshes with the driven gear for the steering. We pulled off the steering wheel, and got the column completely removed. However, we couldn't find the odd bearing at any local store. We will have to wait til Monday until a real bearing store is open, or mail order them.

We wire wheel brushed down the front wheel rims, after pulling the rubber off. Man!That was a pain!

We painted the rims, replaced the valve stems, and installed new tires.
These things look brand-new! I did take a look at some rims with tires already mounted on them at the store, but the bearings are SO CHEAP now compared to what was on the old rims.

Also, they still make the same tires as what was originally on there, so the new tires are the exact same tread pattern and everything. (Only they don't say GE ELEC-TRAK molded in the side.)

[LUVMY02CREW]

Awesome score on the mower Ben!!!

You never cease to amaze me with your posts about your latest projects. It's pretty impressive you can keep track of them all and not start getting parts and ideas mixed up.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Also, they still make the same tires as what was originally on there, so the new tires are the exact same tread pattern and everything. (Only they don't say GE ELEC-TRAK molded in the side.)

Too bad! You'll never be able to sell it at Barrett-Jackson now. :P

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Too bad! You'll never be able to sell it at Barrett-Jackson now. :P

Was it a raised logo? There's ways to mimic that... :P

Rubber cement works wonders, ya know?

[bennelson]

I headed over to Rich's house after work today.

I last left him and the mower at his place Sunday night.

Yesterday, Rich was able to locate the weird bearing and get a couple of them. I pulled apart one of the blade motors enough to at least identify the commutator-end bearing. Rich picked up a pair of those as well.

When I got to Rich's, he already had the steering bearings in, and the steering back together, including having repainted the plate the steering column goes through.

We pulled off the bottom plate of the blade motor, which was a big pain in the butt! It took lots of torch heat and and bearing-puller-skills to get the blade hub off.

Once finally apart, we could see how badly corroded the drive-end bearing was. No wonder it pulled enough amps to heat up the power cable!

We got the bearing off and put the armature in Rich's basement lathe. A little emery paper cleaned up the drive shaft and commutator very well. We ran a tap through the blade bolt hole again to clean up the threads that got a little messed up from the puller. We pulled the end off the second motor a little different to keep the threads nice.

I forgot to bring my camera with, but I will take some photos of the armatures before I put the motors back together. I still need the drive-end bearings before motor reassembly.

Fun, Fun, Fun!


PS: I am also AMAZED at what a difference air in the tires make! The front wheels are now brand-new, but the back tires are flat. Trying to move the tractor, it felt like the parking brake was on! We put more air in the rear tires, and it rolled great, right up the ramps into the back of my truck!
Any bets on how long the air stays in there? I am guessing it's flat already...