Ben's Elec-Trak

[MetroMPG]

You know, you could jave just pulled a couple of reel mowers behind your Citicar, Ben. :P

Still - another neat project.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

...could jave just pulled a couple of reel mowers behind your Citicar..

I HAVE thought of that.

Tried mowing my lawn today with my old gas riding lawn mower. Couldn't get it to run worth a darn.
Dang internal combustion technology!

Time to upgrade to electro-motive force!

EDIT:
Ha! I got the drive motor to work. Completely took it apart, cleaned everything as best I could, got as much rust off as I could, removed the corrosion so the one brush could slide it its holder again, then put it all back together.

[bennelson]

Just got the tractor to move under its own power.

Kinda scary. It's rattly, noisy, and has no power switch, just an Anderson connection to plug and unplug for on and off.

Also, the steering is going to need work. The part on the frame that the steering column goes through is all rotted away, so it sometimes steers, sometimes doesn't.

The left mower deck motor seems to work ok. The right one didn't spin at all at first. When it finally did spin, it pulled enough amps to heat up the power wires going to it.

-Ben

[bennelson]

I got the tractor hot-wired up to the point that it actually runs!

It doesn't steer, is louder than my gas tractor, and doesn't seem to actually have brakes, but it runs!

The drive power is rigged up through the Anderson disconnect, and the power for the blades is running through a 24v contactor running to the tractor's original on/off switch.

Even though the blades look like they haven't been sharpened in 30 years, is cuts surprisingly well!

[Christ]

I've never sharpened a mower blade, honestly... I mean, I've run them for years, but never sharpened them..

Why would I? So they don't cut the grass quite as evenly... it still looks like grass, to me... Maybe I have a bad yard?

[wolfraven]

Nice! Sharpening a mower blade is much like sharpening a machete...but it has to stay balanced, so you can mostly just grind it on your bench grinder like your axe or whatever. Put a nail hanging out parallel to the ground in the bench (or a saw horse, whatever) and hang the blade from that. Whichever side falls down needs more metal removed. Works pretty good, but if you don't balance it...it vibes pretty good. I don't recommend that.

[MPaulHolmes]

doesn't have brakes??!! You've got to install the Cougar! Let the brakes just be when you turn the throttle down. You should get it next week assuming everything works OK when I test it.

That is so awesome, Ben! I bought a push mower that spins with human power, which is sort of tiring. I would love one of those!

[Christ]

I wonder if this one will sound like a "Futuristic Kitten Growl"?

[Daox]

Woohoo, glad to hear you got it running Ben. I expect to see video soon.

[Funny]

I never knew such a beast existed! Very cool, and looking forward to more pictures. Perhaps a video? Loud? Will you need hearing protection? You said the right hand motor took a lot to get going? You should rebuild (or at least clean up) all of the motors so it runs nice and smooth.
And if you want to sharpen the blades, they sell at most True Value Hardware stores a blade balancer that kinda looks like a top, but upside down, that you balance the blade on while you sharpen it with a Dremel. A sharp blade cuts off the grass, a dull one beats the grass and tears it, leaving the tops of the grass blades brown. Good luck Ben!