Ben's Elec-Trak
 

A few weeks ago, I was a big depressed about using my electric car to go buy gas for my gasoline lawn mower.

Well, all that is going to be a thing of the past. As part of my New Year's Resolution, I decided I was going to get off Oil - that includes for mowing my lawn.

Today, I got an e-mail from out of the blue from a guy asking if I want to buy one of his Elec-Traks!

Heck ya!
I drove over to his house to check it out. It's the E10 model, which is the smaller one, with the central-mounted mower deck.

He also has the larger model for his own use.
We used the big Elec-Trak to pull the little one out of the barn. (It has no batteries, and doesn't roll well since there is a tree branch growing through it!)

After placing two planks from the ground to the tailgate of my pickup truck, we then pushed the E10 right on up with the bigger tractor! What Fun!

My little tractor is going to need some tender loving care, including a bit of welding to repair the rusted out back end, some new tires, batteries, but then should be ready to mow my lawn fossil-fuel-free!

http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12469231950001
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12469232230001
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12469232140001

Couple more photos at:
MobileMe Gallery

AWESOMMMMMMMMMMMME! :D Can't wait to see and work on it.

It really doesn't look too bad (from the outside).

That looks like a Sumac branch... I have plenty of those!

Oh - nice tractor, too LOL.

I knew they existed, but I've never seen one. I'm actually thinking about building an electric riding lawnmower, just for kicks.. I have a reel mower, so I don't really need anything else for personal use, but I love big toys!

I just got the tree branch out.
I only had to remove the rear axle to do it!
(And NO, I couldn't just stick a saw in there)

I need to pester my dad to get his two working, there are some used T105 batteries sitting around on the charger even.
They look to be fun mowers, I haven't looked really deep in to them yet to see how they work.

I was able to tinker with the mower a bit.

The good news is that the blade motors work.

The bad news is that the drive motor doesn't. It's pretty corroded. Looks like it will need to be rebuilt.

It's very icky - must have been parked in the rain too many times.

Ben, you are sooooo lucky! I missed a model 15 on craigs list last week. He was asking $450 I Think (without any batteries) but it was sold when I called. I did some research on these and they were talking 2 hours of mow time on a single charge. They only made them for a few years and then sold the rights to make them to Wheel Horse who only made them a few more years. They were just ahead of their time and cost a little too much compared to a cheap gas guzzeler. Good luck with fixing it up, I know you can do it!

Hondo

I missed buying a Model 15 about a month ago - somebody else swooped in and paid cash sight-unseen and stole it out from under me!

I think the bigger tractor that the seller had was a model 15 - it was a very nice tractor - it pushed my tractor right up the ramps into the back of my truck!

I was able to get at the drive motor. It sits in the bottom of an interior compartment of the tractor, which means it sits in the water when it rains.
The wires going to the motor are all corroded. One power connection snapped right off when I was shifting the motor.

It appears to be a permanent magnet motor - about 4.5 inches diameter and 10 inches long. It feels like a bearing is shot. Looks rusted inside. I think it is going to need a complete rebuild. (Which is still WAY easier/cheaper than rebuilding an engine!)

Here is the motor unbolted from the pulley.
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12470037530001

The red cable snapped right of just after I took this photo.
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12470037800001

Needs some work....
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy/...12470038330001
It actually doesn't look too bad in this photo, but the rotor won't spin right, and it sounds like the brushes are scraping.

I never knew these existed!

For those of you who are interested, there are about 10 or so of these listed at EV Photo Album: Our Electric Cars on the Web. Do a search by make and you will find a section on tractors & mowers.

Hondo

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

Still - another neat project.

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.

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

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!

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?

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.

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!

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

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

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!

Sharp Blades
 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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! :thumbup:

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.)

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.:p

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?

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! :D


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...

I'm a believer in sharp blades too... but a Dremel?!? No way! Blade in the vise, 4" or 6" angle grinder, does it in no time. No need to take too much off though. I have one of those cone balancers, you can do it with the nail or a screwdriver or whatever, but the cone balancer was so inexpensive how could I not buy it?

Gimme my Dremel and 5 minutes and my blade will be more balanced and sharper, while holding the edge longer and taking less material off the blade overall. Your move Frank... :D

Aren't those cone balancers great? Like 5 bucks and you'll only ever need one.

Guess we need to have a Sharpen-Off! LOL

Hey guys... can we join?
http://content.etilize.com/Large/11969445.jpg

Back on topic - I know that sharp blades work "better" and "faster"... but I still don't bother, b/c I also know that it's going to cut the grass either way, and it's really just splitting hairs as far as using more fuel b/c you're technically using more power.

go man go!
 

Excellent job. Wish I had one. Not that I need another project at the moment. I bet they could sell these again. Heck, they probably still have all the dies.

Dull blades are morally wrong. In fact, just about dull anything is wrong.

Please carry on.

troy

There was a guy on CL up here (Binghamton, I think) that was selling a JD model 212(?) that was an electric conversion with PTO drive for the blades... it was nice, motor was all painted up to match the JD tractor (Green and Yellow). I wish I'd had $5000... I'd have bought it. Looked to have about 3 batteries, and the guy said it had around 1hour run time on a charge.

EDIT: Here it is.. Owego NY

Sharp blades are better for the grass. They cut instead of tear the grass. More water is lost through the leaves when the grass tears.
Rotary mowers have a tendency to slightly tear the grass anyway. Do your lawn a favor & sharpen the blades.

You could get a gang reel & get rid of the mower deck altogether.

Don

I have a reel-type mower. I don't sharpen that one either.

I don't water my grass, either. I could care less what my lawn looks like, honestly. I'd rather not have one. Watering the grass at my dad's house would only serve to make the swap directly adjacent to his property a little wetter, and most of his grass is about as green as it's going to get. Ever.

Even when I lived in suburbia, I never watered my lawn. I never understood why people put so much "care" into one weed, while attempting to kill all the other ones. (Grass is in fact a weed, according to every horticologist I've ever talked to.) I would only mow the lawn (with the lawn tractor) when the tips of the grass started changing colors and getting hard. That's the signal that your "grass" is turning into a "weed".

Losing water from any of my lawns hasn't ever been an issue for me... I don't waste the stuff on them.

I got new bearings for the drive end of the blade motors.

I hope to have some time to work on it tomorrow. I am planning to get the motors back together, sharpen the blades, repaint the mower deck, and re-install it on the mower.

Don't worry, I now have my camera handy and will take some photos.