See? Hard to beat that deal. Even if it needs batteries its way cheaper than you could build one. You could probably bid the shipping on Uship and get it delivered inexpensively as well. Good luck. Dach.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are" - Theodore Roosevelt “We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes .... I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.” - Aldo Leopold On Monday, December 30, 2013 10:48 PM, fotajoye <[email protected]> wrote: Michael K Johnson wrote > While I haven't yet created an evalbum page (stuck on a few answers, like > what to name the project...) I thought I'd send an update on my progress. > > TL;DR: This MTD platform was definitely not designed with electric > conversions in mind. Not only do I recommend against it for conversions; > with my newfound experience of the level of quality of the product, I > don't > recommend it, period. > > > Mid-December I finally did my last lawn mowing session and started tearing > down the old ICE donor. Discovered that the smoke that I had attributed to > an engine problem was from gas leaking on the back of the muffler, which > explains a few other things, too. Also motivational for converting to > electric. > > I use the word "old" with respect to the donor advisedly, despite the fact > that it's less than 10 years old. Taking it apart, it has become very > clear > that this tractor was not designed for long life. Lots of otherwise > undamaged paint bubbling over rust, the "lifetime" (of the product) drive > belt shredding, and everything about the design making it clear that it > wasn't intended to be easily repaired, let alone converted. > > I had once hoped that I could fit three group 24 batteries under the > existing hood and one under the seat. Taking it apart made it clear that > was a fantasy, which made it easier to give up on the fantasy that group > 24s would have enough capacity, and made me quit worrying about my choice > to move to group 27s for more capacity; I have to make this thing look > really weird anyway to fit any batteries on it without being top-heavy. > I'll end up with two group 27s end-to-end sticking over the front wheels, > a > heavy-duty bumper protecting them, and two group 27s starting under the > seat and forward to the console, so that I'll have to be slightly more > athletic getting on the tractor, but at least won't be top-heavy. > > I've just finished making, test-fitting, and priming the mounting plate to > which the motor will be mounted and which will in turn be mounted to the > frame using the original motor mount holes. I had hoped to drill holes in > the frame to mount the motor directly, but the motor shaft hold in the > frame was so large that two of the requisite holes would have gone through > empty space. I used 16GA sheet steel for the mounting plate. I started > with > a 12"x24" piece, and rather than cut it off, I bent it up to be the front > of my motor box which I'll be using for forced-air cooling for the motor. > The rest of the box will be plexiglass to showcase the motor, both for > fun, > and because I'm tired of bending sheetmetal without a brake. (I have a > mostly woodworking shop, so I'm low in metalworking tools.) You'd laugh if > you saw the ersatz brake I made from pieces of angle iron, a woodworking > bench, clamps, and 2x4s. It functioned, but was quite a pain. > > Generally, my impression is that MTD generally are very "busy" designs > that > aren't easy to work a conversion full of large rectangular prisms > (batteries) into, even if the quality otherwise made it worthwhile. I > hadn't intended to buy a low-quality tractor when I purchased it in the > first place. I was trying to not "cheap out", buying only one grade lower > than the top of their line. I didn't have the experience to know that I > was > barking up the wrong tree in the search for quality... > > In order to hope to be ready to start mowing as soon as spring has sprung, > I'm starting by doing the least work I need to: mechanical, then the > electrical power system. I'll leave adding fancy power control systems for > after the basic conversion works. One step at a time. > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20131230/59e1ee59/attachment.htm> > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) I converted a old Sears hydro garden tractor to electric using four 85 amp deep cycle Pb batteries, a 48v 200 amp alltrax controller and a 48 volt DC motor. I soon learned the mowing load on the batteries was too high to use the cutting deck for mowing three acres of tall pasture grass, or even 1/2 acre. What I really need is 16, 200 amp LiFePo4 cells and an intelligent charger. At this point, while waiting for lithium to develop a good market within my means, I have relegated the Sears machine to mule duty carrying fire wood and other chores. Also, it's coming up on about two years now and the Pd is giving up...needs to be replaced. -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Michael-s-48V-lawn-tractor-mower-conversion-update-tp4666997p4667005.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20131230/06c0e0b5/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
