I have a seat pan you can have for cheap.

Jeff

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I continue to sand the old yellow paint down to bare metal and prime,
getting ready for a new yellow base coat hopefully this coming weekend.
The tractor hasn't moved since my first posting as I've torn into it.
Due to finances this time around I'm going to have to forgo replacing
the battery box and figure out some method of concealing the rust hole
in the lower/right corner. I can see where tearing the tractor down to
the frame would be a fun WINTER time project, not one for the ever-short
Michigan summer time. Maybe Elec-Trac #2 is in my future <G>

The tractor came with the optional rear bracket that holds a hitch ball
for towing trailers. Two bolts hold it into the rear frame rails and
it's got quite a bit of surface rust but is very solid. Someone used two
different bolts, two different nuts, and the bolts were absolutely
rusted/welded into the frame, ended up finally getting the bolts using
PB-Blast over-night and an air-chisel, what a mess for two simple bolts.

Does anybody have a spare metal seat bottom they wouldn't mind selling?
I'm talking about the one under the seat foam and it has two welded nuts
on it to hold the seat to the metal frame. My seat bottom is utterly
destroyed from sitting outside and soaking in water. The foam is
surprisingly "ok" after drying out in the sun for a week and I can
probably use it over again.

The plastic headlight covers, are they available somewhere? Mine are
cracked around the bolt holes.

As I reported in my first message the tractor moves (forward/reverse) at
speed #1, which I suspect is called "Start", the first micro-switch of
the speed controller. Moving to the second micro-switch I can hear the
1A contactor activate, verified switched 36v at the the contactor leads,
but the speed of the motor does not change. When I check for continuity
on the contacts of 1A they seem to be permanently closed, shorted. Is
that a common failure mode? I can hear the contactor open/close but
there is always continuity on the load side. This would explain the lack
of motor speed change, it is always in speed #2. Am I looking at
needing a new 1A contactor to fix that speed problem? Any other thoughts
on this?

I have three 12v deep cycle batteries and was hooking up three battery
chargers after unhooking the batteries, temporarily. I found a local
company that services the little electric scooters at Walmart stores and
routinely sells used components from these installations. I bought a
Minn Kota MK330PC battery charger for $40 which permanently connects to
three batteries, and will charge the three batteries simultaneously at
10amp each without unhooking the batteries, regardless of series or
parallel battery wiring. It is water-proof and weighs I'm guessing 7-8
pounds, surprisingly beefy little thing. It will also equalize wet-cell
batteries. These chargers run just shy of $300 on Amazon so $40 is a
smoking good deal. It has four mounting holes so it will mount in the
tractor permanently and I'll be adding an external 110v receptacle for
plugging the tractor in to charge, using the power cord you find on your
computer power-supply, with a closing moisture-proof door. I will
probably remove the factory charger and bolt the new charger to that
front panel. They have more of these chargers if anyone wants one.

Some photos show tractors with batteries contained within plastic bags
and others do not. What is the advantage of putting the batteries in the
bags, to contain accidental spillage of a cracked battery?

I have spent a lot of time reading the abundance of information and
knowledge online, including the old emails from this list. A hearty
"Thank You" to everyone that makes these resources available.

------ Original Message ------
To "David Kirk" <david@kirk.net>
Date 4/30/2024 8:28:41 AM
Subject Re: (ET) Introduction from Michigan

>David, welcome to the ET discussion list. I enjoyed your story and the video clip. I look forward to hearing more as you proceed with your project.
>
>

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