(ET) RE: Follow-up story

[LarryE3 aol com]

Hi the story by Darryl (darrylmcmahon igs net, elec-trak) reminds me of my 
own E12S story.   About nine years ago (its been so long I can't remember 
exactly I saw an ad in the paper selling an electric tractor.  Being an 
electrical engineer and interested in everything electric I inquired and 
found it was a General Electric.  Not knowing anything about these units I 
decided it couldn't be passed up.  The owners said the batteries had 
frozen 
one winter, but that it was working the last time they had used it.  

After purchasing it I did not have time or health to even find out what I 
needed to do to begin the restoration.  About three summers ago, however, 
one 
of my sons being interested in seeing the tractor operation motivated us 
to 
begin.  We soon discovered that the tractor had probably been outdoors a 
long 
time after the batteries had frozen.  The front wheels were rusted into 
one 
position, the control area behind the dash was filled with mouse nests and 
smelled of urine.  There was a lot of rust in places and it was clear that 
the electronic board was in very bad shape.

The first year we cleared the dust and debris, freed the front axles and 
lubricated all the moving parts.  The next summer we attacked the rust and 
brought the electronics control board and forward/reverse control system 
in 
for the winter.  Corrosion had taken its toll on the control board. We 
carefully cleaned the board - one of the unijunction transistors' lead had 
corroded into two pieces.  Radio Shack had a replacement.   The terminals 
were unable to grip their positions any longer, but I decided that they 
could 
be soldered in place after the board was reinstalled.  The speed control 
was 
completely disassembled and one of the microswiches replaced.  These 
switches 
seem to be fairly common - I had several in a can of cannibalized 
switches. 

Finally this past summer, with the major obstacles out of the way we began 
removing rust and repainting.  At the same time I decided to check the web 
and see if there was any information on the Elec-trac line - and low and 
behold:

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/kb13/misc.htm#electric had links to Walt's 
Electric Tractor Page for ELEC-TRAK pictures, specifications and 
accessories, 
Technical Service & Parts (608) 868-6220 for parts and documentation and 
Kansas Windpower (913) 364-4407 for some parts.  This web page also 
resulted 
in finding:

http://web.starlinx.com/dwfh/
http://www.igs.net/~darrylmcmahon/e10e15.jpg

I was elated to say the least.  We ordered a service manual to complete 
the 
rebuild.  We wanted to check out all the wiring and parts before making 
the 
investment in the batteries.  The week went by this summer and the front 
lift 
motor seemed fine.  The charger was removed and checked out as well.  The 
wiring all seemed to be in order.  We ordered new Trojan batteries which 
were 
promptly delivered.  We installed the batteries as well as purchasing 
cables 
and clamps to connect the batteries.  The moment of truth arrived when we 
were ready to energize the main disconnect and see if anything smoked - - 
- 
it ran fine! . . . except in reverse - this was soon to be discovered to 
be a 
seed the mice had brought in still wedged under one of the reversing relay 
contacts and probable wedged when we had used an air compressor to blow 
out 
the Hunta viruses ;-)  

We have since found a couple of good things.  Wal-Mart sells an equipment 
yellow in a spray can that is a very near match to the original paint.  As 
well at Wal-Mart, for all of you snow blade owners, there is a red 
tie-down 
strap that is easily doubled over and sown at one end which makes a great 
lifting strap.  We have modified our blade to lift from the mower lift 
position by welding a lift point on to a nut which threads over the main 
blade rotation bolt.  The blades lowers with more control and lifts with 
more 
leverage.

We have pictures being scanned that I will send out when I receive them 
back. 
 
We can't wait for the snow this year.

Larry Elliott
Moscow Idaho
larrye3 aol com