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(ET) Flex Blades
- Subject: (ET) Flex Blades
- From: "Hazen, Dwight L" <hazen indiana edu>
- Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 16:32:23 -0500
- Sender: owner-elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
Anyone have any experience with these Flex Blades? Will they work on an
ElecTrak? http://www.grassmasters.com/flexblade.html
Dwight
Dwight L. Hazen, Indiana University, UITS
Bloomington, In. 47408-7378 812-855-5367 hazen indiana edu
http://php.ucs.indiana.edu/~hazen/ Ham Radio wb9tlh arrl net
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LarryE3 aol com [SMTP:LarryE3 aol com]
> Sent: Sunday, November 07, 1999 9:50 PM
> To: elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
> Subject: (ET) RE: Follow-up story
>
> 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