(ET) A thing of beauty is a joy forever

["Pieter Litchfield" <plitch attglobal net>]

Thought you all might enjoy a success story.

I am part way through my summer project - restoring an old walking trail on
my property.  This involves cutting brush and filling skidder ruts.  Since
the narrow width of a walking trail (and rough terrrain) prevent me from
using even a small truck, I am using my ATV and a dump trailer to haul sand
and gravel for rut filling.

I've found that my E-15 with bucket loader is ideally suited to filling the
7 cu ft ATV trailer.  Four average buckets of gravel (fills trailer) is a
challenge for the ATV (4wd) to drag over the dips.  The bucket is exactly 
as
wide as the trailer is long, so little spillage occurs when filling from 
the
side.  The 'Trac's narrow original equipment front wheels tend to sink in
the sand, and the ET often gets stuck.  However, by dropping the filled
bucket to the ground and "jacking up" the front end of the 'Trac, the 
weight
is all shifted to the rear with a dramatic increase in traction.  I do use 
a
weight box on the back with a lot of cement paving blocks in it (and a
couple of found "native" stones on top too), but there's a limit to what 
the
axles will carry!  The dragging technique has worked perfectly, but I think
I'll take my tire chains back with me on the next trip.

In one day I was able to move a complete truckload of sand/gravel (about 5
yards I guess) with no problem - I could have done much more, but this is a
one man operation and I have to haul it about 1/4 mile, so the loader sits
idle much of the time.  Battery life is about two days, but if I were
dumping closer and using the loader more, 1 day would kill it due the draw
of the electric pump motor.

As always, we pray to the Gods of battery life, charger parts and relays
when using this high draw machine.  Occasionally, shifting the speed 
control
lever too quickly from reverse to foward or vice versa, especially when the
pump motor is running, results in a blown control fuse, but nothing more so
far, knock on wood.

I also use the ATV to haul the E-15 back and forth from the shop on a mower
trailer (the kind with the attached high mesh tailgate) for charging.  Kind
of a "mini construction" company!  The garage is big enuff that I can leave
the ET on the trailer and back it in ATV and all, and just plug it in
overnight.  I am still using some very used Trojan batteries I got locally
from a golf cart dealer a few years ago second hand (from his recycle pile)
for $10 each!

I'd love to hear similar stories about the capabilities of other ET's out
there.

Pieter