RE: (ET) Snowthrower Yahoo!

[Klein Robert W NPRI <KleinRW Npt NUWC Navy Mil>]

I plan on building a rear weight box to slot into the frame.  Two pieces 
of 1-5/8" x 1/4" thk flatbar bolted to a steel painted rocket box from 
army surplus should I need the extra weight.  I've got dual cast iron 
wheel weights for #110 per wheel.  With the chains it should hook up OK... 
I hope.  When I powered the snow thrower up, the dash meter read just on 
the high side of the green band.  I'll use my clamp meter tonight and get 
some real numbers.

Thanks again,

Bob.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Zach [mailto:czach computer org] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 10:48 AM
To: Klein Robert W NPRI
Cc: 'elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu'
Subject: Re: (ET) Snowthrower Yahoo!


Klein Robert W NPRI wrote:
> Well,  I hooked everything up last night and threw the switch.  Let me 
> tell you
 > a C-185 with a snowthrower is HEAVY!  Holy Cow!  What a monster!

Yep. Worse than that, it's all on the nose of the Elec-Trak, especially 
when you've got the thing lifted with the lift. Then it's a point weight 
ahead of the nose.

Wait till you power it up and see what it does to your battery pack :-)

>And I definitely need rear wheel weights to make it heavier and to help 
>with rear tire traction.

I strongly recommend putting some serious weight as far back on the 
tractor as possible to balance it out. With all that weight on the nose 
you put a lot of stress on the front wheels and steering will skip to 
say the least.

I weigh down the back with the weight box filled with old Hawker 
batteries. I can fit 12 batteries back there, which is about 250lbs. 
Since you're moving around a moment arm (the rear wheels) the further 
back behind the wheels you can put the weight, the better.

Chris