(ET) Spring cleaning leads to questions

["Chris Tromley" <chris_t microtrac com>]

Hi All,

I mowed last weekend because I had to, before I had everything properly
prepped for the season.  Whacked the grass down short to buy me some time 
to
fiddle with it.

When plowing during the winter my EGT 150 stopped engaging third speed.  
Not
knowing where to begin to look, last weekend I took a wild stab and pulled
the speed control lever assembly.  The first micro switch I looked at had
apparently had a zorch event in its past, and was working intermittently.  
I
played with it, jiggled wires and put it back together, and now I have all
speeds.  I believe I have just redefined the term "dumb luck".  A new 
switch
is on the way.  (So is a new pair of drive belts, since I snapped one last
weekend.  <sigh> )

I also pulled my deck and scraped off the underside crud.  Wow, what a
grassy, rusty, sloppily painted-over mess.  I used a knotted wire wheel in
an angle grinder to remove the rust.  Not aggressive enough.  Used naval
jelly.  Not aggressive enough.  Gave up and spent $30 to get it 
sandblasted.
I hope to receive it sparkling clean tomorrow.

Stripping the deck was a major pain, which might be why it had been
neglected so badly.  (Towards the end I didn't even bother twisting rusted
bolts off, I just drilled them all out.  Much faster.)  I'm going to prime
with Rustoleum "Rusty Metal Primer" and then top coat with Rustoleum gloss
white.  That way I'll know if it's really clean after hosing it down.  I
will also put it back together with stainless steel socket head cap screws
and nylon-insert lock nuts.  The socket heads are much easier to get a
wrench on for the screws that are smack up against the motors.  The
stainless steel won't corrode, even when buried in decomposing grass goo.
But there's a catch - 

When stainless steel is in contact with normal steel, the SS doesn't 
corrode
at all.  The normal steel corrodes *very badly*.  It's the sacrificial part
of the galvanic couple.  To prevent this you need to decouple them.  I'm
using fiberglass washers between the fasteners and the deck.  I might even
add a dab of Vaseline in each hole in the deck before assembly.  That 
should
produce a deck that is corrosion-free and very easy to disassemble when
needed.  If anyone is interested, I can post the McMaster Carr numbers for
the fasteners after I put it together and verify it all works.  To my
questions:

1. Harold was good enough to give me a parts book with my tractor that
includes wiring diagrams.  But wiring diagrams are meant to help you hook
stuff up.  I'd like to understand how this thing works.  Where do I find a
schematic?

2. My speed control assembly has traces of some kind of lubricant on the 
cam
wheel.  Should it be there?  What kind of lubricant is it?  Guessing wrong
could be bad for the plastic.

3. My mower motors don't spin "freely", that is there is some small
resistance.  I think they're PM motors, so there's some cogging effect,
maybe seal drag?  How "freely" should they spin?  They are free enough that
spinning one turns the others a bit.

Thanks for any insight.  I think this tractor is going to turn out like the
used cars I bought when I was young.  After correcting the results of past
abuse and neglect, everything sort of levels out to be pretty long term
reliable.  Or so I hope. :-)

Chris Tromley
near Philadelphia  PA  USA

100% Gas-Free Yard Equipment:
* Avco New Idea EGT 150 electric tractor
  with mid-mount mower deck and snow blade
* B&D corded electric mower and string trimmer
* Patriot 1.5 hp electric chipper/shredder/vac
* Remington Garden Wizard corded electric tiller
* Craftsman corded electric snow thrower