(ET) Gunn lift motors, take one

[Chris Zach <czach computer org>]

Well, this weekend I took some time and did the fall work on the 
Elec-trak. Fixed card 4; turned out to be a blown trace on the board. 
Right by the diodes as well; that field must pull a lot of current.

I also swapped out the lift motor with the brand new Bill Gunn made lift 
motor. Very attractive, to be honest. Popped it in the tractor and 
checked it out.

Ground fault.

Oh boy. There are not enough words in the english language to describe 
how I felt. So after thinking of those, I took it inside and took the 
thing apart.

When I say new, I mean this was *new*. As in a thing of beauty. Bill had 
drilled a hole in the back of the unit, run a wire thru the back (I 
think a better idea) and connected it to the top brush. Other than that 
it looks like a last generation Delco window motor.

However Bill left the wire on this one a bit too long down by the 
breaker, and as a result it was touching the frame. Good. Pulled out the 
brush assembly, trimmed that wire, put it back together. I took a few 
pictures, but I can't tell if he had the armatures and fields rewound 
for 18 volts.

Put it back together, no fault. It's in the tractor now, being powered 
by 13.2 volts. Seems to run at the same speed as a window motor, so it 
might be a Delco stock with the wire run. Oh well; I'll have to compare 
it speed-wise to a real Elec-trak lift motor for a comparison.

Also replaced the timer (thank you list for sending a new one to me), so 
the tractor should be ready for a cold winter. Did a last run of tilling 
the leaves this afternoon; that runs fine. Also used the sweeper to pick 
up a *lot* of leaves today; it works well.

And the NiCDs don't seem to die.

Chris