(ET) First Drive...and Online Restoration Diary!

[David Brandt <ev_dave13 yahoo com>]

Yes!!!

Took the tractor for its first drive, today!  Took a couple laps around 
the back yard before parking it in the trailer.  I couldn't believe how 
little current it used.  D1 only used 20-30 amps at max. throttle 
depending on terrain, and D2 only used 30-40.  Now kicking in the field 
weakening really caused a surge (up to 100 amps) breifly, and a HUGE surge 
in speed!  I don't think I'll be using it that much - D2 at full throttle 
is just fine (about the same as 4th gear on my old Dynamark)!

Despite my worries about the uneven terrain in my back yard and the 
seeming 'tippiness' of the ET, it handled well, and didn't even mind the 
bumps/dips too much. 

I was impressed that it stopped well even without using the brake, and 
maintained a nice steady speed even going downhill.  It behaves a lot like 
the ICE tractor did in this manner.

Now I have the space in the garage to work on the caster arrangments for 
the deck, which is all that is left to do before I can mow...WITHOUT 
hearing protection!  The biggest adjustment is going to be the front 
mounted deck.  When I sat on the tractor it finally hit home how much 
bigger this is than the old ICE mower.  to top it off, the deck will be 
about 6 feet in front of me :-O.  

I put together an online restoration diary to document all this, since it 
might help somebody.  The address is:

http://www.davesevs.com/E15restoration/E15 home page.htm

It isn't linked from the main EV page or the home page yet, so if you go 
there, you have to use the back button to get back to it.  And it isn't 
complete, but it is done up to installation of the hood, and that was only 
a week ago.  I'll get the rest up in a few days.

(...and this time it is in regular HTML format :-)

David Brandt


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