Re: (ET) E15 welding adventure continues, I will be a welding god someday

[David Brandt <ev_dave13 yahoo com>]

Chris, I think the tranny tubes are cast iron.  You can't weld that (OK, 
it can be done, but it is not easy even for a pro).

I think Harold can sell you a new tube.  Or, if you can wait til I get my 
transmission done so I can take the old one off, I can send you one.

David Brandt


--- On Sat, 10/23/10, Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com> wrote:

> From: Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com>
> Subject: (ET) E15 welding adventure continues, I will be a welding god 
> someday
> To: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
> Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 4:06 PM
> Someday, but not today.
> 
> This morning I spent a few hours working on the E15. Plan
> was to figure out how to weld 1.5 inch angle iron to the
> side of the tractor so I could mount the transmission since
> the original mount was a rotted joke.
> 
> Well, the big problem is the Elec-trak's transmission
> mounts are *not* flat. No, they are at an angle with respect
> to the ground and the frame of course. So welding angle iron
> would have to be done in a way that would leave a 1 inch
> slope between the rear of the running boards and the back.
> 
> Nope. So I did about 1/2 an inch, which gave me enough
> metal to weld to. Then blazed away for an hour. My welds are
> not good, but at least I'm not blowing smoking holes in the
> frame. Improvement.
> 
> Noted: After awhile I noticed my stick was sticking to the
> metal. Big pain, I lost the ability to make a weld puddle.
> So after thinking about it (and having to turn off the
> contactor since I could not unstick the stupid stick) I
> realized my nicd batteries were probably low. Put it on
> charge, suddenly I could strike and hold a nice arc.
> 
> Getting there. At this point the angle iron is on the
> outside of the frame, and it seems to be holding. Now what I
> will do is cut a notch in another piece of iron around the
> transmission mount, then weld that to the inside iron and
> the outside iron. The result will be a box formation, welded
> to what's left of the frame, and welded to itself in a box.
> That should result in an indestructable mount.
> 
> Now the problem: The transmission mount doesn't slope
> right. Worse, I noticed a crack in the rear of the
> transmission mount ear. Tapped it and a corner of the mount
> broke off.
> 
> Great. What a complete and utter mess. I'm glad I didn't
> buy a box or a frame or a .... yet :-) Now I need to weld a
> new block to the transmission mount, then bolt that to this
> new angle iron.
> 
> On the bright side, I'm learning to weld. And this could
> solve my problem of how to angle the transmission; this
> inter-adapter could be sloped to fit the new frame. I think
> when I am done I am going to wind up with a
> franken-tractor.
> 
> But on the bright side at least it's sitting on all mounts
> and not sagging. I was able to jump up and down on the very
> back with no problems, and given that I am 250 pounds, it's
> probably pretty solid-ish.
> 
> All this has given me enough hope to plan to POR15 the
> *front* of the frame and paint that. Then I should have a
> tractor ready for the winter. If I can figure out this
> transmission mount thing I could get the motor on it before
> winter hits then continue fiddling with it in the spring.
> 
> Never dull.
> C
> 
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