(ET) E-15 hulk status: Hot mess

[Christopher Zach <cz alembic crystel com>]

What a mess this poor E15 is. I'm trying to have it be the unit that is 
hooked up to the mower deck, so I took the deck out of the shed from 
its' winter nap, hooked it up, and promptly broke the totally shot lift 
strap.

Tried fixing strap, broke again in the weeds. More important the mower 
didn't seem to be working well so rolled it in to check.

The right-most motor (tall style) was completely seized up. Great. And 
when I went to replace it with a short motor I found that the wires to 
it had been shorted all the way to the interconnection on the left side. 
Sigh. Apparently the Klixon sacrificed itself by instantly welding shut 
as opposed to... well, being a breaker.

Swapped motors and broke the lift again. So I pounded out the lift, and 
am completely re-building it over the next week. Can't really mow 
without a lift.

The motor by the way did not have a shattered magnet, it looks like the 
bottom bearing was totally seized. Not sure why, everything was fine 
when I put it up. Good thing I have the gas Craftsman.

C