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While you
are in the neighborhood...............Verify that the rotor
can slide in and out on the stub shaft. If not, no adjusting
in the world will restore proper braking.
RJ
On 11/18/2018 4:53 PM, Chris Zach
wrote:
I'll
be honest: In about 10 alternate realities I am dead, and no
longer posting on this list. In this one however I merely have a
banged up leg, so I thought I would write up my error such that
others do not repeat it.
Spent the day mowing leaves and hauling the bags up to the curb
with my E20. It's a pretty heavy tractor; several hundred pounds
plus batteries. The brakes needed adjustment, but they would hold
it at a stop, so I put off getting them adjusted till later.
Besides, the motor in regen mode can stop the tractor easily, and
it doesn't go too fast.
After taking the last load up the hill I turned to the driveway to
go down and back into the yard. My driveway is pretty long, about
a 30 degree slope, and the tractor can get a good bit of regen.
This time however when I went down the tractor popped out of L.
First reaction was to hit the brakes. Nothing, the tractor was
speeding up and was basically freewheeling. Could not get it back
into gear so I thought about bailing out. At the bottom of the
hill are 4 cars: 2 porsches, a minivan and an older electric. By
the time I decided to hit the cars, it was too late to angle for
the electric and if I hit the minivan I would probably go through
the rear hatch. So the Porsche it was, with the thought that I
would go over the top of the car and deal with things later.
At the last second I realized there was another option: A hard 90
degree turn into the woodpile. There was one that was only 10%
full, so I turned the wheel and prepared to go off the side. The
tractor turned, dumped me, slammed into the woodpile, and the deck
took the force of the blow as it was retracted up.
The deck is now bent like a cruller, it's kind of neat to see.
Granted it was old and rusted but I think I will need a
replacement. I went off the side, bumped into the minivan, and was
quite oddly fine with the exception of a badly bruised and cut up
leg.
This could have gone much much worse. In fact it's pretty much
impossible that it went as well as it did. The moral of the story
is this: Adjust your brakes on your tractor. Never drive it if
they are not ready to stop it. Been doing this for 20 years, and I
really almost bought it this evening.
Noted for future reference.
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