Yes, I do have NOS square spacers available :-)
Jim Coate
(aka The Electric Tractor Store)
On 12/29/2019 8:25 am, Charlie wrote:
> Jim might still have some of the square spacers. I once successfully
> made one from the square head of a giant zip tie, but the one Jim sold
> Pete was better.
>
> --Charlie
>
> On Sat, Dec 28, 2019, 5:40 PM Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com>
> wrote:
>
>> Man I am glad I fixed the brakes. Today I went up on the hill behind
>> my
>> house to pick up some fallen trees. Drove up the 20-30 degree path,
>> picked up 3 5 foot length logs, drove back down and to the house no
>> problem.
>>
>> Decided to try 6 logs. Much heavier, but since they were at the top
>> of
>> the hill it wasn't too big a deal, it's a downhill trip with the
>> load
>> and I can just put it in L and go down the hill.
>>
>> Well, got towards the bottom of the hill and smelled smoke. And saw
>> smoke coming from under the tractor. About this time the motor cut
>> out
>> and I got to use the brakes to stop the tractor and load. Good news:
>> The
>> new brake kit allowed me to finish the trip down (in LL, no motor)
>> and
>> figure out what had happened.
>>
>> When I checked underneath there was a small fire by the brush studs.
>> It
>> was then I remembered that the top spacer was broken so I used a
>> short
>> length of auto coolant hose to act as the spacer. Apparently the
>> motor
>> side had gotten hot, the lower washer loosened, the coolant hose
>> caught
>> fire, and the motor shorted itself out.
>>
>> Dragged it back in with the gas tractor (sans load) and pulled the
>> motor. Sure enough the rear stud was burned, so for now I took the
>> stud
>> and insulating spacers out of the E15 motor and fixed the E20 motor.
>>
>> Will test tomorrow, but it did point out one interesting issue: When
>>
>> going downhill you are in regen mode and the motor is working just
>> as
>> hard to charge the batteries. Add a half ton of logs behind you and
>> it's
>> a pretty significant load.
>>
>> Speaking of which, is there a source for those insulated washers and
>> the
>> square spacer? I'm assuming they are high temp plastic or resin to
>> hold
>> up in the motor.
>>
>> C
>>
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--
Jim Coate
www.FreeRangeElectric.com
Home of The Electric Tractor Store
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