Re: (ET) Transaxle Question

And on the subject of the front axle I should point out this where more counterweight - BEHIND the rear wheels - can help. Imagine the tractor as a child's toy where you have the loader bucket up front and you have...something you can press on which is aft of the rear wheels. As you tip it back and forth first onto the front wheels and then the rear wheels you'll see that the more weight you add *behind* the rear wheels, the more evenly distributed the load is between the front and the rear axles (and at some point it actually tips backwards and the front wheels are off the ground).

Note that ballast in the rear tires helps for traction, and it helps the tractor not tip forward with a load in the bucket, but that weight does nothing to reduce the load on the front axle. This weight is however more friendly to the transaxle than the rear mounted counterweight as the weight is borne only by the ground and not at all by the transaxle. It does increase moment of inertia of the wheels, but sudden acceleration/deceleration isn't really a thing for a tractor (as compared to the same concern of having heavy rotating mass for a car).

The implication of this is by adding a massive amount of behind-the-rear-wheels counterweight you actually reduce the load on the front axle, and along with this you make steering easier (I have dreamt of power steering but I think I've modified this tractor enough...or have I?). The worst case for the front axle (and the operator) is when you're on the verge of having the rear wheels lift off the ground. Don't put yourself in this position.

Aside, I've been meaning to write into the list for a long time, but just have never done it. I will have some information and pictures forthcoming about:

1) Totally gutting all stock electronics/wiring and rewiring to use a Curtis 1205, including a circuit diagram

Also included under #1 are smaller aspects of the rebuilding ("restoration" makes it sound like a show tractor, trust me it still has rust holes) such as...

-Front lift -> winch conversion

-LED headlights and rear work light

-Onboard 3-bank smart charger (a Minn-Kota as recently discussed that others may also use)

2) Loader design, build, onboard hydraulic power pack, hydraulics design/build and weight box

3) Fitting auto drum brakes including turning brakes/parking brakes

For all these I'll try my best to relay relevant information and my thought process, but I'll also lean on pictures to tell the story. Maybe some others will find this information useful or perhaps just cool but not relevant because after all, much of it has nothing to do with a stock tractor and it's a bit nutty to have gone this far. There is not much left of the stock tractor.

Ben

On Sunday, October 10, 2021, 10:19:07 PM EDT, John Jeno <jjjeno hotmail com> wrote:

Thanks. Was asking about front axle because of the load testing you’ve performed for all of us!

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 10, 2021, at 5:53 PM, Ben Carter <ibekoolman yahoo com> wrote:

John,

The E20 has a cast front axle. However, in my case it was one of the rear driven axle shafts which broke.

Ben

On Sun, Oct 10, 2021 at 6:05 PM, John Jeno

<jjjeno hotmail com> wrote:

Was that a cast or square tube front axle?

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 10, 2021, at 4:48 PM, Ben Carter via Elec-trak <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu> wrote:

Paul,

Quite a lot, as it turns out, and I have pushed mine to the literal breaking point.

Two years ago I built a hydraulic front-end loader for my E20, and when I added the measured weights of each component of the loader, it adds no less than 500lbs to the stock weight of the tractor. That brings it to 1,400 pounds, and then I built a weight box which mounts in the rear frame stabs and adds *another* 500lbs counterweight when fully loaded with containers of lead tire weights. That's a total of 1,900 pounds with not an ounce in the bucket. I once have put just shy of 500 (or was it 600?) lbs of bricks in the bucket (bricks, so I could "measure" the weight by counting the bricks - hard to figure out how much a load of gravel or dirt weighs) bringing the total to 2,400lbs. And so far, that was fine, though of course I drove around very gingerly.

I also added 24" ag lug tires filled with 65lbs of RV antifreeze. While this load is not on the axles, it makes the tractor weigh even more and provides more traction. I have a lot of grip in the dirt...

Earlier this Spring I was digging in hard clay dirt with the bucket, trying to take a pretty good swipe out of a rise in my property to level it out. I did so with the full 500lbs counterweight and I foolishly chose "LL" or first gear, which I now know has the astounding gear ratio of 174:1, in addition to which the drive motor and transmission driven pulleys add another gear reduction. All this was too much for one of the axles, and it sheared at the outer end where the woodruff key drives the hub. I was lucky - on a stock tractor the wheel would have simply fallen off, and the tractor may have flipped. But I had just added auto drum brakes to the rear wheels (in order to actually stop the 2,400lb beast), and the drum simply rested on the brake shoes and didn't go anywhere. I purchased an axle and other spare parts from Harold and with those, it was back on four wheels pretty quickly. Note this incident was due to excessive torque, not excessive loading, but I think I'm also probably near the ragged edge for loading as well.

I learned my lesson and now I dig, or drive into a pile of material (dirt/gravel) in D (3rd gear) if I can, or I use L (2nd gear) sparingly. I pretend LL doesn't exist. I also run with only about 300lbs counterweight unless I need more for safety. I prefer to hear my drive belts slipping than to break the transmission again. I have moved more than 40 tons of dirt and gravel with the tractor and, aside from my foolish digging mistake, it seems no worse for the wear. I have been meaning to weld in braces for the front axles similar to the "heavy duty" version GE offered, because the front axle takes a large majority of the weight when the tractor has a full load in the bucket (imagine the load and the tractor/counterbalance perfectly matched - the tractor would balance on the front axle).

Good luck, it's a heavy duty tractor and it will serve you well.

Ben

On Sunday, October 10, 2021, 02:29:46 PM EDT, Paul Anderegg <tpa2008 gmail com> wrote:

Hi all,

Does anyone know from experience what is the max load you can carry on the transaxle? I have an E20.

--

T. Paul

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