(ET) Introduction from Michigan

[David Kirk <david kirk net>]

When I was 10 years old my father had a GE E20 tractor that I used to 
mow the yard with, in Michigan. Back then in the middle 70s we had a lot 
snow and the Elec-Trak did not have enough battery capacity to handle 
the lengthy snow plowing sessions so it was sold. Fast forward a few 
decades and I found myself thinking about that old tractor,  and how 
cool it was. I remember my dad pulling a church float in the 
bicentennial parade downtown Lapeer Michigan. I casually looked in 
Marketplace and what do I find but an E12 only 30 minutes away.

The seller was the second owner, having purchased it last year from the 
first owner, his employer. The tractor was bought new around 1973 from 
J. L. Wannemacher in Ottoville Ohio, and it spent its life mowing the 
summer house on the bay of a great lake. I was told it was used only one 
year and  then left in a barn, but the mower rollers show it was used 
more than a season. It came with the front mower and the front blade, 
both complete. The second owner discovered the forgotten tractor in a 
barn or shed only last year, bought it and took it home where it sat 
outside for the last year until I bought it without batteries, without 
knowing if anything worked.

My 82 year old father and I loaded it up on his trailer and I got it 
home, where first order was compressed air and getting rid of the 
clutter. Rust damage isn't bad, isn't good,  I've seen pictures of worst 
and better. I installed three 100ah deep cycle 12v batteries to give my 
36v and after some coaxing it all mostly works; it mows the grass as I 
remember and the transmission has all of its gears running on original 
tires amazingly.  The voltage meter reads just into the lower red when 
fully charged so that meter is a problem. The brake was frozen and now 
that I have it  sort of moving I have no spring action to pull it back 
and I suspect the pads are worn.  The mow deck works great. The speed 
controller level on the right side of the stack is missing a spring or 
two as it flops about. The tractor moves in reverse and one speed 
forward, the first click of the microswitch. When I move the lever 
forward for more speed I can hear a contactor/relay click but the speed 
does not change. I believe the three copper windings in the front are 
related to this speed switch, is that true, and is there a more modern 
speed controller available to my E12?

The center cap on the steering wheel still has the GE logo and 
gold/yellow paint somewhat faded but still there, so it must have spent 
some time in a shed or barn. The original white wheels look great, maybe 
an 8 out of 10 scale. The fixed back rest is still intact as well as the 
seat bottom, no rips or tears.

The serial tag is rough looking since somebody rattle-canned some paint 
on it, but I believe it says "26AE12HA" and "HR29" followed by "692", 
any information that can be decoded from that would be helpful. The mow 
deck has a model number of "26AA42LA" and serial number "DS04080". Does 
this mean its a 42" deck?

The three 100AH deep cycle batteries scoots it around the yard and a few 
minutes of mowing, as of tonight, my first shot at driving it.  How much 
driving time would 300AH of battery give me? I have no idea if I need to 
be looking at upgrading these batteries to something like, for example, 
LiFePo or something more exotic, but are the deep cycle batteries a good 
start? The built-in charger/timer is missing for some reason, while the 
massive charger remains under the black cover. I am charging one at a 
time with a traditional charger, for now.

I drained the transmission fluid before driving it, and let it gurgle 
something resembling syrup for over 24 hours. Some water came out first 
but mostly 50 year old gear lube.  I used a boroscope to look inside the 
transmission and it looked stunningly beautiful. With new fluid 
installed and the rear tires up in the air I can spin the rear axle and 
it will continue spinning for just shy of a minute, perfectly silent, 
very impressive.  The belt driving the transmission is most likely 
original and it slips upon starting in both high gears, so a new belt is 
immanent.

The sticker proclaiming "This tractor tested and inspected by" is signed 
"A DeMario" or something like that. Neat to see this level of 
preservation still.  Maybe it says "DeMarco"?

Anxious to move forward here shortly tearing it down and removing this 
blotchy yellow paint. Seems like every Elec-Trak image I see shows the 
same blotchy rusty patches everywhere, sort of like 1980s GM car paint 
when they  were forced to switch to water-based paint and it didn't 
adhere very well. Any recommendations of inexpensive yellow that 
essentially matches the original? My yellow is fairly well faded so I'm 
not sure how to match it to original. Any of the paints at TSC worthy?  
Unless I'm led otherwise the plan it is to paint both interior battery 
boxes with POR15 and then I'll consider some other top coating ideas. It 
came with both battery trays and covers, along with some 6V battery hold 
down brackets.

Finally, as a new owner of an essentially bone-stock E12 what should my 
first goals be to make it a reliable work-horse, with plenty of reserve 
power during the summer hours? What modifications, both factory and 
aftermarket/home, are welcome.

Thanks in advance for any help and apologies for newbie questions 
answered many times through the decades.
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