Re: (ET) Introduction from Michigan

[Mike Finck <mikefinck rocketmail com>]

David,
Welcome to the “club”! 
There is plenty of top notch expertise ready and willing to assist you in 
your new hobby. 
Mike
Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 30, 2024, at 12:45 AM, David Kirk <david kirk net> wrote:
> 
> 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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