Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Have you an battery powered lawn mower or kiddy car or anything that is not designed for the road, be it home made or bought, then this is a area for you
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ChrisB
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby ChrisB » Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:31 pm

Night Train wrote:I added my retro voltmeter to the temporary dash.
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I will need to try and find a 350A ammeter to match.



Might have 300v retro voltmeter you could shunt to 300Amps if its anyhelp ?? you'd just need to change the letters "volts" to "Amps"

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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Night Train
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Night Train » Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:17 pm

ChrisB wrote:Might have 300v retro voltmeter you could shunt to 300Amps if its anyhelp ?? you'd just need to change the letters "volts" to "Amps"

ChrisB

Cool, I may well be able to do that. Thanks. I have been looking at analogue ammeters on ebay from the far east and they don't look the same enough to have two side by side.

I will be wanting the same retro amp and volt meters on the trike project.

Anyway, here's a photo of the throttle pedal fitted.
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I also decided to fit the Land Rover ignition switch and steering lock to the steering column and also the main contactor and precharge resistor.

I decided to use the full functions of the ignition switch and have wired it so that when it is turned to the first position I have low current power available for lights and accessories and the second, starter, position is used to energise the main contactor with a latching circuit.
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So now if I click the key to starter I get a loud 'thunk' and the main and reversing contactors click in and the controller lights up. If I turn the key off, break the big red key isolator switch, blow a controller fuse or have any other power failure then the main contactor unlatches and everything shuts down.

It feels good having to use the extra turn to make the controller and high current circuits live, better then everything live at the first turn of the key.

As I can't work on the tractor now except for inside the trailer and as it is a bit dark in there I decided it is time to make some ramps.
I worked out from my steel stock pile that I had just enough 2" x 1/8" angle to make two 5' x 15" ramp frames. They are painted and drying at the moment. I will need to cut some plywood sheet to fit in them and tomorrow I should be able to roll the tractor back out again.

The 5' ramps give a good angle for the tractor to get in but also I can tilt the trailer backwards and have an even lower entry angle for transporting the trike. It means that I will need to make sure the trike is less then 10" overall length and I will have to make a simple bridging piece to fill the gap between the two ramps.
They will have a plywood board set into them for the time being and maybe in the future I will replace with hard wood for more strength and longevity.
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While the paint was drying I set to with a remote throttle.
I used a stereo headphones 1/4" jack socket as it has a built in DPDT switch operated by inserting the plug.
This allows me to disconnect the foot throttle when the remote throttle is used. I have stuck with the slider pot for now as it feels right in one hand and managed to find a nice curly lead for it.
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As it got dark I eventually figured where the hand brake lever will sit. With a lot of experimenting it is now bolted to the top of the brake cylinder frame. I can now make up a linkage, with a relay crank, to the band brake actuator at the back.
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Night Train
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Night Train » Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:00 pm

Some good news and some bad news.

Good news:
I have video of me, and my Dad, driving the tractor about in first gear. second was a bit too fast and bouncy on the cobbles and there is no padding on the seat.

Me:
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Dad:
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Bad news:
While playing and falling about laughing with silly EV grins I managed to get a clunk from the transaxle. I think a tooth has broken off.
I will need to see if anything comes out with the oil and look for a stronger replacement one.

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timpootle
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby timpootle » Mon Aug 09, 2010 3:01 pm

Good to see it moving, and 2 big EV grins :-D

Hope the clunk proves fixable
Tim Crumpton

RobSmith
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby RobSmith » Mon Aug 09, 2010 8:53 pm

Looks interesting.
This is the first time I have viewed this thread so looked through the whole thread from the beginning.
I saw your first bench test of the motor controller.
The wheel speed seemed to indicate the tractor would be quite fast.
I have a ride on mower , without mowing parts, that I intend to do a similar electric conversion to.
That has three gears and reverse and currently has an 8hp Briggs and Stratton engine.
8hp is far more than it needs as it now does not have any power draining mowing to do.
The fastest it will go in third gear is about as fast as your tractor is going in your videos.
Second is somewhere between first and third.
First is a real crawler gear and will slowly clamber up kerbs and through the flower beds (oops)
I will go back and have a better read through...looks interesting
Rob

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Night Train
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Night Train » Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:24 am

Thanks Rob,

It is faster then I thought. I was just in low gear and only with about half throttle due to the bumpy cobbles.
I did try high gear but it was scarily quick and fast to the point of bouncing me right off the seat, it was probably about 20mph. I didn't want to push it though as there was a real risk of getting a foot dragged round between the tyre and foot pegs. I will have some fenders there when I do bodywork.

For slow, it does crawl very effectively and has 'climbed' 8" steps made from piled cobble stones on my driveway.

Anyway, you think this is fun, wait for my new project.
Here's a link to my other EV home where I am Woodsmith.
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/want-build-trike-47221.html

Here are a couple of set up sketches to check for fit.
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Jeremy
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Jeremy » Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:10 am

If you could find an old Hudson Free Spirit, or maybe the slightly longer Kindred Spirit, you'd have the basis for the body work and chassis of your trike. I built the four wheel version, the Mystic, back in the early Nineties, but the company has long since gone the way of many kit car manufacturers.

Here's a link showing what the Spirit looked like, although front wheel drive it looks close to your sketch in some respects: http://www.3wheelers.com/hudson.html

Someone must still have the body moulds for this kit, it might be worth digging around to see if they are still usable. If so, then you could save a fair bit of work.

Jeremy

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Night Train
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Night Train » Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:46 pm

That's pretty good, Jeremy, not quite what I was looking for but I can see where you are coming from.
I am aiming for an Art Deco period look to the trike.

I am only putting in lots of work because I haven't got any money. If I can make something with just time and scrap then it beats paying for something immediate at the moment.

However, if I found a suitable shell, or other parts, that were dirt cheap and easy then I would go with it, silly not to then.
However, I do like making things and would probably still do so even if I were wealthier. :)

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Peter Eggleston
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Location: Tyne Valley Northumberland

Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Peter Eggleston » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:40 pm

You sound as though you have the same attitude to building as me. I started building my trike because I could not resist buying a brand new Advanced DC motor on Ebay for £80 which I new normally costs £400. It is 6 HP so not big enough for a car, so I dicided on a two wheels at the front trike like yours and designed the trike around the motor. I proceeded to buy all the necessary parts mostly new, but importantly cheep, off ebay. I have gone for a Virago swing arm and shaft drive like you, and a quad bike frame, both for about £30. I got new body panels for 99p plus £11 postage and have now most of the parts I need including a Curtis golf cart controller. Unlike your proposed vehicle, you sit on mine like a bike. The trouble is it is taking a lot longer to build than I expected.
Peter

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Night Train
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Re: Tractor from scrap yard finds.

Postby Night Train » Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:51 pm

Hey Peter, I am sorta building around what I have but it really makes designing it a tad awkward at the best of times.

I have a 12" motor, a 9" motor, a Lada Niva transfer box, a Virago (I think but now I am not so sure) back wheel and a BMW K100 gearbox, rear swingarm and wheel.

I want the Virago tyre but the drive sides of the wheels are different so I can't get the K100 to drive it. I can't find a swing arm to match the Virago as it doesn't look like anything I can find from Yamaha.

The set up of 12" motor to Niva box to Virago final drive makes for a great set of ratios.

The tail end of the 9" motor mates up to the Niva box with the standard Lada shaft.

The K100 box is too low geared for a motor that can't reach 6000rpm but makes the job really easy for a trike that only reaches 59mph with either of the motors I have.

I either have to gear up the motors or find a faster (smaller diameter) motor or find the rest of the parts for that Yamaha wheel.

I am also thinking of ways of driving that fat tyre on the K100 final drive and the easy way is to bolt an MGB wire wheel hub to the drive flange and then fit the fat tyre to a 15"x4" (or 15"x4.5") MGA wire wheel. But then to keep the wire wheel look I would have to have a pair of Midget 13"X4" at the front.
But wire wheels weigh a lot more then alloy ones.

I should start a build thread here but is is a pain having to update two threads. With the tractor I was updating threads on four forums.


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