For those making an EV (tractor)

Floyd, either might work ok, am thinking that I like the second one, partly because if it does not have enough power you can over volt it. But my GUESS is that either one could work.

The reasons I used the Craftsman GT 4000, is that it is a gear jammer, so no hydraulic pump , overhead, but that was in the days of LA batteries, now if you have them you can pile on more batteries, also the drive pulley on the craftsman transmission is vertical so motor can be mounted with shaft horizontal.
If you are developing over 3hp., it is a ton of power compared to an ICE.
Tony
 
Thank you Tony. The Craftsman LT2000 and the Troy-bilt Both Have vertical shaft engines and They both have transaxles with a driven pully on top of the transaxle. Actually could mount either one of the motors under the 12v Battery location I believe there is enough room for the motor behind the steering column. The drive pulley is still attached to the engine so getting it fitted to the drive shaft of the electric motor would work of course I would have to figure out the drive belt length. or if there is enough room above the driven pulley a more direct connection could be arranged.
I am leaning toward the cheaper of the two. although to be able to go from 24v up to 72v without overvolting could be a plus thought I had posted this ok the seller made me an offer on each of the motors so I bought them both figure I can use one and sell the other one or, now a controller isn't really needed as it will be driving a hyrostatic transaxle.

Later floyd
 
On the B10 front bearing housing there are some roundish outcroppings, could they be drilled and tapped to mount a carrier plate, would make hanging the motor much easier.
On my first motor since the motor revs were in the same range as the engine revs, I used a pulley same size +/- as the original engine pulley, worked well.
Not needing a speed control is worth a few hundred dollars, you can juggle the speed by raising or lowering the volts on the battery pack, sweet. And of course the higher the volts the lower the amps so that is a pretty big saving too.
Don't want to hog the thread, so feel free to shut me up, <grin>.
Tony.
 
No need to shut up. :) Since the motor output shaft and the transaxle pulley need to be in the same plane I might be able to mount the by cutting an opening in the center console under the hood for the motor to slip through and weld 4 arms the motor would be secured to. The arms would be adjusted prior to welding so hat is lined up with the transaxle pulley. But first I want to see if the motor would fit under the body and above the transaxle currently thegas tank is in this location. I won't get to work on the tractor much this weekend. Have plans on Saturday.
later floyd
P.S> I am grinning from ear to ear. :) :)
 
This is what the transaxle looks like with the pulley on top.
Screen Shot 2021-07-02 at 10.59.15 PM.png

Later floyd
 
Great by mounting the motor pulley down you can leave room for the mower deck.
No room for a belly mower on my build and I miss it.
Did build a mower deck by bolting two 24 volt motors and blades off dead battery powered walk behinds, to the original deck, and mounted it to the frame under the forklift, it mowed but would not do an even job so it is now sleeping out in the field.
 
That is the plan. Leave the mower deck in stock location I have to find the mower deck first. it was taken off just before the mower quit on my folks.
To do's
1. Spray yellow jacket nests. I know there is at least one somewhere on the LT.
2. Remove ICE engine. Clean it up see if I can sell it
3. Remove Lt 'stractor body. Take photos before the body is removed and while removing body.
4. Jack up the LT to test the transaxle. A cordless drill should work.
5. Drain transaxle of hydraulic fluid. Determine whether I need a replacement transaxle. If I do I will probably see if the Troy-bilt LT tractor can be converted.
6. If things check out. start planning where the motor and battery will be placed.
7. mount the motor. Mount pulley to motor, align the pulleys.
8 Determine which motor I will use. I would make the battery packs 36v if I go 36v or 72v and 24v if I go 48v . I would be using a two battery battery pack at the higher voltages.
That is enough planning for this morning.
Later floyd
 
If you want to go electric the easy way, you can buy the ME1004 electric motor and bolt it in place of the ICE engine. It has a 3" X 1" shaft and the original drive and blade pulley will bolt right on to it. I'm doing onre now. The best donor tractors are the ones that had the 20 hp single cylinder Kohler Courage 20. They all blow up because of poor engine design so you can get a donor tractor that's in very good shape with a good deck. Mine has a hydrostatic transmission but I'm also going to use a "pot box" throttle so I can vary the motor speed. I'm going to use a lithium 48 volt retail battery that has a built in BMS because I'm getting lazy. I'll post a parts list and some photos here as soon as I get the motor mounting plate figured out.
I would like to find 2 X 48 volt 800 to 1000 watt deck motors if I could. The ones I have found from electric lawn tractors are $500 and up and also require a controller. They have to be "pancake" serial DC motors to work with just a contactor and fit on the deck.
This is the battery I'm looking at because it will fit under the hood and I can bring it inside and add it to my house battery in the winter. https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-wp-lithium-battery-48v-100ah
Cheers and good luck with your build.
Pete
 
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