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Re: (ET) Introduction from Michigan



The first drive, possibly in decades, here are the first 14 seconds:

https://youtu.be/wGinxQWkqdM

On 2024-04-30 12:44 am, David Kirk 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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