Electric wagon

[Ahillbilly]

My son and I built this wagon for firewood out of and old Bolens 1600. Everthing is recycled and it was also my sons learning to weld . I used and old gear reduction motor in place where the old gas motor was. It still has the tractors old transmmision and clutch .I cut the shifter off short and put a rod on so it can be shifted from the front. If I want to use it as a regular trailer I just put it in nuetral and I can pull it by hand or tractor. My firewood pile is about 50' from my outdoor boiler. I load it full of wood and set the steering in the direction I want it to go and plug it in and let it walk on it's owen.It is quite slow it takes couple minutes to walk 50'. To go to the wood pile empty I just put in nuetral and just pull it by hand. I lengenthened the frame and I figure it holds about a 1/2 cord of wood.
Allan

[Kbeitz]

Put a Zero-Max gear-box on it to get the most amount of speed from your electric motor...

[fallon416]

Hi Allan,

Where's the picture?

Neil

[Ahillbilly]

Sorry I have tryed to upload pictures ,but I must be doing something wrong.
Allan

[johnsonmk]

Sorry I have tryed to upload pictures ,but I must be doing something wrong. Allan
Read this...
http://www.mytractorforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

[Ahillbilly]

I will try to upload the picture it is small enough But I usaly get error message.

Allan

[fallon416]

Hi Alan,

Nice recycling job.

What size gear motor did you use on it and how fast do you think it goes?

Did you just run the gear motor to the battery and use the original ignition switch or to an on/off switch and then to the battery?

You could stick a gear motor on each wheel and have a 4 wheel drive. I'm just not sure how you would go about it on the front wheels.

Neil

[fallon416]

Is that dog house in the background for when you buy to many toys? :)

Neil

[Ahillbilly]

Is that dog house in the background for when you buy to many toys? :)

Neil

No i haven't got to the dog house stage yet Neil . But I keep it close by just in case.

I used a 1/2 hp electric gear reduction motor. The motor is sheilded from any moisture and I use a GFI plug . I probably could have used a 1/2 motor without the gear reducer. I didn't care how slow it is because while I fill the stove it can walk the load to the stove. And to answer your question how fast it goes. Well about as fast as some goverment employees walk that are paid by the hr . It get pretty cold in the parts of the country and stuff gets very stiff . That is when I realy need this thing to work.
Allan

[Ahillbilly]

You probably could use just about any small motor a 12volt with a battery and a small trickle charger would be an idea for short distance. One idea I considered was a small Honda motor up front. But any petro motor gets mighty stiff in -40 weather even with 0-30 oil .

Allan

[Ingersoll444]

One idea I considered was a small Honda motor up front. But any petro motor gets mighty stiff in -40 weather even with 0-30 oil .

Allan

Ya, aand if your just shuttling it back and forth a short distance, the electric motor is a lot more effecent. No waiting for it to warm up, no waisted fuel runing a cold gas engine, no extra maintance of a gas engine that is only used a very short time...

[Kbeitz]

Another idea.... Electric motor to spin a heavy flywheel... unplug electric motor and use the flywheels inertia to get you across the yard...

[fallon416]

Hi Alan,

Is this an AC motor that you used?

Neil

[mjdtexan]

Thats pretty cool. I wish I knew how to weld. Funny thing is, I have a brand new Hobart Generator/Welder that I used to power our houses during Hurricane Ike.

Seeing that tractor frame gave me a good idea though, I have an old MTD lawn tractor in the back yard with a bad transmission (i think). Could use the frame to put the Generator/Welder on.

I also have 4 electric golf carts (3 work) in our warehouse that I been thinking of getting rid of. Maybe I could build and electic tractor out of the MTD? Just for cool factor. I had these golf carts in refineries here in the Houston area that employees pretty much beat up pretty bad.

[fallon416]

Golf cart motors. :rolleyes: Put one on each wheel. You'll have a true 4 wheel drive tractor. :Orange_tr

Neil

[wally2q]

12V electric motor(s) and a car battery. Couple of old bicycle sprockets and chain, or else pulleys and a belt.... and you're good to go.

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2009041911140661&item=10-2437&catname=electric

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2009041911140661&item=10-1639&catname=electric

[Tractor-Holic]

They also sell a 24V transaxle there as well,that would be perfect for propulsion,might not be beefy enough to take the weight though--have to use it to power a heavier axle..

I've been tempted to make a trailer I have,that was made from the cut down frame of a '62 GMC ,into a three wheeled self propelled buggy,by putting a "chopper" style front end on it,(yet retain the coupler so it can still be a trailer and towed!)--and using a small engine and transaxle to power the existing driveshaft to the GMC 1 ton rear end!..it would probably tip over backwards and launch me off it like a missle though..