Mechanical Done*

Dare I say it?  The mechanical is "done".  Note the * for the footnote, which could read "mostly" or "i think so"...

It's harder to spend the time inside with everything *spring* going on, but it's been cold these last few days and the hill grass is growing like crazy.

Mostly pics today, but hopefully start seriously wiring tomorrow?

 Belt Guard from underneath

 Belt Cover ( currently not installed, needs tweaking, will see if needed )

Sheave and Belt installed ( taken from underneath up on jack stands )

Rear Chute with Side Baffles installed ( keep grass out of chains )

Rear View with Batteries and Motors reinstalled

Side View showing electronics enclosure mounted

Custom Alternator Tensioner (Aluminum rod, Heim Joints, Jam Nut)

Thinking about how test the motion, I would have to put the whole thing up on blocks or risk it climbing a tree or worse.  Then, a simplification - just remove the chains from the motors to the main driven gear ( or in this case - since I just put the motors back on - don't put the chains back yet )  Now it won't go anywhere and I can test the radio and everything else safely.

Things to remember:

Don't forget to add oil to the new engine!

Check gears, bearings, sprockets for tight set screws.

Now, where are those wire strippers...  

A Rim for the Deck

OK, maybe a little paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

The deck is made of 16 ga steel, about 0.060" thick.  Some commercial decks are 10 ga ( ~0.130" ), but I didn't want all that weight.  A compromise is to strengthen the bottom edges with a strip, I used two pieces of 1 inch 12 ga ( ~0.104" ) steel.  One piece goes all the way around, about 5 ft long ( 22 inch diameter - chute width ).  The second piece is only 3 ft long and covers the front half, 3 o'clock to 8 o'clock.

Clamps!!!

Bottom side tack welds

Topside/Outside View

The straps were wrapped around a steel disc about 20 inches in diameter and persuaded with a large hammer to stay curved.  The million clamps were needed to hold the strap tight all the way around with minimal gaps while welding.  Each ring was tacked separately every few inches.

This combo nets about 1/4 inch of steel in the front and sides, plus about 3/16 everywhere else.  This should provide substantial insurance against errant dings.

It started to rain while I finished the welds, so the paint will have to wait.

A little more grinding, welding, drilling ...

Last week I was out of town for a few days, but since the weekend was cold I managed to make some decent progress here and there.  Last post had the deck mocked into place, with a claim of a plan of attack.

The deck is basically finished, mounting holes in place (3/8), plus the alternator mounting completed.  In the following shots you can see the detail, plus a few large dents.  Not sure if I mentioned it, but to get full clearance at the highest deck height a little hammer adjustment was needed.  The design height is about 3 inches, but I can get 4 out of it with the sheet metal massage.  The dents clear the bearings and the sprockets with plenty to spare. 

The alternator pivot bolt has the upper diagonal piece welded to the bottom plate so the alternator doesn't tip under belt tension.  It will be clear once I share an assembled photo.  Not shown in the unpainted pics is a block that anchors the belt tension adjustment.

 View of deck showing mounting tabs and alternator support

Rear View of Deck - Shows 1/4 in. rod brace and aluminum frame tabs.

Step Washers

Above is shown the step washers I made.  The holes in the deck were cut to 1/2 inch, which I misread from the engine drawing.  They are supposed to be 3/8.  I didn't want the motor to shift sideways - ever - so I debated welding the hole smaller or making these.  Welds are hard to drill and they are perfectly centered now, so this seemed the most accurate, albeit the most work.  The center boss is 0.050" tall as the sheet metal is 16 ga.  The OD is 1 inch, and they are about 0.150" thick to allow better oil filter clearance as well ( it's a feature, not a mistake... ).

A different angle with a little paint applied

The rear battery tray, done.

The battery tray also needed to be adjusted to fit the alternator, by about 2 inches.  The semi round mod can be seen above in the photo.  Also shown in the photo is the central lower crossmember notched.  To the immediate left and right of the notch can be seen the two rear deck height adjustment bolts.  Two more bolts go through the front brackets ( second photo above ) to the deck tabs there.

The mod of the tray involved cutting the front lip in half and partly off, bending them inwards, cutting the round piece out of the bottom, bending the lip back and splicing a section in the middle to keep it rigid.  The whole mess was welded together and ground smooth.  It is hard to tell it wasn't that way to start.

The deck isn't back in because I am debating adding a ring of metal strapping around the bottom rim of the deck to reinforce it.  I was looking at a commercial mower that had a similar feature and it might be handy to prevent bending the lip into the spinning blade if I hit a rock or a small stump.  I didn't paint the bottom edge of the deck in anticipation of adding this, plus I ran out of paint anyway.

Best laid plans...

Spring is here, or at least it was.  The temporary warm spell has been replaced by snow and 30 deg weather.  Spring yard work took priority over recent history - mulching, raking, putting the plow away ( oops? hopefully not ).

Mounting the deck - Last post was the basic deck fabrication.  Adding a cutout for the alternator mounting necessitated another frame modification.  Initially I had planned on skipping the alternator and adding it later, as such I hadn't put the detail into mounting it.  Coupled with not having made a decision on exactly how to mount the deck, or whether it was going to have adjustable height or not - led to a lot of thinking, not too much progress.

So, here is the result of the thinking, not quite done, but there is now a plan to follow.

On the deck, there are four mounting points tack welded for alignment.  One on each side in the front and two in the back.  The rear ones will double as alternator mounts and there will be hanger bolts drilled through the middle crossmember.  In the front, there will be two tabs made to hold the same type of hanger bolts.

Since the alternator wants to occupy the same space as the middle cross member, I need to cut it - about six inches worth.  To avoid weakening the frame, I decided to add a replacement cross member up about 10 inches higher than the rest of the frame.  The uprights are 1/4 steel plate 2 inches wide.  They are repurposed from a driveshaft safety loop from my son's car ( a former race car ).  It was almost perfect, only a little tab needed to be welded on at the bottom to make it fit the bolt spacing.  At the top is another piece of 1 inch tube, and if you look close you can see the temp bolts are wayyy too long ( ran out of short bolts - HW store roadtrip... )

You can also see the marker outline of the engine projected onto the deck.  This was used to help with the location of the tabs and the alternator *AND* to help avoid stupidity if I'm not paying attention to interferences.

The crossmember's extra stiffness may not be necessary, but it also provides a potential mounting for the electronics.  They will be in a plastic enclosure for radio reception, and up high will allow for better performance and ease of access.  Later...