Farm Utility Vehicle

[TomSr]

I am planing on building a farm utility vehicle. I should say up front that I have follow this forum for several years and been a member for a couple years but seldom post. Dont have much to say. I find almost all comments helpful and mostly to the point. So this is my choice to bring this dicussion.

To give a little background. I have 12 acres on top of a mountain in NW Arkansas. (Ozark Mountains) Right now I use a john deere L145 riding mower to pull a trailer up and down the hills from my shop and house to my barn(Rabbit House),(I raise rabbits, have over 400 right now). I haul feed and firewood and various equipment and material to assist with my work. Sometimes I haul fence wire and post.

I know everyone will tell me to purchase a 4 wheeler. I dont want to. I have an old 18hp Sears mower. I plan to tear the mower down, extend the frame. I am going to remove the motor and go electric. I have the batteries already. What I want to do is have a bench seat right up front with batteries behind the seat, then behind that have a dump bed with the follow dimensions. Dump bed: 4' X 5' Total vehicle: Approximately 9' long and 4' wide. That measurement is from the back of the dump bed to the front bumper. I think the overall frame would be around 7 foot long X 3' wide.

I am looking at electric motors and tread mill motors come to mind. They are 2.9hp DC motors and a couple of them might do the job.

I am just in the planning stages so any thoughts, ideas and input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[smstonypoint]

Tom,

No thoughts -- just a question out of curiosity.

How do the treadmill motors stack up against the motors used in electric golf carts and electric UTVs horsepower-wise? It seems to me that your vehicle is going to be quite heavy, especially if the dump bed is loaded.

Steve

 

[Soundguy]

my only thoughts are the drivetrain.. how will it hold up to the extra strain.. and tire size.. going bigger? if not you may have traction problems.

look at speed vs torque. keep in mind that tranny on that mower is made to be coupled to a pretty fast engine, even though it is pulleyed down a bit..

soundguy

 

[impdaddy]

go to Plum Quick Motors Forum. They sell upgraded and refurbished electric motors. The guys on that forum are as helpful as the dudes here. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[TomSr]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I dont know how the treadmill motors compare to golf carts. I will be checking to see how they do compare. That is one thing on my list. I dont need a lot of speed but will need pulling power at low speeds.

I plan to change the drive train on the mower to a chain drive. I think I can do that because of the slow speeds of the motor.

Thanks for the referral to the other site I will check them out.

I will post pictures and more as I move along on this.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

Have you considered starting with a golf cart? The batteries will be the big cost in your project and you might luck onto a good set in an older cart as well as a ready-made power train and chassis for your modifications. 36V golf carts are cheaper than the higher voltage electric models. I'd cruise eBay for a week or so and see what they have.

 

[Soundguy]

probably pull better also.. and be more side to side stable than a rider mower. rear axle will be FOR SURE be a better setup

I have a farm CUV vehicle.. it's essentially a gas powered golf cart with a dump bed. love it.. pulls a 4x8 trailer fine.. has a receiver hitch .. etc..

 

[czechsonofagun]

Search TBN, this British gentleman build an electrical tractor from a scratch, he posted detailed pictures and descriptions.

 

[Craig Clayton]

Sir
I am an electrician and have a similiar idea to build an electric garden tractor. The problem is the cost and design to build an electric controller. As stated above I would use an electric golf cart and rework the body, because it is only angle iron , sheet metal and a seat.
Craig Clayton

 

[ToadHill]

I used to work for a company that built traction motors for electric street cars. Keep in mind that if you plan to use more than 1 motor to drive the vehicle that you need some method to syncronize them or the different torque from each motor will tend to drive one wheel faster than the other.

This result is the vehicle wanting to steer itself in the direction of the motor that is turning the fastest.