Finally...on the Road Again

When I made the switch from an 8 inch motor to a 9 inch motor the shaft is a different length. I had to grind down the bottom of the hub to accommodate a shorter shaft.  The last time I wrote about this the bottom of the hub had moved just enough to stop the whole adapter from moving.  After taking out the motor again, I sent the hub back to Charlie, the guy who made it and he cleaned up the bottom so it's got just a smidge of clearance.  Probably a 64th of an inch.  He also cleaned up the inside of the hub so it would absolutely sit flush against the motor shaft.

I received the hub in the mail on Wednesday and started to put it back on.  I did notice a small wobble but much less than it had been before. I took a video and sent it to Charlie and he said "press ahead." So the next day, while my wife worked on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, I worked on getting the whole thing put back together.  We sat down for our Turkey dinner later just after I had the motor back in the car.  I decided I should let it sit over night so the locktite would harden.

(Yes, this time I did manage to tighten the lug bolts before I test drove the car.)  And upon further examination, I did notice a couple small puddles from the transaxle.  I wiped them up before I test drove.  Rather than rush out to the streets, I did run the car about 20 minutes on jacks.  Then I rechecked the bolts on the disc brakes to make sure nothing had come loose. Finally, I recharged the batteries so they would be fresh before a real test run on the streets.

Last year we had about a foot of snow at this time.  This year, we have maybe a couple inches and most of it is melting.  Just right to be able to test drive.  I did a quick check on the leaks...nothing there.  Rechecked the disc brakes, everything was firmly bolted down.  Bolted on the tires and away I went.  The vibration is much less and the car seems very happy to be in third or fourth gear.  First is just noisy and second is still a mystery.  The car likes to go into reverse but can't seem to find second.  I probably need a minute adjustment on the shifter. The first test drive was nothing more than pulling out of the driveway, cruising down to the roundabout then coming pulling into the driveway.  repeated this about 10 times.  On Saturday, I checked everything again, leaks, loose bolts and this time headed in to town.  After 5 miles, I turned around and came back.  Repeated this same trip.

The little bit of snow on the road makes it clear that I lose a lot of control when my front wheels hit it.  More than likely there is not enough weight on the front end.  Even though I have about 100 lbs of batteries there, it's not enough.

There's still a lot to do: finish installing the interior trim, adjust the steering wheel, only a small area needs carpet, passenger seat, etc...

It was nice to drive it though, even though I probably won't be able to do it again until Spring.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!!!

In one day's time I managed to get the transaxle out, put gasket seal on all the gaskets, had to redo the snap ring on the passenger side axle, then heated up the bearing on the outdoor grill (used an iron skillet) to get it on the axle, (see suggestion from lowbugget in last post) then got it all back in. Then put the motor in. Refilled the transaxle, slapped on the tires and I was so very excited about taking a test drive...that I forgot to tighten the tire lugs. (Hench the title, stupid, stupid, stupid.)

Good thing I was only doing 5 mph. This has NEVER happened to me before but the tire actually came off of the disc brake, so crash went the axle on rim of the tire.  I ran back home, grabbed my jack, put the tire back on and the car then the car wouldn't budge. let's run through the list...the car is in gear, the battery pack is fine, the amp meter shows it sucking amps but I'm not going anywhere. (OK, been there done that, got the t-shirt--previous posts will tell that something in the motor adaptor is stuck against the wall of the transaxle.)

Yeah, this is embarrassing to be pushing my car back to my garage in front of my neighbors.

Took off the motor and the whole adapter was wobbly.  Undoubtedly it had become stuck against the inside of the bell housing of the transaxle.  And to think, I had just fixed the wobble in the flywheel.  So, this time it was easy to see the culprit was the hub.  I took it all apart and shipped it off to Charlie, the guy who made it.  I can't blame Charlie, I started off wanting to put the hub on a 8 inch DC motor then switched to an Impulse 9, so what was made in the beginning wasn't really the right fit and the schematics for an Impulse 9 is slightly different.  As you can see, unlike most motor shafts, which are solid, this one has a hollow end.