[alan]

I’m back to try and detail some of the info about the Elec-Trak.

Thanks Mike for the post regarding the possibility that there might be other Elec-Trak tractors lurking in buildings in the country. As with anything there are probably more than we are aware of.

I have done some more research regarding the tractors in the UK. Having searched through Google Books online there’s a photo of one in Liverpool at an exhibition/trade stand. But I cannot view the picture via Google books. Sad as it may seem I would like to have a copy of the picture. It is in a copy of The Horticultural Trade journal (Gardeners Chronicle), 1976, Volume 180, Page 14 although I don’t know which issue. Does anyone have a copy of this?!

I can get a copy from the British Library but since I don’t know which issue it is in (there are 25 issues) I’m a bit stumped.

Alan

[alan]

I recall that we can view all the posts in a list with the most recent first by going to https://vhgmc.co.uk/activity

You’ll notice that in the top left corner of the ‘activity’ list that appears there is a small RSS logo, if you click on this then a list of topics appears too.

As on most up-to-date websites the content can be viewed on a phone, laptop, tablet via an RSS feed although you may need to search google for the correct app or extension. You may already have something installed already though.

The links to the feeds are something like:

All Forum: https://vhgmc.co.uk/forums/feed

News: https://vhgmc.co.uk/news/feed

I guess that all the sections and subsections of the forum and site can be made into a feed by adding either /feed or /rss at the end of the specific web page address.

[alan]

Thanks for all the info, I think the Wolseley is probably based on an MTD design as you all suggest- I’d never have thought of looking at MTD for a similar model. I did find something from a similar era badged MTD/Lawn Flite a few minutes ago.

The machine is built on a chassis and the bodyshell can be changed for another design/manufacturer/brand if so wished, so looks like it could have been a universal design.

Serial number is missing but the sticker is there partially painted over, also the gearbox number (MOD 515, Peerless 32780408) which is of little use but I’ll post the photo for anyone else’s future reference.

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[alan]

Thought I’d put a few pictures on here for reference:

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[alan]

Thanks for the offer of panels Nigel. I think all the panels on my tractor are intact and reasonably straight – I’ll have a look this week and see if there is anything I have missed.

I want to have a look at renovating the Elec-Trak this year, but don’t know when. I’ve got a busy year ahead with work and business related stuff so it may not be until autumn that I get back to the Elec-Trak. But by then I may have worked out how to make the thing work!

[alan]

Hi John,

I’ve not made any progress yet but have had a look at the new BMW i3 car as it also has the same technology. It has an optional 650cc engine that charges the batteries as it goes along.

In theory it is all possible for the Elec-Trak but my limited technical knowledge will certainly struggle with it!

[alan]

Charlie,

The Cultivator came today thank you. The packing looked really good, in particular the postal address sheet with our address on and the VHGMC logo which made it look professional.

Alan

[alan]

Emoticons (smileys) can be created by using different symbol combinations, the software then interprets the symbols and substitutes the correct smiley.

So a semi-colon : plus a closed bracket ) together make a 🙂

Semi-colon plus a P make 😛

Semi-colon plus a D make a grin 😀

There’s loads more but they might not all convert to a symbol, there’s some details on wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emoticons

[alan]

Yes you can (as S1g says) change your avatar by: Click Username > Profile > Change avatar.

If you want to save a copy of your avatar image from the old forum to upload to the new forum then go to http://www.tractorbox.co.uk/forum. Then either log into your old forum account or find a post you have made where your avatar is shown. Next click the avatar photo with the RIGHT mouse button and select ‘Save image’ or ‘Save image as..’ etc from the drop down list. This will enable you to save the image to your computer ready to upload to the new forum.

[alan]

Nigel, we also had the thought of installing a small petrol engine to run a generator to charge the batteries but haven’t progressed any further with my limited knowledge of these things.

The machine I have and I presume yours also is the E10M, the M stands for ‘mid mounted mower’. These tractors run on 6 x 6v batteries making 36 volts. But there was a smaller machine called the E8M. This has 3 x 12v batteries also making 36 volts.

For everyone who doesn’t know these machines, there’s a battery compartment under the bonnet and another under the seat as shown in the photos. Three car sized batteries fit in each. So far so good, but we thought we could perhaps install 3 x 12v under the seat (as in the E8M machine) and install a small 2 or 3hp engine under the bonnet to charge the batteries. How to get the system to work is another problem!

I know this deviates away from the tractor being as it would have been when it left the factory but it is a possible way to bring it up to modern day thinking. Possibly.

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[alan]

I’m not sure if new battery technology would tempt folk into buying an electric machine. I do wonder how Ransomes (and others) have got on recently with new technology?

I remember reading a customer survey that Elec-Trak had carried out and they asked people their views on an electric ride-on-mower. Many people said that having an electric machine was unfamiliar and if anything went wrong then they wouldn’t be able to fix it themselves – unlike a petrol machine where at least diagnosis can be far easier than trying to fumble about with so many unknown electrical components and wires etc. Also a petrol machine could be fixed by any competent mower mechanic unlike an all-electric machine.

Another point raised in the customer survey was that when a petrol mower gets low on juice then we can just top it up and go again within a couple of minutes, whereas an electric tractor such as my Elec-Trak needs at least 2 hours to recharge 40% and 5 hours to recharge 85% according to the brochure in the early 70’s.

And don’t you think that hearing a petrol engine running on a tractor sounds good?!!

At present the batteries, think they are T105’s, come in at £700 for the set. I’ve got the battery charger, but I also need to replace all the electrics, the wiring is a bit of a mess and some switches etc certainly don’t work…..think it’d be easier and cheaper to rebuild a 10hp Briggs engine!

[alan]

I did think the original price might have put off many potential customers!

I’d guess that once the battery started not to hold charge then the whole machine would have been forgotten about in the shed and eventually disposed off. There’ll be several of them in the bottom of landfill tips across the country!

[alan]

The ‘b’ is for bold and will make text BOLD.

———

i is for italics
———

link is for putting in an outside web link (brings up a pop-up window)

To put in a link either copy and paste from the source OR

type the text you want into the reply box, highlight with the mouse, then click ‘list’ and type in the link address and title.
———

b-quote defines that an item has been quoted from another source.
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del is a deleted text tag (strike through as Charlie says)

———

img gives a link to an outside image source such as a photo hosted on another server such as Photobucket, Flikr etc. (brings up a pop-up window)

———

ul is unordered list without numbering the items

Coffee
Tea
Milk

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ol is ordered list and numbers the items in the list 1,2,3, etc.

An ordered list:

1. Coffee
2. Tea
3. Milk

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li is list like bullet points (used with ul)

• Coffee
• Tea
• Milk

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code inputs code but not used here
———

closed tags will close all open tags such as bold, italics etc.
———

[alan]

test link

[alan]

I’m just messing with things…

[;)]

[Author]

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