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Cleaning up the Elec-Trak

The Elec-Track arriving at its new home -- Looks pretty good for 30 years old!

De-Rusting 

Most of the rust damage is associated with the two battery compartments.  As long as the batteries are maintained, there is no problem, but if battery electrolyte is spilled or if the batteries freeze and leak, the metal frame and body of the tractor will suffer. 

A lesson here is that the Achilles heel of the Elec-Trak is corrosion damage to the steel body and frame that is caused by not carefully maintaining the batteries.   If the battery pack can't be maintained, then its better to take the batteries out so they won't damage the steel frame and body.

So, basically even though our Elec-Trak was working and probably would have kept working for some time, there was enough rust damage that I decided to do some disassembly, cleanup and scraping, and repainting.  As is usually the case, the "If I remove just one more part I can do  a better job on the rust" scenario took over, and the the taking off a few parts became a fairly extensive disassembly.  Luckily there is not all that much to disassemble on an Elec-Trak :)

A few pictures of the cleanup process

Battery Compartments

As mentioned, the battery compartments are the source of most of the rust.

Back battery compartment.

Back compartment without batteries Kind of rusty.

Front battery compartment.

Front compartment without batteries. Also kind of rusty.

Removing the fenders (which were OK) from the damaged battery compartment.

The back battery compartment with a rust hole through the plate that joins the two frame rails.  A bit disconcerting.

The battery compartment sheet metal removed.  Pretty far gone.

The top of the frame with the battery compartment and fenders removed. Other than the hole in the top plate, the frame appears to have only surface rust.

The front battery compartment was rusted enough that I decided to take out all the contents so I could clean and paint.

I marked all the electrical connections before removing for reassembly.

The front battery compartment after removing most of the contents.

Removing the front compartment side panels -- very rusted.

This is the bottom of the side panel where it attached to the frame.

Removing the front "grill", winch, and sheet metal side panels.

This is winch that lifts attachments.

Removing the winch and "grill" to allow access for cleanup.

The front "grill".  Its an aluminum casting.  It held up very well.

Front with everything but the winch removed.

I opened up the electronics comparment just to clean out any rodent nests and see what it looked like.   Most of it looked fine.

Access cover removed for electronics compartment.

Another view of the electronics compartment.

This is the lower end of the steering wheel shaft with a pinion and sector to drive the steering linkage.

This is the front side of the same electronics compartment.

The "fuel" gage was still working, but the plastic lens was clouded, the other gage was broken.  Both are available from the Elec-Track parts places -- I got a replacement for the broken gage, and its a near exact replacement. 

There is one relay with a fried wire/contact -- still not sure what its supposed to be doing as most everything seems to work OK -- will have to check the diagrams after the rest is done.

There is actually an aftermarket solid state speed controller available to replace the analog system of resistors and switches that the original Elec-Trak uses.   I may look into this at some later time, but for now the original Elec-Trak controls are working fine.

Frame and Drive 

There was more rust underneath the frame where the gearbox and drive motor live.  None of it bad enough to require more than cleanup and repainting.

Gearbox to the right and wheel hub left. More rust and scraping.  The interesting spring arrangement is the return spring for the brake pedal.

Winch needed a new strap, and wires some protection.

By this time the Elec-Trak is light enough to easily turn on its side for easier access.

This shows an area where the drive belts were wearing away the insulation on the main power wires -- glad I caught that!

Taking the winch out.

Rots a rust.

Brushing on a solution of baking soda and water to neutralize battery acid.

Drive motor, gearbox and brake. The hole in the frame deck is visible at left.

After looking at the hole in the frame deck, I decided not to do anything about it for now.  It does not appear to effect the structural integrity of the frame.  Maybe at some later date I'll weld a plate over (or under) the effected area, but it seems OK for now.

Cleaning and Painting

I scraped, wire brushed, and used a mini grinder to get as much rust as possible off.   For the areas that were exposed to battery electrolyte, I washed with a baking soda solution, and then rinsed and cleaned again.

For rusted areas, I painted with Rust Oleum rusty metal primer.  I followed that with a coat of more or less Elec-Trak yellow.  I suppose "real" Elec-Trak restorers will cringe at this, but the yellow paint is as close as the Home Depot paint department could come on an exterior Latex paint.  I had a gallon mixed up, and ended up using most of it.

Grinding and scraping.

About ready to paint.

Primed.

Applying the rust primer  under frame.

Most of the bottom of frame primed.

The bottom in yellow.

The one bit of serious rust damage to the frame is the hole in this picture. I decided to leave it, as it does not appear to effect structural integrity.

The front battery box painted and with the repaired sheet metal.

The back battery box and and charger/inverter support shelf. Details here...

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