Electric Trike Build

[Ulu]

OK. This one has 1 inch axles and 1 inch wide diff gears and they are beefy for a glorified lawnmower.

When this one died, Dad bought the 20hp one which has the same transmission but additional high range/low range gears.

This part of it is the same as the 20 hp model. There’s the differential gears.

That tea tag is 25 mm each way.

Here it is with all the gears flipped over into the opposite case half.

More data later…

 

[Jude Ephesus]

WOW! Epic project! Can’t wait to follow this build!

 

[Ulu]

WOW! Epic project! Can’t wait to follow this build!

It has to exist a bit more first.
These are just the preliminaries, and soon I will have to delay things until my welding is done on the car chassis.

 

[Ulu]

There is the cluster gear assembly, and boy is she a beauty! But I don’t need her, so she goes in the bucket of spare parts.

I don’t need any of these things that I have marked, and they are all going in the bucket of spare parts.

Seen from the other side, but it’s all history.

In order to remove all that stuff, I only had to make one internal modification, which was to move this clip on the new input shaft (the former brake shaft).

There it is installed in the transmission. By moving this clip, I was able to eliminate the second heaviest gear in the whole transmission, plus a heavy steel spacer.

So what you see there is everything that’s going to remain inside. Here it is looking from the other side.

I buttoned and it all up and weighed it. As you see it here it weighs 44 pounds Without the oil. The bucket of spare parts weighed 22 pounds, so that’s how much I’ve lightened it so far.

 

[Ulu]

It just occurred to me that for proper lubrication this transmission is supposed to carry 5 quarts of 30wt oil. With all those gears and shafts removed, it is going to take 6.5 to the right level, which is about 13 pounds of oil.

I feel this is absolutely unnecessary (For the duty I expect) I could cut this case off and make a block off plate, but I sure don’t wanna weld on it.

My quick and dirty solution is just to stuff a couple of empty oil bottles inside the case before I fill it up.

A more elegant solution would be to carve a fitted plug out of Styrofoam and seal it in plastic. I think I should be able to get away with two or 2 1/2 quarts.
I’d be real happy to shed 5 pounds there.

The way this will be suspended, this whole transaxle is unsprung weight. I will do whatever I can to reduce that.

If you want a vehicle to ride and handle well one of the worst things to do is add unsprung weight.

 

[Ulu]

Some of you might wonder how that input (formerly brake) shaft had an unused groove on it in exactly the right spot.

It’s for the version of this trans with another sliding gear, for hi/lo range operation. A big gear slides on that splined shaft.

I Don’t have it or need it.

 

[Ulu]

Pics of yesterday’s prelim framing mockup. These painted weldments came from a wire rack and a power lift chair.

 

[BartRidesEternal]

Wow, that project looks really nice. Good idea to fill the gearbox with another 'light' material instead of heavy oil only. The carved styrofoam and (vacuum?) sealed plastic sounds good. If the plastic will not deteriorate by the oil

Looking forward to more!

 

[Ulu]

Here is a slightly better view of the swingarms and pivots.

Those pivots have welded steel sleeves and I have shoulder bolts for them from the original factory assembly.

Since I’m using solid pivots on the swing arm the axle will have to be mounted in rubber. Otherwise some linkage will be required to allow motion without binding.

 

[Ulu]

Wow, that project looks really nice. Good idea to fill the gearbox with another 'light' material instead of heavy oil only. The carved styrofoam and (vacuum?) sealed plastic sounds good. If the plastic will not deteriorate by the oil

Looking forward to more!

If I get a real bug in my bonnet I could make a baffle plate and seal it on the inside of the transmission. That would allow me to use the empty space as a toolbox or something.

As it is I am planning to use those four shifter bolts to know the upper rubber pivot eye. I want to have one in the front of the top and one on each axle down at the swingarm.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Love this, building with "outside the box" idea's and materials!
you could use that space in the diff housing as a secret store for keys etc, turn it into an ice box maybe where you could reach down and acess from the rear seats. Or as you said a "toolbox"... the space is there for your personal custom application, lucky you!!!

 

[Ulu]

Love this, building with "outside the box" idea's and materials!
you could use that space in the diff housing as a secret store for keys etc, turn it into an ice box maybe where you could reach down and acess from the rear seats. Or as you said a "toolbox"... the space is there for your personal custom application, lucky you!!!

I would most like to put a motor in that space, but serious case mods will be required. My plan was to mount motors to the case directly. if they are close to the front suspension point they don't count as unsprung weight. that keeps the chain short,

The swingarm idea was looney. What I will need is a track link to center the wheels. The transaxle is its own swingarm.
It will have one attachment at the top front and one down low at each wheel.

 

[Ulu]

Today’s mockup.
I need to get it lower…

 

[Son of Kradus]

Rear end looks pretty tuff n strong!.. wheel combo looks great! resembling a top fuel diff n wheels LOL
can you raise the swing arm pivot joints 2-3", like as in adding a tab to attach them a bit higher and in turn lowering the frame.

 

[Ulu]

I need to offset the wheels about 2" more. It's really too narrow.

I've set it at medium suspension travel, assuming 4" travel.

This sits at about 7 1/4 off the ground at the front of the tire. I think 6 inches would be plenty at medium travel and that would give me 4 inches absolute minimum.

 

[Slow-Rider]

digging it so fare.

 

[Ulu]

I dropped the deck 1-1/4” and raised the rear frame about 2”. This will be enough to get some suspension movement.

The eye from a Chevy Silverado shock absorber: This was supposed to be the front suspension pivot, but it doesn’t quite align as I had hoped. The wire hanging the trans runs thru the holes I wanted to align the rubber eye to.

It's just kinda hanging there loose. I will have to make some new tabs here.

The chair shows a normal seating height. It will need to be no higher, but I’d like it lower. I need to space out the wheels and drop the seat between them.

 

[Slow-Rider]

I dropped the deck 1-1/4” and raised the rear frame about 2”. This will be enough to get some suspension movement.
View attachment 227092

View attachment 227097

The eye from a Chevy Silverado shock absorber: This was supposed to be the front suspension pivot, but it doesn’t quite align as I had hoped. The wire hanging the trans runs thru the holes I wanted to align the rubber eye to.
View attachment 227093

It's just kinda hanging there loose. I will have to make some new tabs here.
View attachment 227094

The chair shows a normal seating height. It will need to be no higher, but I’d like it lower. I need to space out the wheels and drop the seat between them.
View attachment 227098

so like a leather home lawn more tractor ride type seat?

 

[Ulu]

I want a bench seat, wide enough for two people. I might get the rear seat from a small car and cut it down.

To widen the rear enough I will need hub carriers. I am not looking forward to cutting and welding the axles.

The axle will need a girdle to bridge the carriers together.

As long as the wet weather continues (at least a week) I won't get started on the VW, and I'll keep fussing with this trike.

But once it cleaars I'll have to put this aside for a while. Possibly 3 months to fab & weld the VW chassis, and put the body back on.

 

[Ulu]

I just measured the clearance between the tires and I only have 19"! I will need at least 32" and 36 would be better.
If I offset the wheels 100% the 19 becomes 25, so I need another 8". I will need to widen each axle 4", which gets me 33" clearance.