The Cart

As I suspected... got the bolt WELDED back into position, motor reassembled, reinstalled... and wa la! The ConcretinCart is ALIVE! Ok, so maybe just "alive." It is still painfully slow. So I'm somewhat disappointed with the field coil upgrade. BUT I am optimistic as the batteries probably don't have a full charge, they've been sittin' awhile, and I don't have the new 4G wiring. I'm also hoping that once the lights, stickers, diamond plate and a good thorough scrubbin are all complete, that it'll look good enough to still bust it out every morning. (The cool factor's gotta be there or it's gotta go MUCH faster. And I don't have the funds for faster.)

But it runs! And there is a good amount of coolness with the lift and tires. It did not like my bros hilly street at all... barely made it up, felt like a power issue... so perhaps the 48V option is the next step? We'll see how I feel about it after it's truly complete. But mechanically I feel pretty good. I tore it down, and put it back together and it still runs. So at least I didn't make it any worse.

The Brothers Three all spent the day in a garage working on various projects from wiring lights on a trailer, tweaking a mower, firing up a waverunner, testing a quad, and piecing together the ConcretinCart.

BEFORE the lift...


and AFTER... I like it!

Got the front shocks on, no problem. Finally ended up getting the longer ones at Napa... should have started there. The rear shocks however... no MAJOR problems but they are much fatter than the stock ones, SO... they don't really fit width wise... they are right up against the lift risers, so we lightly hammered the top cover on the shock to give it a flat spot that would fit JUST barely. But I don't think it would have mattered really, cause the shocks are stiff, and I don't expect them to ever compress enough to hit. I probably could have put in 2x4s and got the same ride! (I was warned about this already, and I did expect the stiff ride.)




Cleaned up a bit and "rustoleumed" the battery rails.

Bro got the brakes adjusted, and the new "movable contact" installed. He already had the motor in and the rear tires on. SO, finally started puttin' in batteries and hooking shtuff up, going by my pre tear down labeling... (We used the old wiring, as the new ones aren't in yet.) Got all psyched up, put the seat on, shift in fwd, put the key in, "ready?" Pedal.... nothin'... hmmm... pedal again... key check, FnR check, pedal... NADA...
shoulder drop... dammit...

Double checked all the labels and wiring... correct... Bro busted out the meter and solenoid wasn't doing anything... tried to convince me that my wiring was wrong, but I was 99% sure I labeled it right, and 100% sure I hooked them up as labeled. Got the solenoid to click (movin' wires around) Then he has a revelation... I bet it's that bolt I broke... I bet the solder didn't hold... *sigh* undid the wires, took out the motor and I'll be... bolt was separated from the field coil (again). SO, he's gonna have it welded back on. I'm pretty confident once that's fixed, it'll run.


Notice anything missing above?



SO... still not running yet, and even if it were, don't have lights or new wiring, or seat belt... so still wouldn't be ready for the street. But dammit I really wanted to see(and share) the results of the field coil upgrade... OH WELL! Sorry folks. Maybe next week.

The full steam ahead idea is no more. Friday didn't go nearly as smooth as the first two days of work. We installed the lift kit on the back, and then removed the bolts, and installed the ubolts (as instructed). Duh. And we only noticed that because the bolts weren't long enough to reach the lock part of the lock nuts... the ubolts didn't quite fit the rear plates so they took a bit o' pounding, but we got 'em on. The front lift was already on when I arrived, bro and 7 yr old niece did that... excellent! The wheels don't look as insane when mounted on the cart, they look cool. Also noticed that the brakes ARE gonna be a problem, hopefully just new shoes as originally expected (but hoped it was just gonna be a cable thing). Mo' money...

I did end up taking off the other end of the motor housing, as my bro pointed out the brushes wouldn't go back into position if we didn't do that first. We got the new field coil in without incident, BUT he broke off a bolt from the end when reassembling the motor... grrrr... It's an easy fix for him at the "office" (a military motorpool) but still, I was hoping to get the motor back in already. (One bit o' good news is he does have some scrap diamond plate and I'll have one killer front end when we're done.)

THEN... as I decided to wuss out and go the wimpy route and just replace the copper contacts on the old speed board, I really fought with the new one to relinquish them... actually got three of them on, and then the "movable contact" just came off in my hand as I moved it to insert the last 2... grrrr... Which means I must replace it, (it was apparently about to fall off anyhow), which means I now HAVE TO remove the accelerator pedal linkage I was trying to avoid dismantling!! (make sense?) Sunuva... If I'd known that, I would have just replaced the whole speed board... duh (again). Removed the old solenoid as well, but of course the bolts were too short for the new one so the new one isn't in... I don't mind the lil' things... but lots of lil' things went askew.

But the bro is on vacation with the girls the next few weeks, and I have a sneaky suspicion that will translate into some things being done already when I arrive to work on it. (There is absolutley NO WAY I would have been able to do all of this on my own as I had originally thought and actually planned. So I guess the thieves kinda did my a favor, still wish they hadn't though.) Gotta get the bro a cool "attaboy" gift when this project is over...

So, note to those with old carts watching my progress (or lack there of)...
Check E V E R Y T H I N G before you begin, constantly during, and check again after! Even the smallest thing will set you back a few hours or even days (with parts ordering), and really mess with your head and enthusiasm. Even my ScopioticNeurosis couldn't prevent oversights... Until the next build day...

Didn't have much time to work on it last night... but apparently, with big brother help, I didn't need much. In just under 2 hours we had the wheels off, complete front end suspension disassembled, and the rear axle dismounted, shocks and all. I certainly couldn't have done that on my own in 4+ hours. I would have ended up cutting the shocks off the back as it took both of us really cranking on them to get them removed. We debated on fabricating and welding new shock mounts on the front, but finally decided to just get longer shocks and not fuss with it. (Or make extra work for anyone else, as we weren't gonna do it.) He'll have the shock mount straightened out Thursday, and check out the scraps of diamond plate for a new front cover... But we'll wait to determine this shape and size after we settle on a headlight configuration. Man, this is gonna be fun. I spent another hour at home cleaning up the motor. I'll have to get new nuts for the field coil as the end bolts are bigger than the original (and one was stripped anyway). That and shocks will be my challenge for Thursday afternoon.

And no matter how much the big bro shakes his head at me in that "you're such a dork lil' brother" fashion, I think he's gonna like it too. Particularly when he's riding around with his daughters.

FrontEnd Dismantled

RearEnd Dismantled

Out with the old, in with the new... field coils