John Deere E-Gator rebuild(Picturestory)

E-Chopper

10 W
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Messages
83
Location
Lower Austria
Hello to all !

This year i had the option to buy a cheap but rosty E-Gator for a few bugs .
It was lot of hard Work !
So i made lot of Photos from the rebuild . so lets start the Picture-Story .


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inside the E-gator
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the motor
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the dead Battery
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so i start work
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so much dam rost everywhere !
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paintwork
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special paint for more grip
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for the next step i demount the DC-Brushmotor
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i also demount the axel
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the rame is a real lightweight and easy to lift
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and again rost everywhere
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after paintjob
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so on the backside and batteryspace all rost is terminated
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next step the front
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again lot to paint......

................more paint
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Hello again some new Photos

here is a lost picture ...work on the axel
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now its getting interesting ...............
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the controller -gasket was broken i made a new seal (luck there was only a little oxidized inside )
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inside the controller
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so next work clean the DC- motor and repair the dead TachoPOL-Wheel

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much dirt inside
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the old TachoPOL was broken so every broken Magnet build two new poles (North andSouth)
Thats the reasen why the motor turn to slow !
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i build a new tachoPOl with little neodymmagnet N-S-N-S-N-S
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after clean the motor i chek the Brushes they look really good so i dont change them !
 
So next step was build a new Battery i am not really a fan of acid Battery so i build a new liion Battery .
Old Battery more then 200KG the new one under 30kg :)

I buy cells and solder it !
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close to fin
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so i want that the Battery look like a original battery from a shop .i think it will look like a profesional Battery
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i also mount a 200AMP fuse and a main switch !
 
thank you !

so now i show some pictures of modified the Seat-holder and i mount seat belts for safty !

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work start on driver cabin so can drive it all weather .

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now i mount the glas
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after paintjob its look much better
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so all work is done !

so sticker are also very important feature

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picture from side
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frontside
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backside the ATV the 10km-plate is old meantime i had a street license and it drive faster
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i mount 2 lights on roof
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i change the halogen against led with less Watt but more light

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So thats the end of the story i am really happy with it and my little son love the E-GATOR( john green deere)
meantime also my wife love to drive it :mrgreen:
 
Looking sweeeeeet!

Whats the Ah and voltage of your new battery?
New cells or used?
Brand name of cells?
Whats your range calculations?

I dig the build!
 
Oh yes sorry i forget the data :

the cells are old 2014-2015 but not used = (0.0 Cycle )
i buy it for around 2,50 euro- pice (260 pices)

Cell data =Panasonic NCR18650PF 3.6 V 2900 mAh (10Amp max )

i solder 13s *20 Cells so i got 46,8 Volt nominal and 58 Ah

i know that 58ah is not much but i calculate this Vehicle for a max range that i need is 10-12 km so it is fine .

the Controller does made 400A max for short time but continous it is between 100-130 Ampere .
First test drive i controll the heat of cell´s but the never get real hot ..so this DIY accu is fit perfectly .
And the fuse is a 200amp fuse so there is no Danger to the Cells .


So i made some calculatoins and the range with this accu should be around 15km .
The maximum range i drive is now is 12 kilometer and the Accudisplay is not in the red range. I can not really tell you the real range its difficult to tell .

Maybe next time i made a video> offroad it is a really pure fun you can even drift the turn of the road .

Greetings Martin
 
I had never see one of these before and then yesterday my wife dragged me out to greenacres petting zoo in Wales for my 1 year olds amusement. Was a horrid day for weather. Animals were good but it was a bit run down as a place (its unfortunately a little oversold on their website). Anyway I saw an e-gator in the flesh and ironically a real gator/croc in the reptile house. Thanks for sharing I enjoyed the pictures.
 
Great job. How many Ahr were the original lead-acid batteries? Lithium batteries don't suffer so much from Peukert effect, so even if the lithium pack is less Ahr, it might perform better.
 
first ! Hello again thanks for your post´s and interest in my Project.


Originally there was 8 pice acid Battery inside one had...... 6Volt -225 Ah (Trojan T-105 ) a cell had 28 Kilo so 224 Kilo .
But this Battery was all dead ! i took them to Recycling !

I know that 225 Ah acid Battery would perform longer ...but on other side they much heavier and the point of matter> the price of 8 new T-105 Battery was 1496 euro (one 187euro) the Liion Battery coast was around 700 Bugs .

Liquid Acid Battery you always must watch them fill Water in it .....

Liion you only have to watch to stay over 2,8 volt per cell :D

grettings
martin
 
What a great project. You've inspired to convert my electric gator to li ion!

How is your pack holding up? How are you charging?
 
Sorry for the late answer !

I build the accu for my way from my Home to work 10km and back also 10km .
So with this DIY Accu 260*18650cells(58AH) i drive 20KM with the Gator before it stop´s .

If you want to have the Originally reach of 50Km you need 520 Piece Cell´s so you need a116Ah Lion accu to have a Better or Simular Accu Power as the liquid Acid Accu 225 AH.

The DIY 116Ah lion accu would had less then 40 KG weight !!! the Original Acid Accus = 8 piece "225Ah 6Volt" one had (27 Kg)
=216 Kg :shock:

I load the Accu with the old Socket but i had a new loader a 10 Ampere s13 Lion-loader

Greetings
Martin
 
Very similar to my build!

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=96717&p=1449374#p1449374

Can't get pictures to work on yours though?
Lithium makes an amazing difference hey!
 
Nah you went to a lot more trouble than I did, with respraying, fabrication etc. I'm fortunate mine came with a plastic roof and windscreen, and plastic tray, so I just needed to spray paint where the old batteries were.

You can upload your images to imgur.com which may help them load faster.
 
little update on John deere-Project

Hi again i mount some safety features .

First i mount a Poly Carbonat Wind-Shield on the Driver Cabine (rear window)
then i mount two headrest for driver and co driver .

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mounted Window with protective film


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remove the film bevore use :lol: !
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i mount this parts with a special kind of polymer glue" Innotec Adheseal" / sticks very well this glue is perfect for all kind of Plastic or Metal even aluminium i love this glue meantime i glue all kind of thing with Adheseal also my >>Fish Aquarium ! i called this glue also Macgyver Glue :D !
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and i mount a Gas cylinder for easyier opening the load area !

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next step is to mount a FM- radio and to integrate the charger inside the Johny !

Photos will follow


greetings from Austria
 
Great post and photos.
I have an eGator and will be replacing the batteries this spring (still waiting for the snow to melt).
When you replaced yours with Li ion, did you do anything to the wiring beyond the batteries (and presumably the charger)?
Is everything the same wiring wise?

How do you make sure you don't drop the cell voltage below 2.8 volts?

With respect to your gas shock on the box, you might look at the power lift kit that are an option. My box lifts and lowers electrically. I believe it has a 500 lb capacity.

I assume you have the John Deere Parts book, if not here is a link to it
https://partscatalog.deere.com/jdrc/navigation/equipment/67826

Thanks
John
 
Hi John, this is what I used to protect the batteries in my similar build:

http://zeva.com.au/index.php?product=135

Zeva BMS. I also ordered the optional screen which I think should be a must, as you can then configure the high/low voltage cutoffs, see current draw etc.
You'll also need 2 contactors, one to cut off charging if any cell gets too high, and a second one to cut off the load if a cell drops too low. I'd recommend the 500A shunt too.
Make sure you thoroughly top balance the cells in parallel first before you assemble your batter pack.
I used 16x CALB CA100 LiFePO4 cells. You could also use 14 or 15 NCM cells instead.

It has an audible alarm when either of the voltage limits are hit too. It's already saved my pack from damage a few times.
 
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