YARDY: My New Yard Truck

[Joaquin Suavve]

I just bought this 1988 Cushman Titan HD!

A buddy and i are going up to Santa Cruz tomorrow to get it!

I quickly did research on the titan models.

HD: 36V, no front brakes

XD: 48V, front brake & rear brakes

They share the same motor... So, the to-do list: front brakes (no brainer), and replacing the controller with a 48V lithium battery.

Any thoughts?

 

[offGridDownUnder]

Deal with the rust first.

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

I was surprised to learn recently that you good folks from down under are just mired in rules & regulations (that was a total surprise to me), so you might appreciate that living on the coast of Kalifornia has us so pinned down by the laws & air quality .gov bull excrement! Sand blasting: VERBOTEN! Friends of fiends used to do it out in the lemon groves until they were caught and fined $29,000!
So rather go all "car show"on the work cart, I think I'm going to wirewheel it then give it "my best" rattle-can job. Or, even better... I'll have my wife paint it then learn to live with the hideous color she chose.

 

[PaPaSteve]

If it turns out to be a resistor speed control and your inclined to update I might have a more modern controller.
Alltrax 4834 for a series motor 300A, 24~48V (programming info is on-line)
Curtis 1244-6401 for sepex motor (separately excited field) 400A, 36~84V (comes with OEM programmer)

 

[offGridDownUnder]

wirewheel it

... then "Rust Converter"? Actually with the converters I have used, it's best to leave some of the non-flaked rust in place for conversion, so a light hand-brushing to knock off the already-too-far-gone stuff is sufficient.

And then the rest.

The really crabby laws here are about anything that can start a fire, like running a metal grinder during fire season. That's what really pisses the neighbors off (although actual firebugs do attract even more vituperation).

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

We don't have to worry about lighting fires, our power companys light them for us.

On a more serious note, I've had really good luck with Evaporust. Good idea, I'll give it a try.
The is cart built really stout, the front, bed, sides are made out of 3/16th plate, its carrying cap. is like 1000kg.

 

[A-DamW]

Any thoughts?

Cute as a bug in a rug!

Can't wait to see the adventures getting it tuned up and running!

...and replacing the controller with a 48V lithium battery.

You might need a controller and a battery at the same time.

 

[offGridDownUnder]

The cart built really stout, the front, bed, sides are made out of 3/16th plate, its carrying cap. is like 1000kg.

Use it as the foundation for a Slow War-Wagon and take it out into traffic.

Do your part to decrease emissions. Everybody's grandchildren will thank you...

 

[amberwolf]

If they're useful, there are a few builds/etc; these are the two I found in a quick search (pretty sure there's others)

Cushman 3 wheeled Truckster conversion Build Log

I bought a 3 wheeled Cushman Truckster to convert a few years back. The engine didn't run, but I was told it did. I got it running within a few hours of getting it home. It never idled right and though I though I knew why, I never really messed with it much. I knew all along I wanted to convert...

endless-sphere.com

Cushman based build (but all the pics are missing from their linked websites)

 

[and whatnot]

Nice truck, nice patina on it, so why do anything optical to it? Would drive as is

 

[PaPaSteve]

Might take a few tricks getting the Cushman licensed and insured for street use.

We had a few NEV's (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles)
They are suppose to be limited to 25 mph.
Reprogramming the controller and taller tires pushed the GEM car to 50 which was too fast for the suspension.
Turned it down to limit it to 40.
The Curtis controller mentioned above was removed from the IT car when upgrading to a higher performance version.

GEM

IT Car

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

I'm looking at my new Cushman as blank canvas. My property is 5 acres and I bought her to be a work horse, not mall queen. But that doesn't mean I can't give her some "love". Probably the first thing I'll do is add an LSD differential because of the sandy soil in my yard.

 

[PaPaSteve]

Beware your about to enter the "Buggies Gone Wild" zone

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

Well thank goodness for my great friend offering to take me up to Santa Cruz in his killer Dodge/Cummins truck & moto trailer to pick up the yard truck. Oddly enough, the trip went flawlessly! Even had a great lunch at brew pub that had really good food and beer! The truck rolled up on the trailer under it's own power and then off when we got home at about 10:30 pm last night. It was a good day.
I did a few laps this morning then did some inspecting, found it does have front brakes and what looks like a newer BIG controller. Hopefully tomorrow i'll document all the components, then suss my "build" plan.



With my prototype LMTV

 

[offGridDownUnder]

Oddly enough, the trip went flawlessly!

Wow, that's eerie...

 

[amberwolf]

Now get out the geiger counter to see how radioactive the thing is...or whatever else is giong to go horribly wrong to compensate for the trip.

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

PUT THAT BITCH TO WORK!

T'aint no "slackers" in this yard!


I got a chance to pull the back lid and was happy to see a "newer" control (Curtis PMC-17B: 36~48V, 450amp). and was kind of surprised that everything was really clean and well cared for given the age of the truck. Yeah, the guy that sold it to me swapped some of the better batteries for old junk, but all the wiring, brake lines, master cylinder, all look really "crisp" like someone gave this old beater some good love recently.
I'm kind of stunned because I paid $650 for it and was expecting for that price I'd be getting a "hack-monkey"!

I taught my wife to drive it this morning and she is already talking about confiscating, then claiming it as hers!

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

Another interesting thing... Googling the utility cart got me next to no information, So on a whim, I checked YouTube, AND dang there are about a dozen people that have videos about restoration of these little critters to absolute stock, sorta stock, mall queen, even off-road, you name it!

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

The only "real" rust is eating the lip behind the cab that secures the plywood bed down. It is easy to see that someone did a "bonehead" amateur mistake of siliconing the seam between the back of the cab and the C channel. I'm pretty sure I got some aluminum C channel to replace it with (with water vents). T battery bolt down rails are rusted to all get out, but once I get the Lithium batteries, they need to be remade anyway.

This is exactly the way it looked when I removed the bed! There has been no cleaning yet!

 

[PaPaSteve]

A good investment for a 5 acre farm.
Looks to have a water level system on the batteries, a good thing for longevity of the battery.
To keep the investment low . . . Sealed AGM's will stop adding corrosion to the chassis and can work with whatever charger came with it.
A trick with lead acid batteries is to always keep them charged, they sulfate quicker when left in a low charge state.

 

[Joaquin Suavve]

Please pardon my ignorance... But are you saying that if I switched to Lithium batteries the charger would need replacing?

Also, more "greenhorn" questions...

I'm thinking about selling off so VERY collectable vintage BMX / Mt. bike components to afford buying my Lithium batteries, I thinking is buy 2 24V Lithium batteries and buy the best ONCE! I should have plenty on money to buy the batteries, so...

What brand & what amperage?

The first modification I'm going to do to the cart is build a 3" mesh roof rack with a 185w solar array under it (still very capable to keep the batteries charged here on the Central Coast) and doubt that we'll be using the cart more than a couple of hours a day.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[PaPaSteve]

Please pardon my ignorance... But are you saying that if I switched to Lithium batteries the charger would need replacing?

Not entirely sure but I'd expect yes.
Probably a separate charger per battery.
Cost of a new set of AGM's will be a fraction of the lithium investment.
Batteries in the NEV's we had would need to changed out every 3~4 years.
Our cars were modified and ran hard / full speed routinely.
Occasional yard use and kept charged properly, the batteries will last longer.

 

[gromike]

Well, you sure can carry the extra weight of lead, but me personally, I Iike to get the lead out. From my experience, Li-ion out performs lead in ever way but cost. Yeah, if maintained lead acid batteries, and with AGM that's easier, you'd probably get many years of use on a five acre ranch.
I would look at surplused packs from Battery Hookup or the like.

 

[amberwolf]

I thinking is buy 2 24V Lithium batteries and buy the best ONCE! I should have plenty on money to buy the batteries, so...

What brand & what amperage?

I would personally go with used EV modules from places like GreenTecAuto, for reasons you can find in various ohter posts I've made with that name (so I don't have to type them all out again ).

Details would depend on what your system requires for current (A) delivery, and capacity (Ah / Wh) for range (which depends on your actual usage, which a wattmeter could tell you with the batteries you have now, based on how you actually use the truck).

 

[Papa]

What brand & what amperage?

If you don't already have one, I'd suggest you spring for a AC/DC 'clamp' type meter - no wiring to mess with, just clamp around one of the battery leads and set the meter to "amps". Some of the budget clamps are AC only so make sure it has both AC & DC. Also make sure your choice has memory capture. Then just putter around as usual w/meter in place.