Rich's 1976 Sears Suburban SS16

Owner	Rich
Owner's Other EV	1994 Kawasaki KE100
Location	Austin, Texas United States ^map
Vehicle	1976 Sears Suburban SS16 I bought this as a non running, mostly complete tractor, sold off the engine. So as a roller it cost about $100. Nice heavy duty old garden tractor.
Motor	Mars ME 0201013101 Brushless DC Ebay find, kept it for years knowing I would eventually do a tractor conversion. I am told it was designed for a floor burnisher and rpm max is about 4000 tops. I think it does around 3500 at 52v.
Drivetrain	Original 8 speed transmission, kept the same pulley and belt length, just shorter as the motor is closer.
Controller	Kelly KLS-S Mini 24-72v 200amp Sine wave, which is required for this motor. Square wave controller was super loud and not good for motor I was told.
Batteries	0.00 Volt, 12s of old Chevy Volt module (40ah?), and 2s of old Nissan Leaf modules (55ah?) which I stole off my wife's emoto scooter (replacing that now). Doesn't matter, I base charge level off Chevy battery voltages and all have stayed perfectly balanced forever. No BMS, I just watch the voltage.
System Voltage	52 Volts
Charger	Generic aluminum case 5amp
Heater	Maybe I'll rig up a pedal or hand crank for lifting the 3pt. That should help keep warm
DC/DC Converter	None yet. Maybe 24v converter for actuators soon.
Instrumentation	Old cycle analyst stand alone shunt.
Top Speed	12 MPH (19 KPH) Torque monster. Higher speed due to larger tires than stock.
Acceleration	Enough to almost throw me off the flat seat.
Range	18 Miles (28 Kilometers) Totally depends on work being done. Just driving unloaded on dirt, maybe 18 miles? .
Watt Hours/Mile	100 Wh/Mile It uses about 700watts at 7mph and battery is 1.8kwh usable. about 100wh/mile no matter the speed. I would guess that half of the power goes to loss in the transaxle. It is a lot harder to roll in neutral than a geared lawn tractor with a light duty tranny.
Seating Capacity	1, though I had my wife stand on the front axle when towing a 25ft camper up a slope.
Curb Weight	450 Pounds (204 Kilograms) Bare form is about 450lbs. Add 150lbs of concrete wheel weights, 125lbs of steel plates up front, 3pt hitch and receiver, about 800 total without my 200. Weight is a good thing when traction is the limiter, not power.
Tires	Rear are 26 x 11-12 TG Tyre Guider Mars-X Utility ATV/UTV Tire. Not proper tractor tires, more rounded, but still vastly better traction than turf.
Conversion Time	Maybe 80 hours? Seemed like a lot, but I work slow and think too much.
Conversion Cost	500? Mostly the cat 1 3pt hitch and related stuff.
Additional Features	Will eventually do loader arms up front. I've been working on a secret 2(ish) wheel tractor lately. An excavator attachment would be good too.
I tested the drawbar pull at 1243lbs on dead grass, at which point it lifted the front axle and my wife standing on it 2 ft in the air. I ceased further testing because I don't want to find the limit of the transaxle strength. Total vehicle weight of 1000lbs with us on it, so I was really impressed it pulled more than that. It tows big heavy trailers really well, other than needed a brake improvement. Often times I'll leave the parking brake on and have no idea, it has such good torque. Very precise throttle and speed control. I can inch along at incredible slow rates to safely get through a tight clearance area when towing a big trailer. Recently I made a custom frame extension to hold the cat 1 3 pt hitch, as the oem 3pt is tiny. With a middle buster/ ripper it goes through 8 inches of compacted dry soil

code by jerry