Fixing a Few Things On the Elec-Trak

This page gives the details on the things that needed to be replaced or repaired on our E15. Thanks to earlier work by Joe (the previous owner), this was a pretty modest list.

If you are thinking about picking up an Elec-Trak just be aware that the list of things to fix or replace can be very long or nice and short just depending on the history of the machine -- this should be reflected in the price.

Table of Contents

- The New Main Battery Box...

- Repairing the front battery box...

- Other odds and ends...

Back to the Elec-Trak Table of Contents...

New Main Battery Box

The main battery box which also supports the drivers seat on our Elec-Trak was in pretty bad shape from rust and we decided to replace it.

This is the old box with the a lot of rust and the attach flanges missing.
The fenders were fine and were removed and reused.

Due to the popularity of the Elec-Track, its possible to get new battery boxes made for the Elec-Trak and already painted in Elec-Trak colors. This was a tempting option, but we decided to make a new box. Part of this was saving some money, part on the idea that we could make a more corrosion resistant box, and part because making a box made it easy to include a support shelf off the back for the new inverter/charger.

The new box is made from Medium Density Overlay (MDO) plywood. This is a tough and weather resistant form of plywood that is used for things like highway signs, chemical tanks, and concrete forms. It is a premium plywood that has resin impregnated face sheets on both sides. I think that it will be more resistant to battery caused rusting and corrosion problems than a painted steel box -- I guess we will see. The box has a sealed bottom that will (hopefully) keep battery juices from getting down to the frame if there is a spill.

This is the finished battery box.
I might add a seat later, but its pretty good just sitting on the lid.

The extensions on the back support the charger/inverter when installed.
The SB disconnect hooks up to the charger/inverter.

The finished battery box with the old fenders installed.

Construction:

The box and lid are built from a single 4 by 8 sheet of half inch MDO double sided plywood (about $50).

The right side being attached to the already
assembled front, bottom, and back.

Another view of the right side going on.

Trial fit of the box on the Elec-Trak

The front and the back are doubled half inch MDO for added strength to carry the driver's weight.

The sides are cut to fit the fender on the front side, and extended to support the charger/inverter shelf on the back.

A bottom is installed and sealed to contain any battery fluid spills.

All the joints are carefully glued and screwed.

The lid:

The lid is made from the same half inch MDO plywood. It hinges on the two bolts you can see in the right picture.

At some point, I'll probably add a seat to the top of the lid.

The whole box was built a little taller to allows 1) for the bottom sheet of plywood under the batteries, and 2) to make sure there was good clearance between the top of the battery terminals and the lid (this can be a problem on the old batter boxes as the newer batteries are a bit taller).

Lid from the bottom.
The 1 by 1 in the corners from the stops when
the lid is down.
It very easily supports the weight of the driver.

Lid from the top.

The lid installed -- pivot bolts in back.

The new box is attached to the frame with short, heavy sheet metal screws.

Repairing the Front Battery Box

The sheet metal sides of the front box on the Elec-Trak which holds two batteries, the built in charger (if you have one), and few other things, was rusted fairly badly along the bottom where the sheet metal attaches to the frame. Again, its possible to order new sheet metal sides, but in this case it was possible to repair the rusted lower flanges by cutting off the rusted area, and then replacing the missing flange with angle iron.

This shows the nearly rusted off attachment flange that attaches the sheet metal side to the frame.
The rusted area was sawn off, and an angle iron was used to replace the flange.