The electric riding mower is almost ready for its first test. I am happy with the drive train and have even added a switch to the brake that that turns off the motor when braking. I was going to turn off the motor manually when braking, but too easy to burn up another fuse that way, or worse.

Still playing around with how to attach the lift mechanism to the blades. My biggest concern right now is what happens when you bump into something. The old gas mower was heavy duty, and I still managed to bend and break stuff. This won’t be as strong and will break more easily. I just don’t have a good feel for how much movement to allow. The old deck was mounted at four points which was more stable. This will be just two points. Maybe I should have kept more of the old lift mechanism, but it was a bit complicated. Right now I’m thinking of ways to limit movement. Things will break if you hit them hard enough, but I’m going to try to keep it to a minimum. Actually I suppose I will be easier on this machine than I was on the old gas mower.

One other bit. Sometimes my progress depends on Amazon deliveries. There are two parts to the old lift mechanism. I want to reuse them and each has an advantage and disadvantage. I’m also learned that although they seem interchangeable, one is maybe a quarter of an inch offset. Nothing some big washers wouldn’t fix. Except I didn’t have any big washers. So two days to mull it over while Amazon ships my washers.