Electric M37

[troop2865]

In case you’re wondering what I did with my old rear springs...

Nice recycling job. Nothing wasted.

 

[nattieleather]

It looks like you have power steering. Will you be hooking up a pump to the front of the motor? Also do you need a alternator for recharging? I know nothing about electric vehicles. Looks like you might have some room in the engine compartment to mount some of the batteries?

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

It looks like you have power steering. Will you be hooking up a pump to the front of the motor? Also do you need a alternator for recharging? I know nothing about electric vehicles. Looks like you might have some room in the engine compartment to mount some of the batteries?

I will be trying to run the power steering off the front motor shaft. I’m not sure what it’ll be like though, given that the motor stops when you’re stopped. We’ll see I guess and I already own the power steering setup. With high voltage electric vehicles like this’ll be, you use a dc/dc charger to pull power from the high voltage system and charge a 12 volt battery for all the low voltage stuff. Lots of contactors, fuses, a shunt or two and significant cable size (2/0) that needs to be protected from chafing. I’m going to add shutoff switches, quick disconnects and an inertia switch to kill the high voltage in the event of a serious accident. That’ll be the first modern safety thing in the truck other than the 15 year old seat belts I installed.

 

[John Mc]

Don't they make electric power steering units? Though maybe they are not appropriately sized for a vehicle this heavy?

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

Don't they make electric power steering units? Though maybe they are not appropriately sized for a vehicle this heavy?

Electric one is my backup plan, though it might not fit between that monster steering box and the cab firewall. I’m hoping I can program some sort of idle mode into the controller when I’m in neutral or something...I already had the hydraulic one.

 

[John Mc]

Electric one is my backup plan, though it might not fit between that monster steering box and the cab firewall. I’m hoping I can program some sort of idle mode into the controller when I’m in neutral or something...I already had the hydraulic one.

Maybe just a smaller electric motor to run your hydraulic pump? Might be simpler than arranging some sort of neutral detection, and then remembering to shift into neutral in order to steer when stopped.

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

Maybe just a smaller electric motor to run your hydraulic pump? Might be simpler than arranging some sort of neutral detection, and then remembering to shift into neutral in order to steer when stopped.

That’s a great idea. Maybe I can take apart an electric power steering unit and use its motor and control on my existing pump. I’m still knee deep in wiring and steering is a bit later on. Thanks.

 

[John Mc]

I'm guessing it would be easier to just find an electric motor of the appropriate size than tear apart an electric power steering unit for its motor (at any rate, if you HAD an electric power steering pump, you could just USE it, rather than tearing it apart to use the motor for your existing pump). I have not idea of what "appropriate size" means for this application. I wonder if an old 12V electric heater fan motor would be enough? You want something rated for continuous duty.

Running it off a separate motor, rather than the main motor also allows you to put it wherever you want, maximizing space for batteries and other accessories.

I don't know how much of a draw the electric power steering motor would be, but if you wanted to maximize your range, you could have a switch to power it down when you are not doing a lot of tight maneuvering and need every mile of range.

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

I'm guessing it would be easier to just find an electric motor of the appropriate size than tear apart an electric power steering unit for its motor (at any rate, if you HAD an electric power steering pump, you could just USE it, rather than tearing it apart to use the motor for your existing pump). I have not idea of what "appropriate size" means for this application. I wonder if an old 12V electric heater fan motor would be enough? You want something rated for continuous duty.

Running it off a separate motor, rather than the main motor also allows you to put it wherever you want, maximizing space for batteries and other accessories.

I don't know how much of a draw the electric power steering motor would be, but if you wanted to maximize your range, you could have a switch to power it down when you are not doing a lot of tight maneuvering and need every mile of range.

You sure you haven’t done this before?

 

[Bill Nutting]

I’m wondering if a pump for a boat’s trim tabs might work for the power steering. I don’t know if they are rated for continuous duty but they have the motor, pump and reservoir all in one unit. I’m looking forward to seeing this project complete. I’m hoping you can do a video of it in action...

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

I’m wondering if a pump for a boat’s trim tabs might work for the power steering. I don’t know if they are rated for continuous duty but they have the motor, pump and reservoir all in one unit. I’m looking forward to seeing this project complete. I’m hoping you can do a video of it in action...

Thanks. I’m investigating options. My current hydraulic motor consumes more fluid than the trim tab drives I’ve seen so far. Dodge Challengers have electric power steering that may fit. So do Toyota MR2’s, but I have a difficult time believing a system for a 2000 lb car would last long on a 5500 lb truck.

 

[John Mc]

You sure you haven’t done this before?

No, just thought about it a lot (I've always been interested in homebrew electric vehicles. Although I've never done one, I put a lot of research into it back when I was in high school). Also, I'm in the middle of a swap from a 230 to a 251 engine (Tim Holloway is doing th real work on this, but I've been poking my head in and getting in his way from time to time). Things fit a little differently with the different engine, and one of the things that we needed to change was the old power steering set up: It worked, but it was a really strange one, and belt alignment was poor.

 

[frank8003]

You will probably have the world's first electric drive with a manual transmission.

a comment
116 years ago ..............

 

[John Mc]

@Johnbyrdgates - What is the status of this project? I'm realy interested to see how it's working out.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Could run the hydraulic pump off the front of the motor like you wanted, with an accumulator tank and a bypass when the tank is full, or use an electric clutched hydraulic pump, and a pressure switch on the accumulator. Tanks full, pump cuts out and your parasitic drain is almost all the way gone. Pressure to turn while going down the road is from the tank, same thing at a stoplight or from a stop. Fit a tank letting you go lock, to lock, back to lock, should be more than enough for anything you'd have to do sitting still.

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

@Johnbyrdgates - What is the status of this project? I'm realy interested to see how it's working out.

Photos coming soon. I’m not a YouTube, though I admire those who create great content on it.

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

Could run the hydraulic pump off the front of the motor like you wanted, with an accumulator tank and a bypass when the tank is full, or use an electric clutched hydraulic pump, and a pressure switch on the accumulator. Tanks full, pump cuts out and your parasitic drain is almost all the way gone. Pressure to turn while going down the road is from the tank, same thing at a stoplight or from a stop. Fit a tank letting you go lock, to lock, back to lock, should be more than enough for anything you'd have to do sitting still.

Thanks for the idea! My current approach is a junkyard take-off Volvo electric power steering unit.

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

Front battery box fabricated and painted. 8 7/16” grade 8 bolts ought to keep it in place.

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

I’m getting there with the wiring. I’ve done the high voltage 2/0 wiring from the battery boxes to the controllers and am beginning the low voltage wiring (accelerator pedal from a Smart car, Volvo power steering unit, inertia switch, etc.)

 

[Johnbyrdgates]

Here’s the Volvo unit. Nicely compact motor/pump/reservoir all in one.