# EV Ford 555 Backhoe



## remy_martian (Feb 4, 2019)

Lead acid costs more than lithium...

I was staring at my dead MF65 today....same thoughts.

Maybe buy a wrecked Leaf and go direct drive to the clutch splines?


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## MattsAwesomeStuff (Aug 10, 2017)

DC motor is fine. Don't pay for a Warp9. Waste of money. Pay scrap value (under $200, sometimes free) for a used forklift motor. They're never the reason a forklift is retired and will work for another hundred years. Call up forklift repair places or go in in person, tell them it's for a project, ask if the have any old motors sitting around just in case, or, if they have a boneyard, offer to use your own tools and time to remove a motor yourself. If they're nice they'll say yes, tell you which you can gank it from, and even tip it over on its side so it's easy to get to the bolts.


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

I doubt that a forklift motor (or any of the expensive equivalents sold for EV conversions) would be adequate. A 57 HP car only uses a small fraction of that most of the time; a 57 HP construction tractor may use much of that almost continuously. Something bigger, or reasonably sized but liquid-cooled, seems more appropriate. Yes, a Leaf motor should be fine.

Whatever the motor, getting rid of the torque converter seems like a good idea.


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## MattsAwesomeStuff (Aug 10, 2017)

brian_ said:


> a 57 HP construction tractor may use much of that almost continuously.


A tractor yes, especially with PTO and constant towing.

But a backhoe? 57 HP continuously just to swing the buckets?

Is a backhoe harder duty than what an active forklift does? Now a forklift has a pump motor in addition to the traction motor, but I think it also moves faster (it's also only 2/3 the weight).

Just spitballing here.


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## remy_martian (Feb 4, 2019)

Absolutely. 

A forklift merely runs the pump during lift for 3-5 seconds on one single-acting hydraulic cylinder (assuming the tilt and fork centering is not used). Then it's a heavy golf cart for a minute or so. Uses no power to drop the forks. Is there even a 60HP electric forklift out there? I doubt it.


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## electro wrks (Mar 5, 2012)

MattsAwesomeStuff said:


> A tractor yes, especially with PTO and constant towing.
> 
> But a backhoe? 57 HP continuously just to swing the buckets?
> 
> ...


You are forgetting the loader bucket at the other end of the hoe. You will need all of that HP(sometimes you wish you had more!) to dig and push into undisturbed dirt or piles of dirt, crushed rock, and other materials that need to be lifted up and moved around.
This might be a case where multiple smaller motors running in parallel would provide enough power. For batteries you might look into new or used forklift batteries: forklift batteries for sale - Google Shopping
There is quite an extensive market for these batteries. Some of them are designed to be swapped-out and recharged between work shifts


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