# Please evaluate my forkilift motor - Advice needed



## Jack Squat (Jun 22, 2008)

Hi All,

I have been doing some research on ev conversions and decided to start with a motorcycle first then work up to a car.

Will the experts out there please tell me any and everything about this forklift motor I just bought? It was just $80 so I grabbed it. Please see the attached pictures.

It is a Raymond 36V doubleshaft (one male and one female). It is 7" diameter and 12" long.

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I would like to know these particular things and any others you would like to add:

-How many horsepower is it?

-Is it series wound, shunt wound, sep ex and how that affects my usage.

-Is it strong enough to power a small car conversion as is or with the brushes advanced?

-Can the brushes be advanced to up the voltage supply and how do you do that?

-Can it be fed more than 36V without advancing the brushes or will it burn them up?
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Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rick


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## joseph3354 (Apr 2, 2008)

that looks a lot like the motor i have.it's not suitable for a car conversion( although it's about the same as forkenswift).you can up the voltage but you need to be certain there is a DE bearing,not a bushing.might be alright for a motorcycle.post this in the forklift motor sticky and you might get a better answer.hope this helps!


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## VDubber (Jun 2, 2008)

Only two terminal posts means it is a likely a one-directional series wound motor (aka pump motor). Where is the cooling fan? You can hookup a 12V battery on to that with a set of jumper cables to see how it runs - and in what direction. A 36V motor won't overspeed at 12V, even with no load on it.

It looks like you have a decent set of sealed bearings on there. The DE is the male one with the bolt in it, BTW. To run most cars it needs to rotate in a CCW direction when looking towards the motor's DE (like the 3rd pic you posted). For Honda's you will need it to turn CWDE.


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

VDubber said:


> Only two terminal posts means it is a likely a one-directional series wound motor (aka pump motor). Where is the cooling fan? You can hookup a 12V battery on to that with a set of jumper cables to see how it runs - and in what direction. A 36V motor won't overspeed at 12V, even with no load on it.
> 
> It looks like you have a decent set of sealed bearings on there. The DE is the male one with the bolt in it, BTW. To run most cars it needs to rotate in a CCW direction when looking towards the motor's DE (like the 3rd pic you posted). For Honda's you will need it to turn CWDE.


Hey VD,

Yeah, looks like an unidirectional pump motor. My guess is that the cooling fan attached to the male shaft on the non drive end (DE). The pump attached to the female spline on the DE.

And Rick,

My guess is about 3 or 4 hp for one hour rating at 36V with the proper fan. Maybe up to a peak of 10 hp at 36 V. Likely series wound. Small car, maybe? About the size of a beefy golf car motor. You got to know what you're your doing to advance brushes. Since it is unidirectional, there may be some to start with. Unknown. You can up the voltage, how far depends on your loads, speeds and brush advance. And how long you want it to live. 48 or 72 V, probably be o.k. 100 V plus, I'd look for a different motor.

Regards,

major


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## VDubber (Jun 2, 2008)

Ooops - I'm always getting the two ends mixed up, thanks for straightening that out major 

So, is there a reason he (or other people) wouldn't be able to use the male shaft as the DE?


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

VDubber said:


> So, is there a reason he (or other people) wouldn't be able to use the male shaft as the DE?


Hey VDub,

Probably not. Shaft looks odd, like a flat vs key. And the bearing might be smaller on that end. And where to put a fan?

Regards,

major


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## Jack Squat (Jun 22, 2008)

Thanks for the input guys.


I didn't realize it needed a fan.

Do all the Advanced and Warp motors have fans built in?

How would I go about it?

Does a motorcycle application require a fan?


Rick


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## Hi Torque Electric (Dec 23, 2007)

Hey Rick

Looks a lot like the motor I did for Damon Henry's Datsun truck (which is listed on the EV Photo Album)(search Datsun, and or Washington). With a Logisystem 1000 amp controller and 96 volts of NiCads it'll do 75 MPH top speed and with his new 1k controller pretty much so do it now 

Damon has his blower cooled, no hills, and he uses 1st gear so the little motor don't grunt to hard getting going but if done right is enough motor to do a light convertion. Anyway, Damon tells me it's the little motor that "could" 

I ended up replacing his shaft with a standard keyed shaft which made using the motor, well, usable and as for the fan, I made him a solid band with a 2" intake tube so he could blower cool it and that a mute point
The brushes were also advanced 10 degrees and as I stated it's now up to 96 volts at 1000 amps and running great.
Hope this helps.

Jim Husted
Hi-Torque Electric

PS: As to direction, run the motor on 12 volts and see which way it spins, if correct, all's good, if not we'll cross that bridge if needed as it can be reverse it'll just need to be done internally and requires a bit of mod'ing.


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