Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Kittredge Motor Housing help

[Jon Wallace <jonw@psubs.org>]

Today I was able to remove the big 3hp aft motor.  It was very stubborn 
but finally gave up the fight after 3-4 applications of penetrating oil 
over the same number of days and lots of persuasion.  In lieu of a chain 
wrench which I could not find locally, Jim Todd suggested that wrapping 
a chain around the kort nozzle vanes would distribute the torque needed 
to twist the tank head and act like a chain wrench if I could get enough 
leverage.

So I took the 5/16 inch safety chains off the trailer and used them for 
the job.  After wrapping the chain around the kort nozzle support vanes, 
I was able to get one link of the chain between the claw of a crowbar 
and use the crowbar as my leverage.  It was a little tricky to get the 
crowbar into a position where it wouldn't slip off the tank head, but I 
eventually was able to do so and the claw became the fulcrum giving me 
about 30 inches of leverage.  I have to say it was a little bit 
intimidating looking at the claw while I was heaving on the other end of 
the crowbar and wondering if I was going to end up putting it through my 
forehead if it slipped off, however it worked really well and the chain 
lodged so well inside the claw that I had to use a hammer to extract 
it.  Having some extra weight onboard (I mean on me) was beneficial in 
this case and came in handy to get the tank head to finally move.

The o-ring on the edge of the tank head that creates the seal really 
causes a lot of drag and I have to say that although this is a clean 
looking design I'm really not happy with the effort required to remove 
the tank head to get access to the motor inside.  By comparison, the 
battery pod tank heads pop off easily because they do not have to be 
twisted to be removed.  This is where Harold Maynards modification on 
Lake Diver excels even though it's not as pretty with the external bolts 
holding the tank heads in place.

With the tank head removed, the rest of the extraction was easy.  Of the 
four flat head screws holding the backing plate in place, only one 
required the impact driver which easily loosened it (love that tool).  
The only other thing of note was that hex head machine screws attach the 
electric motor to the backing plate instead of the round heads that are 
used on the smaller fore motors.  Pulling the electric motor out was 
easy although it's a very tight fit against the dog-ears and needs to be 
pulled out straight or it will hang up.

The electric motor is a monster weighing in at 51 pounds.  It is 36vdc, 
2600rpm, 3hp, and draws a maximum of 73 amps!!!  I tested it with 12vdc 
from my car and it worked in both forward and reverse.

Photos at http://www.psubs.org/projects/1234567801/k-600aftmotor/

Jon




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