Hi Forester,
I gotta tell you, the electric conversion doesn't sound that good to me. I have an electric powered spreader for my lawn tractor that I used *one* time. Horrible. Unless things are desert dry and dusty, nothing goes through it well. I bought it with the intent of sanding the driveway. Not worth a dime. My neighbor got an electric Moultrie spreader for his 2" receiver hitch... it never did what it was supposed to do either unless he bought bagged (dry) sand. He ended up burning out the motor halfway through the season. The smaller barrel made a real nice counterweight for my Kubota after I filled it with concrete! :laughing:
You might want to keep the old drive, just in case the mod doesn't work out too well.