1916 5 ton electric truck

[Frank Surber]

A good friend of mine sent me this to store and eventually restore for him
It is a 1916 5 ton truck made by the Commercial truck company
it was used for half a century almost to haul coal in Pittsburgh PA or that is the story I have on it





And this is where I will construct an enclosure to store it


You can read about it here
C T Electric (Commercial Truck Company - Electric Truck )

 

[ultrarunner]

At Henry Ford's personal home Fairlane a Detroit Electric belonging to his wife Clara is on display...

Electrics gave internal combustion a run in the early days.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Kind of unfortunate for the planet that Electricity didn't triumph.

 

[user.69169]

Before you get too far, get some litmus test strips and determine if them batterys are Lead/Acid or Edison battery. Edisons use iron plated and caustic and can get very nasty very fast.
Thing about Edisons is dey can retain charge for very long time. Voltage check of each cel strongly recommended.

Either way, dey probably rubber case from look of pictures so dey gonna be brittle.

Truck back den totally different thing. Other then Mack most trucks were built up at dealer from components de buyer wanted. Number of cels on dat frame indicates truck was definitely a long distance carrier.

Also want to look for cast iron resistors and handle careful, Dey be like glass.

 

[Frank Surber]

The Batteries are Nickel Iron 6 out of the 9 still took and did hold a charge for a couple of years or this is what I am told since I did not do the charging of them I have no way of knowing how the man to was working on them did it. I think other than just pouring in distilled water he had simply put one at a time on a charge using an older dumb charger. The 3 that wouldn't take a charge also leaked so the rubber bottles must be damaged.
They were made by Gould as is indicated on the cells and plaques on the boxes containing the cells
I heard but have not verified that there is a company in Connecticut that will take the batte3ries completely apart make new bottles clean and refurbish or replace the plates or tubes in the cells make new boxes refill them with the proper electrolyte of potassium hydroxide and water charge and test them then return them for around $2000.00 per battery and warrantee them.
Knowing what it takes to refurbish the individual cells of a 48volt forklift battery having helped to do some made of lead acid myself, I would consider this a bargain.
When it comes to time for restoring the truck I am going to have plenty to do as it is especially since the guy who owns it wants all of the wood to be of the same type as the original and ruff sawn to have as close to the same original saw cut pattern as possible done on a circular saw mill instead of a band saw. It may even be cheaper for him in the long run if he and I make a saw mill and cut the wood our selves . Just locating a quantity of white oak and water oak timbers large enough to make the 2 1/8" thick by 12 1/8" planks is going to be difficult enough
But what do I know its his money we will be spending. Last year he hired me to drive 600 miles to inspect a Prevost RV he wanted to buy which he ultimately did buy then left it with me over last winter to do some repairs on it and store it for the winter.

 

[chim]

I don't know if it helps or not, but we've gotten oak lumber cut per our wishes at the place below. At first I thought shipping would be way too expensive, but it'd probably be cheaper than building a sawmill:

White Oak Saw Mill | Strasburg PA | Standing Timber | Rough Cut Lumber

 

[grsthegreat]

How many batteries does it have?

 

[Frank Surber]

I don't know if it helps or not, but we've gotten oak lumber cut per our wishes at the place below. At first I thought shipping would be way too expensive, but it'd probably be cheaper than building a sawmill:

White Oak Saw Mill | Strasburg PA | Standing Timber | Rough Cut Lumber

Thanks I saved the site.
Shipping for me is usually not much of a problem I have a friend who I do all of his mechanic work for who hauls lots of stuff for me. The guy who owns the truck is even willing to buy an old timber framed barn or log cabin if need be to get timbers of the proper age He claims to be cheap and that his grand mother invented copper wire from stretching penny's so far but I have seen him drop big bucks on something just because he wanted it a certain way. I've known him for over 25 years but only actually met him about 7 years ago after he had asked me if I would pick up a trailer he had bought in CA while I was out there picking up a lathe and some other equipment that I had bought. I hauled it back and made some modifications for him going only by phone conversations and emails the first time we met face to face was when he came to pick it up from me. I'm getting ready to prepare a pad in my North woods for him to park his motorhome on when he comes to visit he will pour a slab and erect a cover put in his own well and septic . Its a win, win for me

 

[Frank Surber]

How many batteries does it have?

it has 9 5 cell batteries and runs on 4 60volt gear reduction motors

 

[ctgoldwing]

This whole thread is really cool! First the truck is a first for me. Never saw anything like that. The batteries are a story by themselves and your friend sounds like a real character. Life is an adventure - this qualifies!