Hydraulic vs. Electric Lift
 

I have been thinking of replacing the spring assist on my 105 with a hydraulic or electric lift. I've been reading about both of them on the forum. Can anyone give me the pro's or con's of each one? Thanks!

If it were mine I'd go with the hydraulic lift, there stronger and faster and if it needs repaired its not to hard to find parts. Electric lift is nice when it works but if it ever breaks you'll have a hard time finding parts and it will be expensive when you do.

Ditto on the hydraulic lift. Love mine.

How many machines do you still see around with electric lift? Great for originality, but that's about it. Hydraulic all the way. More efficient, quicker lifts, higher lift capacity, :BlahBlah: :BlahBlah: :BlahBlah:

Only trouble seems to be finding a hyd. lift. I have been looking for one for mine for a while and to find a nice one in good complete working order seems to be a challenge

I was planning on doing that to my 147, but I'm just going to use a ported hydro I have and maybe add some ports up frond and in back. if your going to do it might as well go OVERBOARD lol.:biggrin2:

The hydraulic lift is more pricey, but well worth the extra change!

Cub Cadet 123

would it be better to try and find the side mount hydraulic lift? or just change over to ported reared?:bigthink:

The side mount lift doesn't fit the 147 well because of the frame notch-out by the flywheel. I think your best bet will be your ported rear plan, or you could do an aftermarket pump behind the hydro pump. Someone a while back did a beautiful 147 with a loader and a pump mounted off the back. If I can find the link I'll post it. Might be a nice low-cost option for other hydro owners who want to upgrade. For you gear drive guys, Member IHinIN did a hydraulic lift on his 100 using a power steering pump.

This is really a great topic, in my opinion, all the things the guys have said about the electric lift, is pretty-much true.

Hydraulic lifts are much more durable and a lot more powerful. However the N/F lifts are terribly expensive and often times difficult to find (although someone here had one for sale recently for a pretty reasonable price).

There have been a number of threads in the past about "home-brewed" hydraulic lifts, some have been very well done and others, not so much, so I guess it all depends on what you're after.

I believe that if one had a little fabrication skill, a welder and a few other metal working tools, it wouldn't take a whole lot to make-up a really nice hydraulic lift from pretty-much all Cub Cadet (mostly Wide Frame/Quiet Line) parts for a very reasonable price.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I love narrow frame tractors. That being said, I wish IH had come up with the ported hydraulic pump before the w/f tractors because the e lifts aren't that great also from what I've heard. I'd rather have hydraulic, but good luck finding a whole one that works good for less than $300. I'm also bummed that they can't be added to a 147 as easy as other tractor frames, (so when the E lift goes bad, either mod the tractor to accept the hydraulic unit or add an armstrong lift) and that either the engine or the drive shaft has to be pulled to install another belt if/when the belt goes bad.

Does the 147 14hp already have the drive cup with integrated pulley?
Or does one from a 12hp need to be installed?

Wow, that was a lot of good advice. I guess I'll be keeping my eyes open for a good hydraulic lift! Thanks!

Convertible Top hydraulics
 

I used the electric-hydraulic system from a car convertible top. These parts are from a Dodge K-car, but it think similar or even the same parts are used in other makes and models.

The reservoir, pump, motor section is shown in one picture. I only used one of the two cylinders from the car. Mounting the cylinder was a bit of a hassle since it mounts at the rod end, and doesn't have the typical mounting on the cylinder end like most hydraulic cylinders.

I'd say it depends on what you plan on doing with it. A hydraulic will last a lot longer and probably be better. On the other hand, an electric actuator is a lot cheaper and they can lift within the same range as a hydraulic, and you don't need to deal with hoses and leaks. But you need a good charging system if you use it a lot. Personally I'd go for the actuator just because its cheaper, easier to install, they do lift about the same, some can lift a few hundred lbs., and they won't leak. But just my opinion.

Electric lift
 

STEVED-- I use my 147 electric lift to move my trailers the 18' NITRO bass boat is the heaviest it lifts it alright, the lift makes it very convenient just back up raise lift stay on the seat and go, it works great with lawn sweeper also, adjust sweeper with the flick of the switch.wish my 108 had one!! CURT

Have you considered using dual spring lifts? I have the Brinley and IH spring lifts on my 124 and it will lift a cultivator with 50lbs of weight with no problem and very little strain on my part. The dual spring lifts make a world of difference.

OH I hadn't even thought of that!!!

:beerchug: :biggrin2:

Love this forum...

:American Flag 1:

Agreed.

The electric lifts aren't quite as worthless as some folks say. You can simply adapt a modern actuator, some of which are rated up to 1,000lbs. That will lift a deck, box blade or tiller just fine.

Here's the deal with the E-lifts. Make sure you find out/observe what the travel time is. Using a box blade or front dozer will get annoying in a hurry if you get mixed up with a lift that is too slow.

With any hydraulic set up, you can get quite creative and have all sorts of hydraulic actuated features on your tractor.
All utilizing the same hyd. power unit.
Electric actuators are needed for each different function and can get expensive if your needing more than two or so.

on my 1250 it still has the armstrong lift,eventually that will change. i have both hydro lift and electric lifts on my allis chalmers and i think they both work well. i have a 36 inch tiller i hang on the electric lift and it picks it up just fine.guess it boils down to how much time and money one wants to spend.

The drive cup on the 147's (and other K321's) are the same as the 10 and 12 hp engines use. What is more of a problem is the screen on the 14 hp engines, it "sticks out" farther than the 10 and 12 hp engines. I've never done any serious measuring on them but it appears that the screen (and possibly the shroud) would interfere with the belt, because the pulley is somewhat recessed in the screen.

Once again, I've never done any measuring, but I believe another problem putting a hydraulic lift on a 147 is the already existing front electric lift bracket and the "flywheel hump" in the frame. I believe they could interfere with mounting the hydraulic lift bracket/s.

If anyone knows this information to be inaccurate, please correct me.

Mark I would say you are correct and are a smart fella,but I like using fart smella instead.

The lift/dump cylinders I had on the Johnny Bucket were pretty strong and quick...If you go on the JB site you can see them and the capacity they have....

Thanks Lew, sometimes you are just too good to me.