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.