Foot control on my 1450

[rdeyoe]

I put the plow blade on my 1450 to get it ready for what little snow we get in TN and to move some piles around the back yard. We have a lot of trees and a tow behind leaf vac to handle the leaves. We empty it out back to a drainage area and I use the cubby to build some compost piles. After pushing the piles up, i realized that it's like shadow boxing running the hydro, lift and steering all at once while my right foot is doing nothing. We have a Poulan hydro that pulls the vac and it's much easier with it's foot controlled hydro, so I decided to build one for my tractor.

I found some 1/2" rod in my metal pile and some 1" x 1/4" flat stock to work with. Roaming through my hardware drawers, i found some 1/2" bushings to make mounts with. I mulled over locations for components and looked up some posts until i came up with this setup.

I worked out where I wanted the shaft to go through the frame and drilled a 9/16" hole on the left side, 1/2" on the right. One of the bushings I had was a shouldered 1/2" ID with a 3/4" OD on one end and 9/16" OD on the other, about 1/2" long. I pressed it in the left side with a bolt and nut, and added a tack weld to hold it. I drilled a 1/2" one the right frame and welded a larger bushing on that side.

For the operating lever, I used an idea i built when I switched my lift lever to the left side. I took the 1"x1/4" flat and looped it over itself leaving a 3/8" or so gap, big enough for a bolt to fit into. Drilled a 1/2" hole through the two layers. I cut a slot from the folded end of the flat to the holes. This way, i can run the shaft through the holes and clamp them with a pinch bolt. This makes it infinitely adjustable on the shaft. I did this on my lift lever swap as the old lever had worn out and this was how Cub Cadet made the redesigned part.

I had to make a redneck junction on the rod end because i didn't want to change the original cub hydro rod (in case i want to go back to stock) and i wanted the rod attached to the lever farther rearward (ball joint stuck too far forward). Welded a bolt to a 5/16-24 nut and replaced the forward ball joint on the rod with this bottomed out on the rod threads.

I used a single spring for a self centering device. I saw it on another post for a QL that had a FEL on it. This seemed stupidly simple and elegant without having to build some double spring device. I drilled a small hole in my console, just above the drive-shaft cover for one end, and made a small sheet metal tab attached to the rod bolt for the other end of the spring. I roughly tried to line up the center-line of the lever with end of the spring and got a spring that would be under a little stretch so it would always try to pull to center. My assembly has almost no friction on it, so the spring isn't substantial (a 4-3/4" long, .071" wire i believe).

I was going to fabricate a pedal, but I wanted it to look more like a pedal. Since my daughter totaled her car (2003 Passat) a while back and left it here, that sounded like a good donor for one. I hacked the brake pedal and some of the arm with it. Drilled a 1/2" hole through the arm (a remarkably strong box construction with a c-channel inside it). I tried a set-screw setup to hold on the shaft so I could adjust it, but it kept slipping. I wound up drilling a 1/4" hole and tapped the arm for a bolt. Since the operating lever is adjustable, I can still set the pedal angle anywhere. I had cut of enough of the arm that centering the shaft in it left me just a small bit big enough for a reverse button/lever kind of thing.

I used a couple of pins and washers to keep the shaft in place. I couldn't protrude on the left...interference with brake pedal. Got it all together and test drove and was surprised that it didn't need any adjustment at all. I get full travel on the hydro, and the spring pulls it back to center with no creeping. It returns a bit quickly, but with a dampened effect so it doesn't jar me around. It's so much better to handle now. Don't know why they didn't build them this way...