Spring assist ?

[nikster]

I'm getting the itch, with the warmer weather coming along. Starting to get everything ready to finish painting & adding a couple thingies to the Cubbie. Bought lights for the #109 over this Winter & ready to install. Don't need lights but they look cool.

I've had this inner fear of something snapping with my snow thrower for the #109. That thrower has a lot of weight & this inner fear keeps gnawing at me every time I lift the unit. Reading of some horror stories about things breaking, snapping, what not.

Will a spring assist relieve me of that gnawing thought?

Is it worth while to start searching for one?

Any comments to those that have added a spring assist to their units would be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU,

Nik,

For those that pray, don't forget those suffering in Japan.

[Tractor2nv]

Any assist would be a great addition for the front,mid or rear of the tractor I think! And YES!...here in our household we really feel for those in Japan too. I find myself asking "who is next ?"...

[ihnick]

You'd really be in heaven if you converted to a hydro lift. Its kind of a pain to switch out the pump for a ported one but its well worth it in the long run. Its not going to "assist" like the spring will but the ease of lifting stuff is so much nicer. Comparing any of my hydro lift tractors to my 128 with spring assist. I would defiantly choose hydro lift.

[TEET]

Originally Posted by Wild Bill

Nik: The spring assist isn't going to 'prevent' anything from breaking....however, it will ease the strain on the lift arm mechanism of your 109, and you can adjust the tension on the spring, to take the strain off of your arm/shoulder/back, of lifting the thrower and any other implement you attach to the tractor.

FYI, with a few turns on the tension bolt, you can customize the 'assisting' ability of the spring, for a thrower, mower deck, etc. Each implement needs a different amount of tension, but it only takes a couple of seconds, and a ratchet with a 3/4" socket to adjust.

I'm with Wild Bill on this one, it wont prevent anything mechanical from breaking, or make it less possible, but the goal of a spring assist is to make the implement easier to lift for the operator. With that said, I would think the weakest link on your manual lift system would be the lift rod and/or the bracket that attaches it to your lift arm..so as far as anything really "connected" or a part of the tractor itself breaking or bending, I would not worry about it. Ive used a qa42a and qa36a on my 127 and 73 with zero issues, and zero failures of any type. I will say that I have a spring assist on my 127 and it makes it a heck of a lot easier to lift a heavy thrower with one of these....just remember to let off on the tension bolt when you switch to a deck or something lighter, I forgot last spring, and when I hit the button on the lift handle the deck flew right up to the top, lol...do spring assists work..yup!

Jeff (teet)

[mc25a]

I've been thinking about breaking something lifting the 12" plow I just got. It is a real strain and I thought as I was driving and it was bouncing that it is putting a lot of pressure on the 3 point casting. So I thought about rigging a spring between the sleeve hitch bar and the rear of the tractor somehow. Maybe a piece of angle over the two frame rails. I'll post some pictures if I get it hooked up.

[mc25a]

An 86. It's the simplicity plow I posted questions about a week ago. I just measured it a little while ago though and it looks more like a 10" to me. Still very heavy though.

[nikster]

Well thanks for all the info., i've got till next year to look for something. Just passed up a spring assist on ebay for $ 87.00.

Then I've seen electric assist's which are interesting? There was one on craigs list some time ago & that was $$$$$.

A hydro would fall into the same class, $$$$ I would think? & alot of work to install? Don't know?

Nik,

[Cub Cadet 123]

Nik,

If it helps. I just got my 73 spring assist adjusted correctly on my 73 today. If you get one, make sure that the bracket on the rockshaft is angled at about 10 o'clock (about 60 degrees from straight up) when looking at the LHS of the tractor. Mine was straight up when I had the blade on the ground and it wasn't very effective. After making that adjustment today, I can lift the 94 lbs. blade with the greatest of ease, so proper adjustment really makes a difference!!!

Cub Cadet 123

[Merk]

by mc25a
An 86. It's the simplicity plow I posted questions about a week ago. I just measured it a little while ago though and it looks more like a 10" to me. Still very heavy though.

The biggest plow Simplicity made was a 10 inch plow. Go to this site if you want a manual for your plow:
http://bsintek.basco.com/BriggsDocum...E3Cvh5kbp796Dq

[steve59]

darkminion has one for sale on EBAY.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CUB-CADET-WIDE-F...#ht_500wt_1156