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foot control hydrolift on 917


SmilinSam

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Traded a welding stand to a cub cadet guy for a engineless 917 with 46 blade he got in trade himself. Whoever had it before either of us cut the hydrolift lever off 2" above the pivot, rotated it 180 degrees, and welded a piece of 1" flat bar stock to the bottom to operate it with his foot. I kinda liked the idea, but didnt like the execution, so I tried several different configurations Saturday morning and ended up with this.

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I shortened their flat bar stock up and cut off the bend they originally put in it for your foot to contact. The round rod is way more comfortable when lifting it with your toes.

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I the last few days I gave the tractor a "quickie" paint job, steering gear repaired, re-wired, new fuel lines, better front tires, & dropped in a good 12hp Kohler. Took her out for a spin tonight and so far so good. The foot lift seems to work pretty good. Cant wait to put an attachment on and see how it does with some actual work. First need to change mufflers, repair the seat and finish re-assembling.

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I like the idea

easier to do than foot pedals for hydro

and accomplishes same thing

Shoulder must be a lot better

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Love it...now I have to do it. Easy to go back to OEM if it doesn't pan out I suppose. This would be the cat's pajama's for dozing snow.

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quote:Originally posted by Talntedmrgreen

This would be the cat's pajama's for dozing snow.


id="quote">
id="quote">I like it as well. I just wonder if my monstrous foot would fit underneath there in the winter when I'm wearing my insulated boots.
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I'll have to put my bunny boots on and see whether they work with it or not.There are several different ways of doing this change. One could just weld the bracket /rod to a un-cut liftid="red">lever. This way you could use either the hand or the foot.Rather than hacking up a good lift lever, you could also make it from a hydro controlid="red"> lever, shuttle lever, or even certain shafts found on a shuttle tractor transmission. You would have to grind the weld off the hydro controlid="red"> levers and pop the shaft out and cut it down a little, then weld it back in. This becuase the hydro controlid="red"> lever shaft is a bit longer than the lift lever shaft is. The shuttle shafts I refer to are part of the idler arrangement or brakesa or something on there. They have the same cut squared ends with the threaded part. Could use those shafts to make your own setup from scratch.Heres a picture. On right is the shuttle tranny v idler bracket. Left is a sundstrand hydro tranny control lever. Both have the same identical square cut ends and 3/8" threaded end. Vari drive levers and vickers control levers also have same ends. Only difference is the length of the rod. Hydraulic lift lever has a 2 1/4" rod ( threaded end to inside of lever). Sundstrand tranny control lever rod is 2 3/4", and shuttle idler bracket rod end is 2 1/2".

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Just thinking out loud..:)

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So...the PO had this arrangement for both the hdyro and lift, or just the lift? Now you really have me thinking...

I'm curious to hear how comfy the location is. When looking at my machine, I'd have to put a 'drop' on that pedal to get it low enough for me, yet have clearnace to get your toe under. How's the leverage/foot pressure on it? They are pretty light on that long lever, but with a 2" lever, could be shin splints after a while.

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Just the implement lift, not the hydrostatic drive control.

Doesnt take much force to actuate the valve.

The location, as pictured, works for me as I have long legs. I just sat on the tractor and kept tacking the thing together/grinding it apart/ trying it in different positions till I got it in a comfortable spot that also worked mechanically. Totally trial and error sort of approach.

The only thing to remember is that the farther away from the pivot center the arm is, the more travel you will have to have to actuate the valve. I tried to keep it close so I would have minimal movement of my foot.

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quote:Originally posted by GLPointon

Nice Sam!! cool ideaBut I too am waiting for you to show us a good foot/hydrostat retrofit :D


id="quote">
id="quote">Probably wont see it from me. Looked at that at some length and deemed any viable idea would require more space than is present and be more complicated than it would be worth to do. Like Ron suggested above, the hydro lift switched to foot control accomplishes freeing up one hand.
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Heres the combo lever foot control...I think I like it best as if you are using a grader blade you might have the left foot out on the blade and then need to lift it.

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