Can a lift retrofit kit be used on a garden tractor or a compact tractor?
The condition is the same: there has to be a cable-controlled quick lift mechanism. Most garden tractors lack it; space and battery capacity also need checking.
The condition is the same again: the vehicle has to have a cable-controlled Lift-O-Matik or quick lift mechanism. A great many garden and compact tractors do not have this arrangement and the control lever is linked straight to the valve by a mechanical joint; in that case the LFT20 and LFT54 cannot be used. If the mechanism is there, compliance with the supply voltage, the pull travel and the force limits has to be checked.
Three practical obstacles that arise on compact tractors
- Mechanism type. On small-class tractors the quick lift function is often absent altogether. If there is no cable, the kit cannot be fitted. To know what you are looking for, see the cable-controlled Lift-O-Matik mechanism page.
- Space. The boxes measure 170 x 130 x 55 mm (LFT20) and 155 x 175 x 70 mm (LFT54). On a narrow chassis you need to find a flat surface that can be fixed to, away from vibration and the hot exhaust. How the enclosure dimensions bear on the choice of mounting location is covered separately.
- Electrics. The system has to be 12V negative ground and the battery has to be able to supply the LFT20's 10A average current. On vehicles with a very small battery, repeated use while the engine is not running pulls the voltage down.
How you tell the mechanism apart
On garden tractors the control lever is usually connected by a short joint running straight to the valve body; when you move the lever you can follow with your eye the metal part touching the spindle on the valve. On the cable-controlled arrangement the movement leaving the lever travels inside a sheath and reaches the valve from a point some way off. The difference is clear at a glance: if there is a sheath and a cable there is a chance of compatibility, and if there is a direct metal linkage there is not.
One point that gets confused is this: the position lever and the quick lift lever are different functions. The position lever sets the height of the implement in steps and usually has a quadrant; the quick lift lever raises and lowers in a single movement. The kits work with the second one. If your vehicle has only a position lever with a quadrant, the mechanism you are looking for is not there.
Points to watch on the electrical side
On small vehicles the battery capacity is low and the alternator output is limited. Lifting repeatedly while the engine is not running pulls the battery voltage down; as the voltage falls, so does the force the actuator produces. That is why where the supply is taken from matters; whether it is connected to the battery or to the ignition supply is a separate decision. If your vehicle's electrical system is at a different voltage, see the LFT kits on 24V systems page.
| Check | If it passes | If it does not |
|---|---|---|
| Cable-controlled mechanism | Carry on | The kit cannot be used |
| Flat surface that can be fixed to | Carry on | Plan an adapter plate or a clamp |
| Battery capacity | Carry on | Use it with the engine running |
What to do in practice
On compact tractors with a cable-controlled mechanism the installation is done exactly as on a standard tractor and it is again fully reversible. If you are not sure, send technical support a photograph of the control lever and the cable; deciding from a list of makes misleads, because the mechanism differs between models from the same maker. If you report along with the photograph the distance at which the arms start to lift when the lever is pulled by hand, the assessment can be done in one go.
The full topic: Converting a tractor hydraulic lever to electronic control