Lo Boy final drives on a cub cadet?

[sawdustdad]

So has anybody mated a pair of Lo Boy final drives to a cub cadet to raise the rear axle height? I tried to search the forums but didn't have any luck. I thought I had seen it done.

If it's been done, what is involved?

[J-Mech]

They will bolt right up, but will slow it way, way down. The Cub Cadets use a gear reduction in front of the trans. Lo-Boy's are direct drive, then slowed at the final drive. Plus, they have much larger tires, so it is a lower reduction. So, yes you can do it, it you don't mind 2mph in 3rd gear.

[sawdustdad]

I was thinking larger wheels and tires. So would the axle rotational speed be reduced by a factor of 3? 4? I suppose it would take very large tires (60 inch dia) to make up a 3 to 1 reduction. That makes it impractical I suppose.

[J-Mech]

Frank, I would have to go look up the gear ratio's to site hard numbers... and I don't really want to take the time. What you said sounds right, I don't remember for sure, but I was thinking the Lo-Boy finals were 4:1.... Guys have done it, but it does slow them down tremendously. Even keeping the LB tires on it. All in what you want. They will bolt on though. Oh, other issue is you are going to be reversing the direction. You will have to swap the ring gear side for side.

[dvogtvpe]

I wasn't impressed with this one

[Yosemite Sam]

Here's one.

[sawdustdad]

OK, thanks guys. I guess I'll just scratch that idea off the list. Other, more interesting things to work on at this point.

[duryea21]

More pics it's green but still sky high

[john hall]

Originally Posted by sawdustdad

OK, thanks guys. I guess I'll just scratch that idea off the list. Other, more interesting things to work on at this point.

Why'd you ask? Wanting to do something that hasn't been done or are you trying to build a machine for a specific task?

Wouldn't drives from a standard Cub work (not just lo-boys)? I've never had to pull the axle tubes off anything other than alum rear machines--did the Cadets use the dowel pins to locate axle housing like the tractors did for the final drives?

[sawdustdad]

I thought I had seen it done, but wasn't sure how much effort was required.

I did not expect the large reduction in gear ratio that Jonathan pointed out, which makes a reasonably sized tire pretty slow. If it had been a 2 to 1 reduction, then I might have built something with larger tires similar to the one dvogtvpe posted, perhaps building a miniature version of a larger IH tractor.

On the other hand, with a 4:1 reduction in the final drive, and a 48 inch tire, it would result in about a 2:1 reduction in speed, which might not be too bad for a "show" build. If I find a set of final drives for a reasonable cost, I might rethink the idea for a future build.

My next project is to build a "gator" with a cargo area behind a double seat. Perhaps a dump bed. I've got so many irons in the fire right now I'm just in the thinking/gathering components stage.