[spierno259]

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading: This may be a long one so fasten your seatbelts and get some popcorn!

Recently I have been working on a small business of my own, mobile welding and fabrication!

I have an almost complete cub cadet 123 that I have been thinking of building a rear steer loader from.

My biggest concern with rear steer is that the 123 is a "Hydrostatic" it's just a hydraulic pump driving a differential? is Reverse the same as Forward as far as groundspeed and torque? Or do I need to flip the ring gear inside the differential?

My next thought was making the drive linkages might be a pain in the behind, I had a CRAZY Idea to take a linear actuator of some kind and making that drive the rear end. I call it "Electro Select". I think this can be done at a reasonable cost with Arduino, but what do I know?

Imagine a 3 way switch on the dash. F N R, next to that would be a dial to determine how fast you wanted the tractor to move. for an added safety you would press a pedal on the left to do two things, disengage a very loose brake that just provides drag to slow you down and stop you over time, than a second stage to engage the actuator to move the tractor itself.

As an added safety I want to have a pedal to the left of the pedal on the left that is an actual hydraulic brake, with a secondary cable parking brake built into the rotor, like the newer cars and trucks have, not sure how that would attach yet, but I definitely want some kind of brakes!

The pedal on the right would be throttle.

Its likely that I will stretch the frame anywhere from 12-24 inches for multiple reasons. I think this will require a substantial HP increase, I am thinking 18HP minimum, I would love to find a 2 or 3 cylinder Kubota but that is unlikely as they are worth more than gold itself in my area. I will likely find a Kohler Command or the horrid Briggs and Straton V Twin of some kind.

I was thinking of adding suspension under the steer axle "rear axle" I almost said front axle, and am planning on attaching power steering of some kind.

I am planning on adding around 200lbs under the engine, and having suitcase weights for the backside as well since this is going to be a loader!

I was trying to decide when I build it if the loader mount should be as far back as possible? Would this increase lift capacity at all?

Another cool feature of a rear steer 123 is having a sleeve hitch, making it very versatile, with some reinforcing and different mounting so it's not stressing the rear end as much!

A road sweeper, a snow blower / plow. I can see it now, a 4 or 6 way tiny dozer blade! Or even a quick attach forklift mast for quick pallet drops! the opportunities could be endless if I feel up to it!



A second project that I can potentially build is an articulated 4x4, My friend is moving and gave me 2 cub cadet frames with the exact same Hydraulic driven differentials and have considered that as a project as well, maybe mid 80s very early 90s? not sure what models, the one has removable side covers and a complete body. the other is just a frame and axles, it was involved in a fire.