Electric lift, longevity?

[drglinski]

About a year ago I bought an electric lift (in pieces) for my 147 as it didn't have one. I rebuilt it with all new bearings, seal, bushings and it's worked just fine. I use it typically only for mowing so it doesn't translate the tube very often. (it only extracts and retracts about 4 times total a week.) However, I occasionally pull a 10" Brinly plow maybe once or twice a year. Knowing how somewhat problematic the lifts can be I opted to keep an IH spring assist in place and have it cranked to the max during plowing to help prolong the life and take the strain of the weight of the plow off the lift.

Fast forward to today. I took it plowing and made 4 rounds before the e lift quit working. I can hear the gears inside clashing. I had a hunch what it was before I could get it home and open it up. When I assembled it last year the spiroid gear had a bit of wear on three of the teeth; I thought worst case scenario I'd have to pull it and repair. I got it open today and sure enough it has a low spot on that gear where the pinion gear isn't meshing with it. No big deal I have a new spiroid gear (didn't really want to use it though as those parts are hard to find and expensive to buy)

What I'm getting at is the plow, even with the spring assist, too much for that E lift to be lifting? Is it taking too much strain and can I expect a failure like this in the future?

Thanks

[Cub Cadet 123]

Daniel, sorry to hear about that turn of events for your E-lift. Thousands of those were produced and I cannot say that I have ever heard anything positive about them. I have one, but I have never hooked it up for fear of it breaking down and not having the time to repair it. Understanding the materials involved, mostly plastic, what can you really expect? I would take the parts to a machinist and see if they could mill them out for you out of metal. Yeah, it is likely to be more expensive upfront, but what is peace of mind and not dealing with down time worth? Not to mention having to go on a scavenger hunt every time the parts break on you.

Cub Cadet 123

[finsruskw]

Are you sure the clutch is not slipping and needs adjustment?

[R Bedell]

The IH electric lift was made by Duff-Norton and was rated for a 600 lbs capacity.

Unless you are lifting in access of 600 lbs, then then should be nothing to worry about.

[Billy-O]

Keep in mind that any kinks or bindings during the lifting process can contribute to the device failure.

[MattC]

Is the e-lift worth rebuilding in general? I have a 147 I'm refurbishing, and can either fix the the e-lift or swap it out for a manual lift with spring assist. They seem to be more trouble than they're worth.

[drglinski]

You can get parts and repair them; once you have one working and working well it's satisfying to use it. Looks better overall than a manual lift IMO. I'm going to keep using mine and repair it as necessary until parts are NLA and/or are too expensive then consider my options. I'd probably put on a hydraulic unit before I'd ever put back on a manual lift again.

[SDBOB]

I have a nice 147 with electric lift. It works ok. I had to remove it for intermittent working problems. Seems vibration from my tiller would stop it's working. Then I checked switch. The switch was the problem so I just used generic switch I sourced locally. It works. I like the hydraulics on my 1650.