312H foot conrolled motion

[Ed Kennell 35,848]

I  bought this tractor last fall at an auction thinking I would resell it.    And I have sold the cab and the deck.    But I was so impressed with its snow plowing this winter, now I will keep it for my primary mower and snow plower.   The only problem ...I can't deal with the hand motion control.   Luckily this one has the lever on the console so it makes it an easy conversion to a foot control like my 520H blower.

I changed the ZEE slot to a straight slot , remover the spring that pulls the lever right, and bent the lever to vertical.   I do not recommend this to anyone, but I removed the neutral position switch and connected the wiring to the parking brake instead.  Now, to start the tractor, you must be in the seat and have the parking brake engaged, which forces the motion control to neutral.  IMO, this is a safer starting lock out system than the original factory system.  I am also considering wiring the seat and parking brake switches in parallel so if you leave the seat, you must engage the parking brake first to keep the tractor running.

Anyway, that's where I am so far.  I still need to make some connections from the lever to the foot pedal.      I must say though, the mods I have made to the hand control make this tractor so much easier and smoother to drive and change direction  with the hand control, I probably wouldn't add the foot pedal for mowing,  but I want a free hand to operate the lift when snow plowing.

 

[Ed Kennell 35,848]

Finished and really operates smooth.    Can't wait to plow snow with it.  

[Aldon 4,826]

Nice work.

 

I am planning something similar for my GT14 at some point. Same idea to spring tension. Not sure if I'll get it done before Show.

[Rob R 951]

Very similar to the one I designed for my GT14....  works awesome with the snowblower...... and I can still use the OEM hand control, nice feature is the top and bottom pedal so I can with my foot only go forward, backward etc.

[Ed Kennell 35,848]

Foot control.....the only way to go for the frequent changes in direction required when snow plowing or snow blowing.   Keeps one hand free to operate the hydro lift.

I have the same arrangement on my 520H  blower and now the 312H  for plowing and mowing.     I am really getting addicted to it for mowing  on hot summer days now that I realized I have a free hand to operate a cold beverage container.

[rmaynard 14,909]

I have to say that when I got my 416-H, I hated the column mounted motion control. So touchy to get the proper tightness on the cam to keep from having to hold the lever where you wanted it to maintain proper speed. But now with my foot control, I just loosened everything up and let my foot hold the speed. My hands are free to steer, operate lift controls, or just 

I have one of Matt's foot controls, but the concept is the same no matter whether it is factory, or home-brew.