I was getting tired of pulling back on the mower handle everytime I wanted to lift my snowblower last winter. So I decided I needed a power operated lift just like the bigger tractors. After looking at several methods I selected a JD hydraulic lift cylinder from a 140 coupled to a Mercruiser hydraulic trim unit.
This was a cheap project. The cylinder was $11.01 on eBay and the pump was $10.00. The hoses were the most expensive part. I had them made at my local Deere store for $50. Here are some pictures of the project.

First I fabricated a cylinder mount and welded that to the frame.


Next I flipped the rockshaft end for end and cut the center from the lift arm. I needed the arm center to attach a bracket to the rockshaft for the cylinder.


Next I temporarily hung the cylinder to determine the geometry for the rockshaft bracket. It was ugly, but workable. You might notice the orientation of the lifting arms on the rockshaft are in the wrong position. I eventually had to cut them off, flip them over, and reweld them to get the arms in the original orientation.


Here the cylinder is hung, bracketed to the rockshaft,and plumbed. The lifting arms have been reoriented too. I am going to have to add a heat shield to keep the exhuast from baking the hydraulic lines. You can see I had to do some hit and miss with the cylinder attachment to the bracket. I'll clean that up after the field trials are over.


I just bent up a quick bracket for the hydraulic unit and welded it right to the back of the blower. This will work out nice for removal since I can just un-pin the cylinder, unplug the wires and the whole system stays with the blower. These units are setup with 3 wires; a ground, an up, and a down power wires so no relays are required. Nice.


I am extremely happy with results. The unit lifts and lowers in just less then 4 seconds. I operate it with a SPDT switch that sits on the pod just under my chute joystick.


So now I have a 28k BTU Heater, new work lights, electric thrower controls...Now if only it would snow!