Hand Controls for John Deere "GATOR"

”A modification that certainly adds to operator independence.”

Shown below is a John Deere Gator that was adapted with a hand control for a C5-6 quad.

John Deere Gator showing SureGrip hand control.

This project was certainly a treat to fabricate. It required Northend-Mobility to attach the hand controls to be able to apply/operate the Gator’s pedals, which are located in the center of the Gator, from the left side of the steering column. To prevent leg obstruction with the controls, new brackets and pedal rods were welded and extended to protrude past the steering shaft. The angle of the hand controls were taken into consideration as well.

There was some custom fabricating and brackets that were made but overall it worked out nice. Once the front hood assembly is removed, all the framework and pedals are exposed.

John Deere Gator with hood cover removed exposing pedal linkages, viewed from the left side.

John Deere Gator with hood cover removed exposing pedal linkages, viewed from the front top side of the Gator looking down.

The control we used was The SureGrip Left Hand Gas Brake. The brake rod of the control that normally would apply the brake pedal to the left side of the column had nothing to push on so we needed to add an extension from the Gator brake to pass over the top of the column and welded a pivot rod to this. The brake rod from the hand control now had something to attach to that could apply the Gator brake rod. A simple extension added to the gas pedal linkage was all that was needed there.

John Deere Gator showing how SureGrip hand control attaches to the Gator's pedals.

All-in-all the controls worked better than expected. Hats off to Howell Ventures for the SureGrip Hand Control. They are such a simple and easy operating control. This installation does require a little more attention to maintenance because it gets more weather and adverse conditions then if installed into a car or van. The adaptation cost was $1200.00 which included the custom fabricating.

For more information, please contact Northend Mobility, by email, or contact us by phone (905) 735-5552.