Timely topic. I just added a hydraulic lift cylinder for the shoot on my Bad Boy. It's rubber but sticks way out. I can raise and lower it with a flip of a switch. Or raise it a little in high grass to help clear the clippings from under the deck. And, I no longer have to get off the mower to raise the shoot when backing into my little shed. I don't have pictures of it yet. I'll try to get some this afternoon if you're interested.
I'm using a convertible top pump and cylinder. It's 12 volts and has a self contained motor, pump and reservoir. The lines are some type of poly plastic and the cylinder is an original CT cylinder. I added an on-off-on DPDT switch to my control panel. All I did was wire the pump so the positive and negative are reversible--Just like the original. The pump draws about 25 amps.
It works great except the old cylinder does drift a little. I'm thinking of getting a new cylinder. They're about $75 but I have another used one I can try first.