There were steppers on my machine when I got it. I have since removed them in order to put the servos on. They were direct drives straight though to the ball screw, no belt gearing, except for the Z axis. I'll be putting the servos through some gearing however. Coincidentally, the lubrication system is my next project and I know what you mean about the weather. I have had my toolchanger working on an arduino and 5V relay bank. It worked well using the tool out, CW, CCW and tool in signals programmed in the controller. Coupling this eventually to Mach 3 is going to be an interesting project. The tool in and tool out phases are simple enough, however it is the tool selection side of it that will take some thinking about. My suspicions are that CuBloc will be more appropriate, but my knowledge is at the end of its travel at this stage.
I take it you have the manual for the toolchanger? If not let me know.