Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

[msjanket]

Other than Bolens, a brand of Iseki, are there tractors that are the same as another brand that offer good or better value than the flagship brand? It
is weird for me in that, like most people, when you are not in the market to buy a tractor, many are available. As soon as you tip your hat and wanna get one, poof!, they are no longer there.

One more thing. Some folks tend to feel that a hydrostat eats horsepower. Seems like I read some while ago that hydrostats are not that hungry, unlike the old, crude ones. What is the general feeling on that issue now?

 

[Wolfy]

Yes HST still eats horsepower. Look at any PTO ratings on a brochure. The problem with the gray market tractors is mostly parts availability. They also don't always have the same safety features as the name brands. Mechanically they may be fine.

 

[Grandad4]

Some of the major tractor companies (John Deere and Kubota, for example) have value and premium models within their model lineup, but they don't have separate "Cadillac" and "Chevrolet" brands as such.

Hydro drive is indeed less efficient mechanically than gear drive, so to put the same horsepower to the wheels, you'd need a bigger engine on an HST machine. In production farming applications, where tractors rack up lots of hours in field work, the difference can add up to a cost of operation advantage for a gear machine that is worth noticing. But the operating cost differential isn't as significant with the type of work done by a typical compact tractor, and most owners seem to find the convenience of the hydro drive worth the few extra gallons of diesel fuel consumed. Most CUT's have a surplus of power vs. weight anyways, probably because of the popularity of the hydro drive arrangement.