The decision is in. SuperSteer has got to go.

[TCowner]

I have 275 hours on my TC40D with the Supersteer front axle. Initially, I was an advocate of Supersteer. I was removing the loader when I wasn't using it and that incredibly tight turning radius was great. As the "newness" of the tractor wore off, and I became a bit more lazy, I left the loader on more and more. I don't have a belly mower for the tractor and use a three point flail mower for some rough cutting maybe 4-5 hours a year.

This year's drought in Minnesota required me to concentrate on keeping my young pine trees alive. We had around 2 inches of rain since the middle of May. I have around 150 or so one to two foot Black Hills Spruce that I irrigate with a 300 gallon tank. I have a pto pump mounted on the tractor so I can water the trees under pressure. The young trees are located in and around some of the mature trees, along a waterway, behind my shed, which requires a bit of finess with the tractor and cart.

The Supersteer axle with that long 17LA loader has created some difficulty. I have several 20 foot spruce, pine and walnut trees with some "scars". My 14 year old boys refuse to use the tractor with the loader attached because of the odd steering effect.

I've posted on this board several times about the Supersteer axle and how a potential buyer needs to use it with a loader attached at their property to see how big of a problem it is. I've now come to the conclusion that at least for me the front end steering quirk is more of a hinderance than a benefit.

I believe that if I didn't have the loader I would be an advocate of Supersteer. I also believe that if I didn't have such difficult terrain with all of the trees that I would love it. But for now I need something different. What caused me to come to the final decision occurred yesterday. I was loading some dirt into a two wheel cart and was trying to distribute the dirt evenly toward the back side of the cart. I wanted to move the bucket to the right and of course turned the steering wheel to the right. Well, guess what? The loader moved to the left and ripped a board off the front of the cart. No major damage involved but I said enough is enough. Its got to go.

I've asked my Newholland dealer to find me a class III tractor without Supersteer to try for an hour or so. I know the standard axle Boomer doesn't turn as short so I need to see just how much turning radius I will lose.

I really love my TC40D. The visibility is clearly superior to the other compact utiltiy tractors. The comfort and located of controls is great. But the odd steering quirk of Supersteer keeps haunting me. I hope the non-Supersteer axle will be provide enough turning radius as I want to stay with NewHolland. Case-IH can also be an option now as they only have the standard front axle. But if the standard axle is not enought I may find myself heading back to the John Deere folks. I would lose some of the features that I love about the NewHolland but right now I have to be able to steer around the obstacles on my property without doing any more damage. I also need to get my 14 year old boys back to work.

 

[Mark_in_NH]

Terry,
I have the TC35D with 16LA loader. NO Supersteer !!
I find that my tractor turns Plenty tight enough. I am always kind of amazed at how tight or small the 2 circles are in my driveway when I cut the wheel hard and do a full turn.
Now to be totaly honest, I don't have any trees or orchard type areas to need to manuver in so I can't attest to how it would perform.
But ! something to consider would be a quick-tach system, by being able to remove the bucket when necessary, like when your manuvering around your trees, you can eliminate alot of the possabilities of hitting things with said bucket.
Without having the bucket in the way, then maybe a tractor with a normal turning radius would still get in and around those trees.

 

[DocHeb]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( But ! something to consider would be a quick-tach system, by being able to remove the bucket when necessary, )</font>

I have a TC40DSS with the quick-tach bucket, and I do admit that I drop the bucket a lot. Rather than the opposite movement problem, I find the bucket just sticks out so far, actually decreasing my mobility at times.

Still would repurchase a SuperSteer, however.

 

[bgott]

Is there any way to lock the supersteer out so you have regular steer?

 

[Typhoon]

I have a TC29D without super steer. I will tell you one thing... I have ample experience with tractors, and I have never been so impressed with how tight this tractor turns. You will find quickly that the turning radius without supersteer is very impressive. I can practically turn on a dime.
Good luck!

 

[TCowner]

Mark, I have the quick attach feature on my 17LA. I often remove the bucket when I am working in some close quarters and I agree it helps. But I do a lot of work around the trees and I find there are many times when I just want to grab a bucket full of dirt while I'm doing other chores so I tend to want to leave the bucket on. I also use my grapple attachment for brush hauling so my loader is in use constantly.

I appreciate your comments regarding your TC35D without the SuperSteer. I'm hopeful that the non SS axle will work. I drove a DX40 (Case IH with the regular axle) at a dealership and I think it will be OK. But I still want to try one on my property for an hour. A quick spin at the dealer's lot isn't enough.

 

[TCowner]

I believe that Jim Inman who is a respected poster on this board purchased a TC45D without Supersteer and has around 400 hours of use.

Jim, if your out there, why didn't you get SuperSteer and are you satisfied with your regular non SS axle?

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...has around 400 hours of use. )</font>

Wow! Terry. Have you been reading my hour-meter? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I didn't buy Supersteer because I thought it added an additional level of complexity to the front axle of my tractor. The truth is that I have never driven a Supersteer model, so some may say (rightfully so) that I don't know "beans" about it. But I'll give you my main reasons.

I have no intention of ever using my tractor for finish mowing and tight turns are possible with differential braking if you don't care about churning up a little dirt on the inside wheel. I've been doing it that way for so long that it's second nature. Additionally, I have lots of small hills and gullys on my property and I do some amazing things with my 4WD tractor on the sides of slopes. I was afraid the rotating of the axle on these hills would cause additional instability.

I am NOT going to say I wouldn't love SS, because that would be like a person without 4WD saying they wouldn't like it. I just don't know what it would be like and I don't miss it because I've never tried it. That said, believe me, the 16LA loader sticks out far enough that one second's lapse of concentration has caused me to knock the bark off of many trees in my woods. Today while I was mowing in a very wooded area, I took the loader off. It's like going from a bus to a compact car. Suddenly I can maneuver in ways I wouldn't try with the loader attached.

So Terry, I don't know if you would get along without SS or not, but I think you have the most rock-solid plan of talking your dealer into letting you use a non-SS model on your property. Gosh, if you were close enough, I'd gladly loan you my tractor for a few hours work. Unfortunately, you are pretty far from Texas. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I'd suggest taking your boys with you to the NH dealer too to get their first impressions of the non-SS tractor on the dealer's lot. You may have already done this. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

...and by the way. I appreciate your confidence in my opinion of the Class III Boomers. I think there are many here whose opinions are extremely valuable also. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[MODiesel]

Personally, I've run both on our property, which has as much of a mix of terrain as anyone could want. I've run with a loader when I got lazy, and I've run without a loader when I knew I didn't need it for awhile. In the process, I got to know the quirks of both.

Here's the thing about SS -- it's about the "rate" of turn, not the angle of the turn. With SS, a quick half turn of the wheel can really swing the wheelbase and change your direction in a hurry. Without SS, you are turning the same wheel a full turn or more to bring the tractor around on a wider track.

Now, some might think that's trivial, but I've found it really comes into play when, for example, I have to mow some steep ditches in reverse. Where I could previously just flip the wheel a bit to align the mower up on a new cut, I now pull forward to spin the wheel, slow to a stop, realign on a new cut, and then go rearward. In all honesty, I never thought this would be an issue until I had to cut about 100 yard of steep ditch in this manner and it took almost twice as long. I have a similiar wind row of trees just inside of our fence line that requires similiar manuevering, and it's just not the same without SS. The tractor turns in almost the same circle, but, again, the RATE of turn is far slower. In some of the tight areas, amongst 150ft sycamore trees near water, I just can't "thread the needle" with my mower like I could with SS. There is an advantage, though I'm not sure most folks have the terrain to employ it.

To do it all over again, I'm probably the minority buyer who would go back to SS. I found the loader quirk was easy to adjust to once you understood the geometry and the dimensions of your rig. That's just me. I can see why some folks hate it since it's a pivot point that you never think of until you experience it for the first time. On larger tractors, it requires even more care. However, in it's defense, I've always thought that folks were comparing the wrong things. It's not that SS turns tighter -- it's that it turns much faster.

Regards,
Jay

 

[TCowner]

Jay, Your assessment of the Supersteer vs. non-Supersteer issue is true. I just think I'm actually less productive with Supersteer because I each turn and each forward to reverse cycle requires more concentration. I know we should stay focused when we are operating our tractors but the SS axle just isn't a natural way to turn. I keep coming back to the issue of something that turns in the opposite way the operater wants to go. One of the big "scars" on a 30' black walnut is when I was trying to avoid a smaller tree and turned the steering wheel to the right only to have the loader swing to the left. The bark flew and I came an abrupt stop. No damage to me or the loader but I recall a few choice curse words to help relieve the frustration.

I will be 50 years old next year and it may be a case of trying to teach an old dog a new trick but the steering quirk just doesn't come as natural to me. Maybe if I learned on SS on earlier tractors it would work for me. Maybe if my John Deere X595 garden tractor had Supersteer I wouldn't get confused.

But when I get in a tight spot I have to stop and ponder how to get out. I just think that I am not as productive with it. I'm sure there are folks that have Supersteer and don't even think about it. I've gotton positioned around some of my trees, with the loader on, where the only way I could get untangled was to drop loader and lift up the front end of the tractor and straighten the axle and start over. That actually works pretty well. But if I have a bucket full of dirt, or my grapple full of brush, it doesn't work so well. Again, I go on my merry way but I think I lost a little productivity in the process.

Perhaps with more practice I will get better but I'm worried I won't. 275 hours should be enough and it continues to haunt me.