Gear drive vs hydro

[deere755]

We are considering buying a new or like new tractor and keeping the 755. My son is using the 755 a lot for some pretty heavy loads like the middle buster, disking, plowing etc. I love using the hydrostat for mowing, tilling, and plowing snow. Would a gear drive hold up better for heavy tillage type work or is hydrostat just as good. Hydrostat is not nearly as important for planting wild life plots as it would be for tight areas and a lot of backing and manuvering around obsticles. I am leaning towards gear for durability and they are a little cheaper too. I realize you lose on resale with the gear.

[jsboening]

From what I've gather here, most people prefer gears for ground engaging work. A lot of it may be due to the parasitic horse power lose that hydro transmission have vs. gears. I don't have any experience with gears, but I have not been able to break any of my hydro transmissions while box blade, back blading, plowing snow, mowing, towing heavy trailers, etc. I don't think hydros are as delicate as some people think.

[patrick_g]

Isn't there some sort of award for starting a thread that is a rerun of a rerun of a rerun of a ...............

Pat

[john_bud]

For primary use of tillage or other ground engaging activities, gear tractors are probably going to be the best. But, you can get a powershift, or power shuttle (Kubota GST). That has some of the benefits of a more modern transmission with few of the negatives.

jb

[dirtworksequip]

I've owned both geared and ehydro tractors.
The advantage of gear over ehydro as I see it is.
1) The geared tractor is going to put more available horse power to the ground.
2) Fuel consuption will be less with the geared tractor.
3)The gear tractors are simpiler to work on and have less electronic stuff to go bad over time.

Sinserely, Dirt

[Mighty Dodge]

Just plowed the garden yesterday with my Hydro, it did a fine job.

M.D.

[Reg]

Someone (might as well be me) is obligated to point out that with a gear transmission you CAN KNOW your actual ground speed, which can matter for some spreading or spraying tasks.

The other thing is that some folk tend towards hydro because they "never learned to drive a standard" car - without understanding that on a tractor you don't shift up and down through 4 or 5 gears at the beginning/end of every row (-:

[texbaylea]

Someone (might as well be me) is obligated to point out that with a gear transmission you CAN KNOW your actual ground speed, which can matter for some spreading or spraying tasks.

The other thing is that some folk tend towards hydro because they "never learned to drive a standard" car - without understanding that on a tractor you don't shift up and down through 4 or 5 gears at the beginning/end of every row (-:

It just so happens that with my Kubota HST I get a readout of my ground speed on the dash. It can be displayed in miles per or kilometers per, take your pick. I do not have to consult a table of gear vs rpm.

Vernon

[Reg]

It just so happens that with my Kubota HST I get a readout of my ground speed on the dash. It can be displayed in miles per or kilometers per, take your pick. I do not have to consult a table of gear vs rpm.

Vernon

Still not worth the $ and HP costs (to ME, ymmv etc.).

[wushaw]

We are considering buying a new or like new tractor and keeping the 755. My son is using the 755 a lot for some pretty heavy loads like the middle buster, disking, plowing etc. I love using the hydrostat for mowing, tilling, and plowing snow. Would a gear drive hold up better for heavy tillage type work or is hydrostat just as good. Hydrostat is not nearly as important for planting wild life plots as it would be for tight areas and a lot of backing and manuvering around obsticles. I am leaning towards gear for durability and they are a little cheaper too. I realize you lose on resale with the gear.

The gear tractor is cheaper up front and cheaper at the end for resale so your not loosing anything.
Gear tractors are fun to drive, the only difficulties I have seen with gear is using a FEL, that takes alot of practice to get it down and just more work.
Everything you have listed will be no problem to do with a gear tractor and can be very enjoyable.