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Super Member
Been testing a bunch of tractors lately. I have a geared tractor currently and could never see the great advantages of hydrostatic drive as my tractor is so easy to go from forward to reverse with the flick of a shift. I have been trying out "shuttle shifts" mostly and I'm beginning to sniff a turn about this. Most of these have several "ranges". Somewhere on the newer tractors, you have a "shift" that allows backward or forward movement. Here's what I see as the problem for me or perhaps I'm too impatient. My tractor has 8 speeds with 2 ranges. The current crop of tractors have 12 speeds and 3 or 4 ranges. My tractor was simple. Either back or forth with the range selector and then back or forth with the gear selector. Now, you have to figure out how fast you want to go back, select the range and shift the shuttle and it seems this is mostly a left handed operation for a right handed guy. Sounds simple but this is no where as handy as my current tractor. I'm beginning to finally see what everyone was talking about in the "hydrostatic is the way to go" camp. Perhaps I'm missing something here or not used to these new fangled geared tractors but it is making me wonder about a change from what was formerly a hard stance for geared. Great. Something else for my mind to ponder as if it wasn't enough of pondering about what brand of tractor to get.