Anyone ever regretted buying a HST?

[k0ua]

Got caught with only a 2WD FEL tractor on one of my properties last weekend and needing to install a gate on an old logging access road which meant going up a fairly steep hill with the gate, posts etc. Loaded it all in a trailer and gave it a shot. No go. Went back and put the brush hog on and stacked the material and tools as far back as I could on the hog. Raised the hog so the tail wheel was off the ground and it went up the first try. Amazing what weight on the drive wheels does. Unfortunately with actual loader work you cannot offset enough.

Down here in hilly Branson, Mo. A 2wd loader tractor would be totally useless. It would be at the bottom of one of our very steep hills, and there it would stay. It would not even be safe to drive down one of our steep gravel roads without its rear tires slipping down the hill.

 

[City Farmer]

A big utility tractor with loader and loaded rear tires and 2wd can be useful. I used one for many years. Is it as good as a 4wd of the same size... uh not even close. A small 2wd tractor with a loader is just about useless. Not totally, but just about.

All my tractors are 2wd. For myself, I cannot see spending the extra money on 4wd. My land is flat and dry.
I have 2 old 1970s power reversing Ford 4500s. Most of the time, I can get a bucket full (1yard) when I drive into a pile. I watched my buddy try moving his shipping container and play in the dirt with his 55hp brand new Mahindra.....Maybe there is a learning curve to it but I just shook my head and asked, this is what almost $40k gets you? He told me likes the tractor but it cannot pick up a heaping bucket of asphalt millings.

My 2wd NH 545D is a monster with crazy power and a power reversing transmission also. Just comparing Hp to Hp, Theres not chance I would trade my 545D for his machine.

 

[Shadetree03]

Do I regret buying and HST tractor? Nope, I love it! Do I miss my old Farmall? Sure, but only for that gas engine sound pulling a hay wagon in road gear

 

[Jstpssng]

You put a Chevy 700R4 with a good rebuild kit in it in just about anything under 400hp and it'll last 200,000 miles. :thumbsup: It's got a very low 1st gear and a 30% overdrive in 4th. Possibly the best non-electronic tranny Chevy ever built, once they got the weakness engineered out in the early models, hence, a beefed up rebuild kit to make sure it's tough.

I lost 2 transmissions in six months, back when I needed the pickup to make a living. The down time hurt more than the repair bill.

 

[Buggs67]

The Kubota SUDT2 is the best I have found. Expensive, but it is what is in my Kioti. I sure don't like the price, but I sure like the results.

Cold weather performance is the prime benefit. It also quited down the power steering during cold weather warm up period.

I wonder who makes the Kubota fluid; I'm sure it's another fluid rebranded. And I've noticed that the whine is worse in the winter until it warms up.

The whine doesn't bother me as I always wear my hearing protection with the stereo speakers. I just don't want to damage the pumps or valves with cheep fluid.

 

[goeduck]

I wonder who makes the Kubota fluid; I'm sure it's another fluid rebranded. And I've noticed that the whine is worse in the winter until it warms up.

It is likely made by someone else to Kubotas specifications and not simply a rebranded product. That would be my guess.

 

[OverandOut]

My 2015 JD3038e had to have pedals adjusted couple times a yr. When you let off pedal tractor would creep forward. My next tractor will not have HST.

 

[compact]

For bush hogging, snow removal, logging, grapple and loader work, as well as work on sreep grades HST has it all over a gear tractor. Wish I had switched 20 years sooner. Deere criuse/ loadmatch works really well. I would never go back. No issues with heat, big oil cooler on front of tractor takes care of that.

 

[/pine]

...as well as work on sreep grades HST has it all over a gear tractor...

until you lose power...!

 

[MossRoad]

until you lose power...!

Splain, please?