Buying Advice HST or Gears?

[4570Man]

For your intended use R4s will be better. I'm jealous of the little dozer.

 

[wcampbell47]

Thanks for the advice, opinions, etc...
To me, the best analogy was the comment about flying a helicopter, in essence needing three hands. I can easily land a 767 in a 30 knot crosswind in the rain, at night, but helos scare the crap outta me.

My usage will be homeowner on five acres. Clearing small trees, brush, building paths, driveways, etc.

HST it is...

I picked up that bit of info on helicopters as both my boys were Apache pilots.

 

[wolc123]

When the hydro-gear discussion comes up, I always bring up the letters "L & G", when it comes to where the hydro has the advantage over gear. This is easy to remember because "hydro is just another name for "liguid" which starts with "L" while gear starts with "G". For the Hydro: the advantages are enjoyed for Lawn-mowing, Loader work, Landscaping, Ladies, and Lazy folks. No disrespect intended on those last two, but most of the Ladies I know seem to prefer the hydros and gear definitely requires more effort on the operator's part, especially for those three tasks mentioned above. The gears do excel at Ground-engaging work however. Could that be because it starts with "G"? Most of the Gentleman I know also prefer the gears.

 

[sdef]

Thanks for the advice, opinions, etc...
To me, the best analogy was the comment about flying a helicopter, in essence needing three hands. I can easily land a 767 in a 30 knot crosswind in the rain, at night, but helos scare the crap outta me.

My usage will be homeowner on five acres. Clearing small trees, brush, building paths, driveways, etc.

HST it is...

I made the same choice several years ago for similar reasons, although the work I had to do was probably greater than yours. HST was a godsend and I have no regrets about the tractor nor any implements purchased.

I have not read the other posts. But if you are waffling between a couple different tractor types, pick the larger, heavier, more powerful option within your budget and 4WD is a must, along with a FEL. And fill the rear tires with fluid for extra weight. With a tractor, weight is of major importance for performance.

And acquire the heaviest implements within your budget. Example, in my hard clay/rock soil, I purchased a ROBB (rollover box blade) weighing 720# and 6' wide and many times wished for a 1100# unit I could have purchased. The typical TSC implement would have failed miserably at my place. However, a farmer friend has sandy loam soil and he can get by with the typical lightweight implements in most cases.

 

[JerryK]

Well the next choice is to run Dino oil or synthetic oil?

R4s or Ags?

Murph, you done forgot Cab or open station.....

 

[TractorGuy]

Didn't think I would like HST till I bought one. So far the amount of switching from forward to reverse I've had to do has convinced me the HST is the ONLY way to go on a small machine. Larger machines with shuttle shift are second. I can't imagine owning another gear drive with clutch.

 

[Automobilist]

OK; I bought a nice used tractor with an HST.
Will run Delo, Rotella, etc. "traditional" oil in it.
Has R4 tires installed...

Thank you for the input, opinions, & knowledge...

Ted

 

[varmint]

After all this, we want you to post some photos pf whatever "new" used tractor you finally bought- ok?

 

[Automobilist]

Will do. Gets delivered this weekend...

2011 New Holland T1510 HST, w/backhoe