HST versus shuttle shift

[CowwFace]

Hey SaveBZ,

I'm a noobe to tractors myself, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. I went with a HST tractor, and I did my first road grading project with it.. only took me three days to get the road done?

I really liked the HST transmission myself. One thing I thought was pretty silly when I was looking at the tractor was the "cruise control" for the HST .. come on cruise control on a tractor.. Well I used the cruise control quite a bit on my first project ... so I would recommend HST with cruise.

A few things I can think of off of the top of my head I liked:

1. I liked the fact that at the end of my road, (intersection with more busy road) if there was a car coming and I was slightly in the road, I just had to lift the rear blade and press one pedal to get out of the way.

2. Back draging with the front end loader was nice, when I wanted to quickly go foward to re-touch a little ridge I just had to lift bucket and press one pedal.

3. Making the turn around at the end of a pass was pretty sweet. Even on the narrow road, I could do a three point turn around quickly.

I agree with the pedal placement mentioned above. I was used to forklift with heal-reverse / toe-foward .. so the Kioti 2 pedal's side-by-side took some getting used to but not terrible. I also had to take my seat out and drill a lower adjustment hole in the slide so I could reach the pedals more comfortably.

Overall I think I would go HST again for the way I'm going to use this tractor.

Hope this helps,
Phill

 

[rtimgray]

I also dislike the whining & moaning sounds of the HST.

QUOTE]

I think that I just realized that my wife is an HST model.

Shoulda gone shuttle shift.

 

[scott_vt]

Little did I know when I was on a hillside and shifted between gears that when the machine went to change gears it would go through neutral and freewheel....

Scared the pants off me the first time it happened. After that I ended up having to absolutely MASH the brakes with all my weight to hold the machine on the slope while it changed gears. I might add...the slope wasn't THAT bad so it's not like I was trying to climb the Sears Tower or anything like that! (or what ever the Sears Tower is now called)

!!

Good Mornin Richard,
As any truck driver will tell you, whatever gear you use to go up the hill, your probablly going to go down the hill in that gear ! Your certainly not going to change gears in the middle of the hill !

Im not going to get into the hydro/ gear debate again, even though Im a gear guy, but if your going to use a geared machine use it the right way... jmo !

 

[Richard]

Good Mornin Richard,
As any truck driver will tell you, whatever gear you use to go up the hill, your probablly going to go down the hill in that gear ! Your certainly not going to change gears in the middle of the hill !

Im not going to get into the hydro/ gear debate again, even though Im a gear guy, but if your going to use a geared machine use it the right way... jmo !

I understand... I actually gave a wrong recollection. It was using forward/backward as I think more about it. Anytime the machine changed directions (or gears) it went through the clutching process. I simply didn't think beforehand what might happen as it clutched. It only took once. I was still forced to operate F/R so had to deal with that situation. It was a fairly new machine as well and I was amazed at how hard it was to hold the machine in place with the brakes. Made me wonder if they were adjusted properly. I was holding onto the steering wheel to use that additional leverage to add some strength to my foot pressure.

Regardless... it wasn't gear changes per se' but rather, simply using the machine as designed

 

[scott_vt]

I understand... I actually gave a wrong recollection. It was using forward/backward as I think more about it. Anytime the machine changed directions (or gears) it went through the clutching process. I simply didn't think beforehand what might happen as it clutched. It only took once. I was still forced to operate F/R so had to deal with that situation. It was a fairly new machine as well and I was amazed at how hard it was to hold the machine in place with the brakes. d

Good Afternoon Richard,
Well yes in that scenario, thats a bit different than shifting on the fly going down a steep hill !


With the tractor stopped, going from foward to reverse on a hill is no big deal, unless the brakes are of questionable operating quality ! In that situation, they would get my attention rather quickly also !

In the end you were not injured, thats all that really matters !

 

[Ken45101]

FWIW, my smaller tractors (B21 TLB, B2710) have HST, my bigger tractors have standard transmissions with shuttle shift.

We are in very hilly terrain and I've never had a problem with either transmission type on the hills although I suspect the HST drains more power from the smaller units than a standard transmission (the B21 is very slow coming up the driveway but it's only a 20 HP unit.

Ken

 

[Builder]

I think you're right on the power drain. My 47HP hydro seems to be no more powerful than my 39HP shuttle shift was.

One other disadvantage is PTO HP. PTO HP on a hydro is typically lower than on a shuttle by 1-3 HP. Doesn't seem like much until you're a few HP short of buying that one implement you always wanted.

 

[CrownHawg]

Check out the John Deere 4x20 series with a Power Reverser tranny. I would not trade mine for a HST... I am on my third PR and will buy another. I would love to have a factory cab JD but in this series the only trans avaliable is HST, so a no go for me...

John

Well, I guess JD make both HST and PR for a reason. I cannot comment on the PR but I have driven both geared tractors and my 4120 HST. When I was looking at CUTs, I drove both and absolutely fell in love with the HST, on the JD. The Kubota was a little different, but still better than Shuttle Shift IMO. The HST make me so much SAFER by not having to concentrate on shifting, forward or reverse or a clutch. I too thought the side by side setup would be confusing but after a few uses, it's second nature. I catch myself scooting my foot right in my truck to backup!

 

[anojones]

I catch myself scooting my foot right in my truck to backup!

Just make sure you put it in Park before you jump out!

 

[mcd176]

I agree with BUILDER, the whine of a HST is Irritating plus the power drain is also a big factor, I have drove identical NH TC29's one with HST and one with gears, the geared machine has a noticable power advantage. I also disagree that a HST machine is better than a geared machine, this is just my .02 worth but in my opinion you are better off with gears in a CUT or UT, I can run my loader just fine with a shuttle shift.

-Mike