Buying Advice Looking for purachse advice
- Thread starter kirkkw
- Start date
Fallon
Super Member
A HST eats up 15% of your HP compared to a gear transmission, but boy is it worth it. Push forward to go forward, push harder to go faster, push reverse pedal to go reverse. Let off either pedal & the HST will slow the tractor to a halt faster than it could get it up to speed.It's that easy. No constant clutching to deal with. A HST is mechanically simpler than a power shift transmission & as long as you keep your hydraulic fluid clean should be equally or more durable than all the clutches & other parts in a power shift. If you were farming or skidding logs, the efficiency of a power shift might be worth it, but I'd wager not. I can & do poke my pallet forks within an inch or 2 of the window of my truck loading & unloading without worry even if my truck is down. I'd be worrying & not getting as close if I was in a gear machine, especially if it was downhill to my truck.
Basically get in a HST & a power shift, run around the lot a little & see if the dealer has a pile of dirt, snow or doesn't mind you making sandcastles in his gravel. Spends some time on each doing loader type stuff & I'll be you will be a HST convert in no time.
Tires... R1 ag, R3 truf, R4 industrial
R1 ag tires are skinnier & have the big lugs on them. They are designed for maximum traction in minimum traction mediums (mud & snow)
R3 turf look like big balloons because that's what they are. Big so they spread out the weight & rounded so they don't tear up the lawn. They have the worst traction. (some people prefer R3 tires with chains in the snow & ice though)
R4 industrial tires are a compromise. They are wider so they don't tear things up as much, they are heavier duty so they last longer (especially on pavement, which destroys R1s). They have better sidewalls so they have a better carrying capacity. Because of these compromises, they don't have as much traction in mud & snow, & they don't self clean unlike the R1s.
I went with R4s on mine & have been generally happy with the compromise. No issues blowing out my front tires when pushing my loader to it's max. I get pretty good traction most of the time. Last 2 winters I did fine plowing, although turning while plowing was mostly a dream. I added chains to the font wheels this year & it REALLY helped, I can turn as well as plow about 30% better.
Loaded rear tires. CUTs are generally borderline unsafe with a loader & unloaded rear tires. Loaded rear tires keep your back end on the ground when lifting heavy loads. You still need proper ballast on the back (that weight hanging on the back unloads weight off the weak front axle onto the heavy rear axle). As a new guy I'd recommend getting the rear tires ballasted from the get go no matter what tires you get.
Why LS? Closest dealer? Got the best vibe from the dealer? Not a wrong way to go, but I'd recommend checking out the competitions stats & feel once you decide on a specific mode or a few. Just to make sure you can get a different take on things.
Basically get in a HST & a power shift, run around the lot a little & see if the dealer has a pile of dirt, snow or doesn't mind you making sandcastles in his gravel. Spends some time on each doing loader type stuff & I'll be you will be a HST convert in no time.
Tires... R1 ag, R3 truf, R4 industrial
R1 ag tires are skinnier & have the big lugs on them. They are designed for maximum traction in minimum traction mediums (mud & snow)
R3 turf look like big balloons because that's what they are. Big so they spread out the weight & rounded so they don't tear up the lawn. They have the worst traction. (some people prefer R3 tires with chains in the snow & ice though)
R4 industrial tires are a compromise. They are wider so they don't tear things up as much, they are heavier duty so they last longer (especially on pavement, which destroys R1s). They have better sidewalls so they have a better carrying capacity. Because of these compromises, they don't have as much traction in mud & snow, & they don't self clean unlike the R1s.
I went with R4s on mine & have been generally happy with the compromise. No issues blowing out my front tires when pushing my loader to it's max. I get pretty good traction most of the time. Last 2 winters I did fine plowing, although turning while plowing was mostly a dream. I added chains to the font wheels this year & it REALLY helped, I can turn as well as plow about 30% better.
Loaded rear tires. CUTs are generally borderline unsafe with a loader & unloaded rear tires. Loaded rear tires keep your back end on the ground when lifting heavy loads. You still need proper ballast on the back (that weight hanging on the back unloads weight off the weak front axle onto the heavy rear axle). As a new guy I'd recommend getting the rear tires ballasted from the get go no matter what tires you get.
Why LS? Closest dealer? Got the best vibe from the dealer? Not a wrong way to go, but I'd recommend checking out the competitions stats & feel once you decide on a specific mode or a few. Just to make sure you can get a different take on things.
Fallon
Super Member
Learn you tractor & learn your skills before you try to sell them. You need to figure out your operating costs. Fuel, grease, oil, scheduled maintenance, unplanned maintenance, breakdowns & the most important part, insurance. Once you know how much it costs to operate & properly insure, then figure what your time is worth. You need to also account for transportation costs as well. You'll need a 3/4 ton truck to haul thing in all likelihood & a 20' trailer. They cost money to buy, operate & insure. It take a fair bit of time to load, transport & unload a tractor before yo are ready to work. You need to plan on making money on that not loosing money.
I was in your boat, cool new tractor & started wondering how I could make some bucks with it from time to time. After investigating insurance stuff I determined the number of hours I'd have to work to cover insurance maid my potential laid back part time gig after work more work that I was willing to take on. May come back & revisit that decision at some point, but for now I'm just doing favors fro friends.
I was in your boat, cool new tractor & started wondering how I could make some bucks with it from time to time. After investigating insurance stuff I determined the number of hours I'd have to work to cover insurance maid my potential laid back part time gig after work more work that I was willing to take on. May come back & revisit that decision at some point, but for now I'm just doing favors fro friends.
You have just about convinced me toward HST. Actually, if you are old enough to remember Get Smart he said something like "missed it by this much".
R4 tires make the most sense for me. No finish mowing and land is rocky with mostly shallow rock called caliche or limestone. Very little chance for mud I suspect.
Why LS, couple of reasons. 1. quality - they have been making tractors a long time 2. good dealer in Austin according to this site. I have not yet had any contact with dealer but have seem many positive posts here. I did consider Kioti and Mahindra but came to the conclusion LS in the 35-40 range was a better choice due to dealer. Maybe I am wrong about all that? I have to say, the Kioti are a little less expensive.
Ken
Looking at XG XR 3037 4040 but maybe a 3032 would be plenty for me. Based on the suggestions here it seems I should buy HST. Why would I ask the experts then do otherwise as it seems everyone says HST
Watching videos at Everything Attachments convinced me I need a box blade rather than a land plane if I had to chose between the two.
My brother has the chainsaws and I plan on getting the tractor. I don't know how much use I would get out of a backhoe since the soil is pretty rocky. Cliche/limestone with not a lot of soil over it. I have read on a Tx Ag site that the cedars around Leander will die if cut off at ground level. Maybe I misunderstood what it said.
You are the second to suggest 20' so that is noted.
Checked those out - reasonable price also found some USA made ones at Discount Ramp
Don't plan to finance it.
Seems you know this area well.
Ken
lostcreekranch
Super Member
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Kirk;
RCO Tractor is about 2 miles north of 290 on Old Bee Caves Road. Probably 15-20 minutes from Leander.
2 hours from our Ranch.
Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet
RCO Tractor is about 2 miles north of 290 on Old Bee Caves Road. Probably 15-20 minutes from Leander.
2 hours from our Ranch.
Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet
I guess its just me but I am not big up on HST tractors. I have owned one, and several older gear tractors including Internationals,Deeres and Allis Chalmers. I also have a newer shuttle shift.The Older tractors I agree where harder to shift but I got by. I still have an International 464 and I do not have a problem at all with it,it is an older shuttle.The shuttle is very easy to use,loader work is actually easy and is not a problem.
The HST tractor was also simple because all you did was move your foot.The newer shuttle shifts to me are just as easy,with all you do is move your hand to go from forward to reverse.
To me it is not a big deal to operate a shuttle or gear.I hear this and that,well you better buy the HST if you have hills.Well I have plenty of hilly property and going to the right gear is just second nature now.If you want to get the HST go for it it will do great for you.But I do not believe down the road a shuttle is that much of a problem.
In winter the worst problem on hills to me is sliding.And that usually only happens on ice.I use to run a D-9 at work. A really exciting event is when you hit ice on a slope.Dozers make great sleds on frozen spoil.You just have to ride it out,you are not going to stop it.Habit tells you to put the blade down but it will stop when gravity allows it to.
The HST tractor was also simple because all you did was move your foot.The newer shuttle shifts to me are just as easy,with all you do is move your hand to go from forward to reverse.
To me it is not a big deal to operate a shuttle or gear.I hear this and that,well you better buy the HST if you have hills.Well I have plenty of hilly property and going to the right gear is just second nature now.If you want to get the HST go for it it will do great for you.But I do not believe down the road a shuttle is that much of a problem.
In winter the worst problem on hills to me is sliding.And that usually only happens on ice.I use to run a D-9 at work. A really exciting event is when you hit ice on a slope.Dozers make great sleds on frozen spoil.You just have to ride it out,you are not going to stop it.Habit tells you to put the blade down but it will stop when gravity allows it to.