New HST Stupid Question

[motownbrowne]

Great info. I have really been contemplating the hobby of maple syrup. I just think I would enjoy it, moonshine in the summer, and maple syrup in the spring! But yes, our property slopes from 3025 ft at the high point to 2850 where it hits the river. I need to start some research.

Sounds like you've got a good location. Maple trees, slope, freezing nights, and a way to cook it down are all you need to get started.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be glad to help you get started.

 

[DieselBound]

With HSTs you'll need to have the tractor running a bit before you decide to make it move. This is especially true if it's cold out: first time I went to stab the travel pedal after starting up in cold weather (well, cold for the PNW!) nothing happened and I thought something was wrong with the tractor; well, something was wrong, and that was that the fluid wasn't flowing well enough.

If you're under a load you'll start hearing the hydraulic pump whine. Look to down-shift or throttle up. If you're already in low range and throttled up then you've hit the wall and you need to back off on the load. Seems I always push to the "wall!"

If you've got a lot of back-n-forth work you'll find that the HST really makes things happen fast. And with a smaller tractor to boot you can really make things happen fast. Watch out for neck strain (or worse- I've been laid up with really bad neck pain) from snapping your head around really quickly.

 

[k0ua]

So, how are you getting along with the hydro so far? Have you tried much loader work with it? Another place where the Hydro shines is mowing thick materiel with a rotary cutter (bush hog) as you can control your ground speed just right instead of a compromise that you sometimes get if your gearing is not just exactly what you need for changing conditions. It is so easy to ease up on the pedal or even almost stop when the materiel to cut becomes real thick and just a quick stomp down on the pedal when it thins out. Sometimes with geared tractors (especially small ones with very few gears) you cannot always find exactly what you want, and you have to settle for too fast or too slow.