HST help

[NC419N]

I am tickled to death with my NX4510HST with cruise and cab ac is making mowing fun fun fun. Still love all my gear models but guess which one gets fist pick.

 

[tractorshopper]

I've used both and prefer the HST personally. You can feather the speed to suit the terrain while mowing or the hardness of the ground while tilling or plowing. I routinely find myself feathering at a couple certain areas while doing those tasks. No shifting required. And with the few big open areas I mow, I can set the cruise. And for loader work, there is simply no comparison in my opinion.

That said, HST is noisier.

 

[Sysop]

I'm still in search of my newer tractor and I wanted to help alleviate my concerns over HST, at least as how I vision what HST is actually like overall.

I like being able to stick the tractor in gear and look behind me to watch the dirt turn or whatever- is having HST and having to keep a constant pressure on the pedal a big PITA..???
It also seems that going over somewhat rough terrain would cause you to pulsate the pedal when hitting a bump.. is this accurate?
Do people actually mow acres upon acres while holding down the pedal.... ?

From where I am at now, shuttle shift is definitely the way to go unless all my concerns are ill informed. Please advise.

Most of the pedals are pretty tight in movement, but not hard to hold. Holding steady isn't a problem, and I don't know of any new models that don't have cruise to hold it for you.

As was mentioned, the infinite gearing of an HST is great. Not only is it easier to speed up and slow down while mowing to get a good cut in heavy patches, you have better speed control when doing ground engaging work, and I believe you also have the ability of placing more torque on the ground. An HST having it's 'infinite gearing' is able to crawl at a much slower pace than any of the geared tractors, applying more power into wheel turning torque. Couple the lower ratio with the additional weight of the HST and there is more torque engaging the ground for ground engaging work to get done.

The gear guys will all jump up and down and say it's not so, that there is power lost in an HST. While that is true, they're not taking into account the lower ratio the HST is able to run at. I can max my engine out and just push the go-pedal a tiny amount and all that power is going into turning the wheels at a rate of about an inch per second. IF the gear guys were geared down to that level, yes, they would make more torque (but they're not, so they don't)...

 

[TSO]

HST vs Gear comes down to application, and personal preference. The modern thought is now shifting towards the HST being more reliable and longer lasting.

HST has a cruise control option, so no, you don't have to hold down the foot pedal the whole time.

I have had shuttle before, and I prefer both depending on the tasks. But for the work you describe, either would work, and I'd lean towards the shuttle.

 

[GManBart]

Now I'm back to the drawing board. It's nice to know that there is a cruise control option, now I just need to narrow down the tractors that have that option.

My LS had cruise control. I know the newer LS (XR series) and Kioti both have cruise control, and Kioti upgraded theirs to an actual ground speed setting rather than just a throttle setting.

When it comes to mowing, it depends on whether you have many obstacles to work around. For an open field, there is zero difference. As soon as you're going around obstacles, backing up to stuff, etc, then HST is more convenient, and faster, although a power shuttle wouldn't be far behind.

 

[Sysop]

Post no longer applies. Removed.

 

[GManBart]

I'm confused. What does the throttle have to do with it? All tractors have a throttle control to control the engine RPMs, but it is a totally separate function of the HST's groundspeed control (treadle, go-pedal, whatever) or the cruise that works with the HST groundspeed control.

Some newer models will automatically throttle up when you actuate the HST's go-pedals, but that is just to ensure proper flow of fluid because many HST users don't run high enough RPMs to properly feed the beast and that is just a newer "fix" some manufacturers are implementing. As far as I know the throttle control and the HST controls are still separate functions though.

Not disputing anything you said, just seeking clarification.

I wasn't thinking clearly Fixed it...

 

[Threepoint]

[snip]
I like being able to stick the tractor in gear and look behind me to watch the dirt turn or whatever- is having HST and having to keep a constant pressure on the pedal a big PITA..???
It also seems that going over somewhat rough terrain would cause you to pulsate the pedal when hitting a bump.. is this accurate?
Do people actually mow acres upon acres while holding down the pedal.... ?[snip]

I've had HST diesel tractors for 22+ yrs and never had the issues you're concerned about. Yep, people mow acres upon acres with the HST pedal, no problem. I like the earlier analogy to the accelerator on a car or truck. My suggestion,though, is to use this as an opportunity to test drive several different tractors to get first-hand experience on the differences in drive trains.

 

[Sysop]

I wasn't thinking clearly Fixed it...

That happens when we have too many things going on upstairs.

 

[texasjohn]

I have no trouble holding my HST pedals forward or reverse. After a few minutes you hardly even notice the fact that you're doing it.

I haven't had any issues with pulsing in rough terrain... even when I get knocked around it seems to hold steady. I do mow with mine, but mine has a "cruise control" lever that will hold the HST pedal wherever it was when engaged, I assume this is pretty typical.

I do like how my tractor will stop the instant I lift my foot off the HST. That small difference in stopping time (vs lifting foot to depress a clutch pedal) came in handy a few times where trouble was headed my way. Could be all my imagination.

I also like that i have infinite speeds available to me at all times. This makes it easy to slow down and ease into/out of a tight spot.

-J

Ditto to this.

HST is safer and VERY easy to operate. To me, anyone who has less than 200 acres to care for is an excellent candidate for HST. All the talk about back and forth, loss of hp to HST, etc. is actually not an issue under 200 acres. Everyone in this category does LOTS of back and forth, careful travel around objects, very little of dozens of hours of ground engagement equipment where HP could be a concern under some few specialized circumstances. HST simply is great, and the reliability of the transmission is superb. Fatigue is dramatically reduced by using an HST over a shifting transmission...and if operating for numerous hours, fatigue is a major contributor to accidents.

There are some who see it differently...ask them if they have daily used an HST...I cannot recommend it highly enough, even considering some additional cost over alternative transmissions...worth it, IMHO.