Sold L3200, Time to Upgrade. GST Opinions?

[kubotacres]

The GST is OK for Loader work, I am so used to it, I don't think about it. GST is sure better than a manual gear. Not so great on hilly terrain.
GST wins putting power down and better roading, Less RPM needed, Quiet. if you travel a lot, I sure would prefer GST.
HST has it's place, 6 speeds on new HST sure is better than 3 or 2.

Good info. How often do you actually use the clutch? Any while forward/reverse?

 

[Fallon]

When shifting the GST...

Move gear selector
1-2 seconds of lag (out of gear if I remember)
Tractor shifts into your selected gear & takes off (more or less like a car automatic)

No clutching required. You could shift forward neutral reverse on the column without the clutch as well. I never got the hang of that timing wise, so was clutching to stop where I wanted & using the steering wheel lever to F/N/R as needed then let out the clutch. I'm sure I'd have stopped clutching entirely with a day or 2 of operation.

Those big JD PowerShifts were impressive. Pulling a disk, if you hit the clutch & let off as fast as you could, you'd stall the tractor. Yet you could move the gear selector & the tractor could upshift & keep on pulling under the same conditions. Much bigger machines & nicer transmissions though, even if they were a decade or 2 older than the GST I ran (Maybe 2010 vintage).

 

[kubotacres]

I believe my mind is made up. I'm going with a gst.

Still gotta decide on size since I believe a 3940 is more than I need. I would like to keep all my 5' implements and the 3940 is wider than both the 3240 and 3540.

 

[Baby Grand]

I believe my mind is made up. I'm going with a gst.

Still gotta decide on size since I believe a 3940 is more than I need. I would like to keep all my 5' implements and the 3940 is wider than both the 3240 and 3540.

Either one would be a step up for you, in terms of tractive force for FEL or ground engaging work. Both can take the BH92 hoe - which is a very nice combination.

Cab or open station? If the latter, I think I'd hold out for a clean L3540.

There have been a few, isolated moments when I thought that an open station L3540 would have been a better choice than the open station L3240 that I have. Running a 5' brush hog in dense, shoulder high field grass was one of them - then I down shifted a gear and recalled that the L3240 was stretching my financial crisis about as far I could without losing all sleep and that a little more seat time would give me a few more minutes to think about how much I like brush hogging our field. Really, after 8 years of changing priorities, the tractor has been a remarkably good fit with my needs and very forgiving of the tasks that I've thrown at it.

I believe Jeff9366 & devildog1 have the L3540, maybe they can offer some thoughts?
- Jim

 

[kubotacres]

Either one would be a step up for you, in terms of tractive force for FEL or ground engaging work. Both can take the BH92 hoe - which is a very nice combination.

Cab or open station? If the latter, I think I'd hold out for a clean L3540.

There have been a few, isolated moments when I thought that an open station L3540 would have been a better choice than the open station L3240 that I have. Running a 5' brush hog in dense, shoulder high field grass was one of them - then I down shifted a gear and recalled that the L3240 was stretching my financial crisis about as far I could without losing all sleep and that a little more seat time would give me a few more minutes to think about how much I like brush hogging our field. Really, after 8 years of changing priorities, the tractor has been a remarkably good fit with my needs and very forgiving of the tasks that I've thrown at it.

I believe Jeff9366 & devildog1 have the L3540, maybe they can offer some thoughts?
- Jim

Yeah it will definitely be a open station.ID like to go with the 3940 for the extra horses, however the size may be to much for my implements. I have never seen a 3540 anywhere local, the majority of kubotas around here are the 3240 and 3940.I guess I'll just wait it out and see what comes up.

 

[devildog1]

kubotacres, Well what I can tell you is the 3 speed HST Plus on my L3540 works great for me, I do a lot of loader work and with the ssqa forks on I have complete control over what I'm doing. I've had gears and GST's but for me and my tasks,it's the hydro,hands down.Now my neighbor who operates a 360 count dairy farm has large glides & gear tractor IH's but doing no till and disk-ing along with corn chopping and large round hay bales those are the tractors for that task. Your tasks are not the same ones so you have a decision to make and the only way to do that is see if you can sit and try different tractors in real time for your task. Good Luck.
DevilDog

 

[4570Man]

I have had GST and HST. I prefer HST hands down. If I was pulling a plow all day I would get the gears, but HST is better for loader work. HST is better for anything that requires precise movements. Another plus to my HST is I can reach the cruise control lever from the backhoe seat. No more constantly getting off the backhoe to move forward for this guy. On my Grand the HST doesn't whine, but on the other tractors I have used which includes a standard L, JD and Kioti the whinnying is terrible.

 

[DK35vince]

Another plus to my HST is I can reach the cruise control lever from the backhoe seat. No more constantly getting off the backhoe to move forward for this guy. On my Grand the HS.t doesn't whine, but on the standard L and Kioti the whinnying is terrible.

With my gear drive I often just stuff the backhoe bucket into the ground and shove the tractor ahead.

 

[4570Man]

With my gear drive I often just stuff the backhoe bucket into the ground and shove the tractor ahead.

That works ok on flat ground, but no good on hills. Around here tractoring on flat ground is a rarity.

 

[kubotacres]

kubotacres, Well what I can tell you is the 3 speed HST Plus on my L3540 works great for me, I do a lot of loader work and with the ssqa forks on I have complete control over what I'm doing. I've had gears and GST's but for me and my tasks,it's the hydro,hands down.Now my neighbor who operates a 360 count dairy farm has large glides & gear tractor IH's but doing no till and disk-ing along with corn chopping and large round hay bales those are the tractors for that task. Your tasks are not the same ones so you have a decision to make and the only way to do that is see if you can sit and try different tractors in real time for your task. Good Luck.
DevilDog

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That is a clean tractor. Too bad the 3540 is a rarity around my parts especially with the open station.... I'm going to stop by after work and test out the GST and see how well I like it. That should give me a good starting point.