2 speed tranny vs 3 speed. Is it really a big deal?

[RyeThomas]

I think it all depends on what you have or are used to, meaning I had a 2 speed HST. I never found an issue with 2 speeds, low range would always spin the tires before I lost power and H was great for running from place to place. Now I have Power Reverser 3 speed 12/12 machines and find myself running the B or middle range 90% of the time. They overlap so it wouldn’t be a deal breaker. As I said before the size of machine for the task is far more important than the trans, hence why I have 3 machines and 2 are for sale. Lol!

 

[popsie]

I have a 3 speed 4720 and 2 speed 1026r. Dont have any issue with 2 speeds on 1026r. I dont even notice

 

[npalen]

I rarely use the low range on my B9200 hydro and one reason is there really isn't enough traction to make use of it.
With that said, I feel that the important thing is the actual ratio of the gears and how well the ratios are matched to the weight and horsepower of the tractor.
Even when rototilling I really don't have a need for the low range and could actually till in the high (3rd gear) range.
Just can't beat a hydro for tilling.

 

[paulfun9]

I was never happy with a 2 speed HST even when I had no 3 speed HST to compare.

 

[ultrarunner]

The only time I use the 3 speed high is when roading the tractor...

Nice to have but not a deal breaker for what I do...

 

[Texasmark]

Thanks all. Yes it is an HST I'm talking about.

Glad you finally clarified that. You had me wondering till I scrolled through the replies and finally realized you were talking about a hydro!

 

[Rock Crawler]

Hill High Guy,

You can always take a less conventional route that a fellow turned me on to with a B2650.

This assumes that you do not care about the mid mounted mower option and will use a 3-point finish mower instead.

You order your B2650 with the Kubota wheel spacers, and you also order it with a much wider set of tires that also allows for more added fuid weight. You see, the B3350 shows 2 R4 tire options, one being the same standard 12" wide R4 from the B2650, but the optional tire is a 15" wide R4 tire that is 3" taller (1.5" taller at the axle).

So you add those 1.5" factory spacers to gain 3" of total track width, then you option in the 15" wide tires (+1.5" outward from tire center line) that have wheels offset to fit them that stick out another 1.5" from the tractor axle hub face, so you actually gain 3" of width on each axle side from the wheel/tire. You are now a total of 9" wider (1.5" spacer, 1.5" wheel offset and 1.5" wider tire per side equals 4.5" per side), and you can get more fluid weight (around 180 additional pounds) into the larger tires to plant the chassis even better.

I have this build ordered right now, it is supposed to be delivered by the end of January. They charged me $450 to order those tires and wheels instead of the standard B2650 R4 version. This will give me a very wide and fairly heavy platform to work with on the cliff that I call home.

The tires I am referring to are:
Standard B2650/B3350 R4
FRONT - 23x8.50-14 R4 Titan Trac Loader
REAR - 12.4-16 R4 Goodyear Sure Grip Lug (37"x12") (224 lbs of Rim Gard) (84 lb each tire bare)

Or the B3350 optional tires that I have coming on my B2650
FRONT - 25x8.50-14 R4 Titan Trac Loader
REAR - 15-19.5 R4 Titan Trac Loader (40"x15") (310 lbs of Rim Gard) (130 lb each tire bare, or an additional 45 lbs for rubber over the standard R4 and 90 lbs more in Rim Gard... that is 135 additional pounds per rear tire over the standard tire, per wheel/tire assembly! And 9" total increase in width!)

So you gain 9" of width, and you gain 180 lbs of fluid fill. This should make a B2650 into a billy goat! I am counting on it.

You would not be able to use a mid mount mower. For me, I would rather use the rear finish mower any ways. So I really do not care. The idea of these big fat tires makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Yes, I am facing a 7.5% reduction in gearing power (37/40=0.925 or 7.5%), but I do not have a need for hard ground engaging like pulling a plow or disc. I will pull a 72" rear grader blade, a 60" box blade, a 60" finish mower, use the heck out of the loader and use the backhoe. I will not miss that 7.5% of gearing. I will likely enjoy the 7.5% increase in speed when mowing my field.

So, just tossing this option out to you. It may be a twist that you never saw. I know I did not until a fellow on the Kubota FB page jumped in and explained it to me and showed me photos of his ultra wide B2650. Once I saw it, I was hooked! That is the beast for me!

 

[chim]

Another vote for 3 speed, been using 2 speeds since '92 and a 3 since '12.

The boomerang hydro pedal doesn't appeal to people who think they must keep their foot on it. That's about as uncomfortable as can be. The technique that works well is to only use the heel and toe, shifting the foot slightly forward and aft. My foot only contacts the front and rear tips of the pedal.

I sometimes hop on a tractor we have at work with the forward / reverse on two separate pedals side by side. Even after using it for a while I don't care for it. It may just be personal preference, muscle memory or to someone who loves two pedals - something wrong with the space between my ears.

Loaded tires do help with stability. I never saw any actual hard information on the effectiveness of wheel spacers. There are quite a few people who believe they work wonders. I have not been convinced. If someone took the time to try different spacers on slopes and published charts showing tractor tipping points, it would be different. I think most people FEEL like spacers are a big help because they sit on the tractor after installing spacers and see more tires sticking out the sides. Think about this. With 1-1/2" spacers, the tractor does sit 3" wider. The downhill wheel is only 1-1/2" farther away from the center of the tractor. Even if you figure that the uphill wheel has a (very slight) impact by being farther from the tractor - fat kid on seesaw effect - just how much do the spacers contribute to the stability? I could believe spacers would be beneficial if they increased the track by 12" on each side. On a sidehill, I'm more concerned about sliding than flopping over.

 

[crazyal]

My Kubota has 3 speeds (and a 2 speed hydraulic motor in the rear diff). The fastest gear is really useless for much of anything other than transporting. But what it does do is allow the middle gear to be lower making it much more useful. In a 2 speed high gear has to be fast enough for transporting yet slow enough to be able to do work. That's a compromise and usually compromises aren't ideal. Being an HST will ease some of the problem but it's not going to over come all of the mechanical disadvantage of a gear being too high.

 

[Rock Crawler]

You a very large tractor compared to me (BX25 at the moment) and when driving across my yard with the backhoe I swing the hoe to the up hill side. If I move it to center I can grab the ROPS and barely pull and start to rotate the tractor over. If I try to swing the hoe to the downhill side, (with the outriggers out but a couple inches from the ground) long before I get it swung the outriggers have caught the machine. That is with loaded tires, but no spacers. It would be interesting to use a fish scale to pull the ROPS with the hoe centered and measure required force, and then do it again with spacers added... but I do not have spacers and I am getting rid of this in a week and a half.

I feel that spacers absolutely do make a change in the amount of side force required, the wider, the better. 1.5" per side is not a lot, but it is better than nothing. 4.5" is getting it done pretty good, and that is what my B2650 is getting along with much heavier loaded tires. I am counting on that 4.5" per side and the loaded tire weight making the thing much more stable than the BX.

Everything helps. It's like building a race engine. There is no single thing that makes the power, it takes a massive mix of small things to take a 300 HP engine and make it into a 1,100 HP engine. Step by step. Everything counts towards the goal.