Hydro or Gear?

[JasperFrank]

At this late time into the thread, I'm just voting. HST. I'll never go back to any sort of manual geared tractor. For FEL work, you can't beat the precision you have with HST, and since you don't have to think about gears, you can concentrate on the FEL work. For me, and the way i use mine, that means a precision of just a few inches.

 

[Diggin It]

I've spun my tires more than once. I've had at least three or four spinning BUT it's generally only on damp or loose turf, or on an incline. 'Course, I've got a little one without a whole lot of weight.

 

[9973720wb19]

I had a larger CUT with HST and enjoyed it very much. it was very easy to use and move around in tight spaces and loader work. I do mostly mowing and for me the HST 4720 was too light, too narrow and front wheels were too small for the large hills and larger mowing deck I wanted. I could not find a Utility tractor with HST so I'm with geared now. for stability it's great...you just have to think ahead a bit more while it's in motion.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I had a larger CUT with HST and enjoyed it very much. it was very easy to use and move around in tight spaces and loader work. I do mostly mowing and for me the HST 4720 was too light, too narrow and front wheels were too small for the large hills and larger mowing deck I wanted. I could not find a Utility tractor with HST so I'm with geared now. for stability it's great...you just have to think ahead a bit more while it's in motion.

What size mowing deck? 15ft batwing? Lol

Too narrow with rear tires set to wide? Guys even add spacers to the 4x20 series and they are too wide to fit on any trailer.

 

[ptsg]

Granted that a Geared tractor can't be as fast as HST with loader work, however if one is used to deal with a clutch, he can be very close in speed to an HST tractor and still be very precise with loader work.

Changing gears is also absolutely no problem at all. There are lots of gears to choose for the job in hand. Some people just can't handle a clutch.

I have nothing against HST by the way. Well maybe the whine.

We don't get HST tractors here because it wouldn't simply be up to the task. Maybe one or two dealers are willing to special order an HST tractor at a much higher cost but unlikely to happen.

I'm pretty sure a 50HP HST tractor would have a hard time pulling a 8000 lbs or 9000 lbs trailer full of logs on the road like most people do here. Even a slightly hill could be problematic and it may require to stop the tractor to change ranges, which in the middle of the road is not desirable to do. While a geared tractor can stay on High range and just change the main shift on the fly.

Then again, wouldn't mind to give an HST tractor a try though. Heck, it would most likely fit my use better, other than roading the tractor.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Yeaaa, I'm always amazed that folks on this site keep repeating how difficult and pure torture it is to use a loader with a gear drive tractor!

It's all BS, you get "use to it" just like you do with a hydro tranny, and on top of that, you can idle the gear tractor down and don't have to put up with the whiner transmissions whine!! Lower RPM = low noise and less fuel used...

I load hundreds of loads with a gear drive, and I never have to shift gears doing loader work, just move the shuttle from forward to reverse...

and it's not torture, my leg doesn't fall off and I'm NOT dead at the end of the day!!! Just like my ankle isn't broke, after using the whiner tranny all day!!

SR

 

[pmsmechanic]

Oh I just smile at how wound up people get over this question. At this point in time I prefer an HST but I've never worked with a shuttle. I would like to some time. And it's funny I never heard the whine on my HST till I heard all the whining on this forum. I just never noticed it.

 

[goeduck]

There is no comparison to the fine control of a HST and I would not want to be without one. That said, I prefer driving my power shuttle for non-fine work. Is that a word? I am not a fan of a reved up engine unless you need it.

 

[rScotty]

There is no comparison to the fine control of a HST and I would not want to be without one. That said, I prefer driving my power shuttle for non-fine work. Is that a word? I am not a fan of a reved up engine unless you need it.

I'm with you on all those choices. In my opinion, too much is made of the difference between the HST vs clutch&gear trannys. I love the fine control of our HST and it is clearly best for loader work. But that doesn't make the clutch&gear transmission a bad choice just because the HST is slightly better for loader work. I'm not always doing loader work, and as good as HST is for that, I prefer power shift for everything else except loader work.

Gear and foot clutch transmissions - especially those with instant reverse lever or powershift options - are better now than they ever were.... which is very good indeed.
One quickly develops a delicate touch with the clutch foot that makes loader operation with a gear transmission work almost as easy as HST. It's close enough that I don't think most people would notice the difference after a few hours with either.

Some people just don't care for HST. My wife still prefers a gear shift transmission and thinks that a foot clutch makes them better for delicate loader work because the operation is so positive & controllable. I think she feels more in control with a foot clutch.

BTW, I also prefer to run all my diesels at lower RPMs.....enough RPM to do the work without straining, but no more. The HST with auto throttle does that automatically, and returns to idle when the load comes off. But I have no problem doing exactly the same thing with a foot clutch and hand throttle. After you do it for an hour it becomes automatic and just as smooth.
rScotty

 

[rScotty]

I'm with you on all those choices. In my opinion, too much is made of the difference between the HST vs clutch&gear trannys. I love the fine control of our HST and it is clearly best for loader work. But that doesn't make the clutch&gear transmission a bad choice just because the HST is slightly better for loader work. I'm not always doing loader work, and as good as HST is for that, I prefer power shift for everything else except loader work. ..... SNIP......

After writing that post just above, I realized that there is one transmission that I do not like and advise people to stay away from.
This is from experience, In fact, I have a tractor with this very transmission.

It is a powershift with 4 ranges and fingertip forward and reverse. So far, so good... but instead of a foot clutch it has a torque converter. No foot clutch at all. That makes for less wear and tear on the drive train, higher usable HP & fuel efficiency almost as good as a gear transmission, and none of the expense and whine of a HST. But it also makes it almost impossible to do delicate work with the loader.

For delicate work with that type transmission you stand on the brakes (both brakes equally or it will lurch sideways), put the powershift into lowest gear, advance the throttle to engage the torque converter, and then evenly ease off the brakes just a little bit to allow it to lurch forward and then quickly push down on the brakes to stop the lurch. Hopefully it didn't waggle side to side with all this brake work. All of it real tricky.... Sure a a person can learn to do it, but that doesn't ever make it easy.

And trying to do anything delicate on on a slope or slippery ground is bound to lead to sliding sideways enough to put dents in things. It's just not a good transmission for delicate loader work where you want to move something controllably a few inches. No problem, because that's not what it was designed to do.
Now for moving dirt from one side of a construction site to another it's unbeatable. Low operator stress and a very long-lasting high efficiency transmission
rScotty