HST or gear-drive?

[RayIN]

I have a friend that went to a Kubota dealer to buy a new 35-45HP tractor. The dealership owner ask Mike what is the intended purpose of buying a tractor? Mike said general farming, the dealership owner said " i do not recommend a HST tractor for general farming; I do recommend a gear-drive tractor.
Mike bought an HST and through the years has came to regret not listening to the dealership owner. Mike told me he has now bought a new gear-drive tractor and now uses the HST in his business of building pole barns, and it works well for that purpose.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I guess it would depend on what "general farming" involves ...

Pulling heavy ground engaging attachments for 12 hours a day 20 days a month, sure ...

Cleaning out a chicken barn, no.

Either can move hay bales!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Tilling? Brush hogging? HST all the way

 

[jwmorris]

Farming like row crops? Wrong tractor. Moving hay, stabbing from both ends, stacking in barn, mowing around any objects, stump grinding, tilling or any precise work where you move in more than one direction or very slow and controlled, I prefer HST and my left leg really likes it.

 

[WM75Guy]

My WM75 is gear, the TC40DA and WM25 are HST. The WM75 only comes in gear. If HST were an option, I would have gotten it. When mowing pastures in mid-range at 2000 RPMs, PTO speed, my options for gears and speed are 1st gear - 1.6 MPH, 2nd gear - 2.4 MPH, and 3rd gear - 3.5 MPH. My back won't tolerate 3.5 MPH. With HST I could set the speed to the fastest possible that my back can tolerate and I can still walk the next day. Losing PTO HP due to having an HST wouldn't be a problem. The WM75 has 60HP PTO, so even gears cause a 20% reduction.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I could understand the sentiment for work in a field or large garden, but for literally everything else I do I've got to hand it to the HST.

Now, for clarification, my HST does NOT have cruise control. That, I am sure, may change my opinion.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

My understanding is the HST builds alot of heat when worked really hard, at like maximum pulling ... Besides they tend to have a bit more PTO HP Loss than the gear drives ...

I wouldn't consider a 50 HP tractor a "farm tractor" ... It's more of a hobby farm, homestead tractor, unless its on a farm with bigger tractors to do the heavy work ... Sure you can "farm" an acre garden for the farmers market type thing ... But forget about trying to till 100 acres of crop and, or harvest it, even marginal for haying on anything more than a hobby farm.

 

[Cycledude]

I own both HST and gear driven, prefer HST most of the time. But if your wanting to pull a lot of heavy loads a long ways at road speeds gear driven might be a better choice.

 

[Blue Mule]

I concur with the others. For row crop farming, gear drive. For everything else, HST. Once you use a HST tractor for a year doing loader work, grading a road, moving things around, pushing snow, etc. you will never go back. It is safer, easier, faster, and can be controlled with more finesse than a clutch and gear shift.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

My HST has cruise, so I love it for tilling the couple acres I have to plant. Infinite speed control, and also the ability to take my foot off the pedal. Cruise makes HST really adaptable for jobs it would not have been well suited for in the past.