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.

 

[dodge man]

I have run small hst tractors about 1400 hours. I ran a gear drive medium sized utility tractor maybe 2 hours. I really didn’t mind running the gear drive, easier then I expected.

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

My JD mower is HST my Kioti is geared. I also thought about the HP and didn;t want to lose those 4hp'. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision to go geared but I was only used to geared farm equipment. If I were to buy another I may consider a HST. But I am hoping I don't have to make that choice.

As for tilling/plowing/discing long rows and not having to put my foot on a lever it is pretty nice. Throttle on the dash and turn on the ends and ride baby ride...

 

[WVH1977]

I have both. My bigger cabbed tractor is HST and has a grapple and heavy duty yard rake on the rear most of the time. I use this for in and out cleaning and moving brush around the property to burn piles. Love it.

I also have a smaller gear drive (shuttle shift). Use it on my long driveway for maintenance. Also use it for moving mulch and material all over the property. It is faster in that aspect. Love it as well.

Both of them can wear me out if I use them for long periods of time.

A power reverser is also nice. A lot less leg work not having to clutch back and forth like on the shuttle shift.

I have been blessed and fortunate to have both.

 

[rScotty]

SNIP

As for tilling/plowing/discing long rows and not having to put my foot on a lever it is pretty nice. Throttle on the dash and turn on the ends and ride baby ride...

I think that so many of us use HST now that the geared tractors don't get a fair shake.

A geared tractor isn't like a truck where we are always shifting gears when changing speeds. When a geared tractor is doing any ground work like mowing, plowing, cultivating, it basically stays in the same gear. You start out in whatever gear fits the job, and from that point the tractor just goes back and forth in that sae gear without any additional clutching. The three point raises and lowers at the end of rows, and speeding up or slowing down are done with the throttle on the dash. There is rarely a need to shift to a different gear.

It's only when using the basic geared farm tractor as a chore & loader tractor that the clutch gets used a lot. That is where HST is king, but modern clutches used right are still good for many thousands of hours even in that use. And a replacement clutch is lots cheaper than HST rebuilds.

A nifty compromise for cost and effiency is a geared tractor with auto clutching and a lever for a hydraulic reverser. That allows the loader tractor to have the advantage of gears and still go back and forth in any gear without using the foot clutch. Kubota calls that system their "glide shift", but most manufacturers offer it as as "power shift with a reverser".

rScotty

 

[5030]

I've had both in the past but now only have geared tractors but hydraulic shuttle which eliminates a dry clutch. If I was mowing the yard or doing light duty tasks, a HST but for heavy duty work a geared unit but hydraulic shuttle to eliminate a dry clutch entirely. Both my units are hydraulic shuttle and both have over 6000 hours on them with no adjustment of the hydraulic wet clutch at all.

I don't condiser 50 horsepower to be enough grunt to do any sort of row cropping in the first place. You need a minimum 90 horsepower and some tractive weight (heavier tractor).

 

[MossRoad]

 

[bdhsfz6]

Wow, this topic has been beat to death here over the years. It really comes down to this: Buy the one that works best for YOU and the work you do.

I've had 7 Kubota tractors in my lifetime and just one had a gear transmission. I learned very quickly that for what I do, HST is the way to go.

Don't misunderstand, there's nothing wrong with a gear tractor for the majority of work operations that don't involve rapid & frequent speed and direction changes. For example, I mow 7 acres of former pasture that is quite rough. With my foot on the the HST pedal and both hands on the wheel, I can speed up or slow down almost instantly without clutching, braking, adjusting the throttle or varying the RPM & PTO speed.

There may well be gear transmissions that allow you to do this, but not in Kubota's mid size tractor lineup.

 

[big bubba]

`this is a compact/sub forum. my take is the forum demographic is elderly. lots of shot knees & other infirmities. hence HST seems to be the preference for hobby farmers

utility tractors & the use of ground engagement implements for example is where gear rules king. personally, i would never consider HST as i'm elderly but have no afflictions. it's basically a personal matter, fortunately there are many options available to the consumer.
to say one is categorically "better" over the other is basically meaningless.

in my own case, feel i have the best of 2 worlds, all the power options of a 12sp, with hyd shuttle offering clutchless directional change, regards

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I dunno...I did years of loader work with a gear IH 574... And I'd take my current HST over that any day. Knees or no knees

It all depends on what the tool will be used for.

I've got a Buell 1125R and a Honda CRF250R... One sucks off-road, but excels on road... And vice versa.

Just have to have the right tool for the job.

 

[CDBUG]

Tomato, Tomahto Potato, Pothatow..... As my wise Italian Grandmother said "Sausage His Own!"