About to buy: GST vs. HST

[art]

Ah, but a hydro is so much like your car as most of then have cruise control!

Hydro's plus is the variable speed, now jsut think that where you might just notice that the hay is starting to get less but not enough to go to 5th yet, with a hydro you can match that speed!

 

[MarkV]

I bushhogged today on my L5040 glide shift with a 6 foot bushhog. I mowed a little over a hour and was thinking of how it would mow with a HST vs. a GST. I decided that the GST is , to me, better at bushhogging and here is why I think so.

My field was very variable. Steep hillsides and a low drainage between them. It had not been mown in quite some time. Some trees were about 4 feet tall and in the flat the weeds/briars were HUGE. Way over my head, 8 feet tall and very thick. But as I mowed up the hill to the top the growth became much thinner. Just about 2 feet tall dryish grass that was very easy to mow in 5th gear. I was able to make my speed adjustment per the wildly different growth by just a quick touch on the gear shift lever. On the hillside I would bump it up to mow in 5th gear. Then when I headed down to the bottom of the "valley" I would just pull back into 4th and one time had to go all the way down into 2nd for a few feet. I was able to think about my steering and the turns without thinking of keeping the correct pressure on the speed pedal or having to set the cruise control over and over. Hit some rough ground (groundhog holes) a few times and bounced in my seat pretty good. Tractor just kept on chugging in 4th. If I was using my mom's B3030 I couldn't have maintained that speed and efficiency. I was able to relax and change speed to the match the load with just a minor movement of my left hand. Once in the right gear I didn't have to think about or try to keep the proper speed. It did it by itself.

Imagine a car driving down the interstate with cruise control (GST) on or having to try to keep a constant speed with the gas pedel(HST). So much more relaxing and easier to chug down the road with cruise on. While I'll say that a HST would be better for lots of back and forth loader work, I think that tilling work would be a wash and for bushhogging the GST would be slightly the best.

You were able to make all those speed adjustments by just switching gears and on my HST I do the same by moving my foot. I don't see the advantage you are talking about.

MarkV

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

You were able to make all those speed adjustments by just switching gears and on my HST I do the same by moving my foot. I don't see the advantage you are talking about.

MarkV

I to wasn't seeing the point or advantage.

 

[MHarryE]

I have a HST and was brush hogging the other day and was glad I had the hydro. I was going through a mixture of very tough stuff with some brush up to a couple inches in diameter to short grass. I could slow down to a crawl or stop to chew up the brush and mosey right through the thin grass. Of course things like loader work and snow plowing the HST advantages are a no brainer. The loss of efficiency of the HST is a given. Using a L3240 as an example, PTO power is 26.5 for the GST and 25.0 for the HST. That is because even if the machine is not moving the engine is still spinning the hydro pump and the charge pump has to charge the hydro. Once you get to pulling, hydros are less efficient even though there have been a lot of improvements in hydro efficiency over the years. On the opposite hand you can always be at the optimum speed. My HST is used from plowing and disking our smaller fields to loader work, mowing lawn grass, brush hogging, and moving snow. Because of its HST versatility, it is used year around up here in the frozen north while the other tractors sit in the machine shed half the year.

 

[crazyal]

I bushhogged today on my L5040 glide shift with a 6 foot bushhog. I mowed a little over a hour and was thinking of how it would mow with a HST vs. a GST. I decided that the GST is , to me, better at bushhogging and here is why I think so.

My field was very variable. Steep hillsides and a low drainage between them. It had not been mown in quite some time. Some trees were about 4 feet tall and in the flat the weeds/briars were HUGE. Way over my head, 8 feet tall and very thick. But as I mowed up the hill to the top the growth became much thinner. Just about 2 feet tall dryish grass that was very easy to mow in 5th gear. I was able to make my speed adjustment per the wildly different growth by just a quick touch on the gear shift lever. On the hillside I would bump it up to mow in 5th gear. Then when I headed down to the bottom of the "valley" I would just pull back into 4th and one time had to go all the way down into 2nd for a few feet. I was able to think about my steering and the turns without thinking of keeping the correct pressure on the speed pedal or having to set the cruise control over and over. Hit some rough ground (groundhog holes) a few times and bounced in my seat pretty good. Tractor just kept on chugging in 4th. If I was using my mom's B3030 I couldn't have maintained that speed and efficiency. I was able to relax and change speed to the match the load with just a minor movement of my left hand. Once in the right gear I didn't have to think about or try to keep the proper speed. It did it by itself.

Imagine a car driving down the interstate with cruise control (GST) on or having to try to keep a constant speed with the gas pedel(HST). So much more relaxing and easier to chug down the road with cruise on. While I'll say that a HST would be better for lots of back and forth loader work, I think that tilling work would be a wash and for bushhogging the GST would be slightly the best.

I'm not saying GST is a bad choice but if you had a 5240 hst you could have just set the cruse and if you needed to slow down a simple flick of the H-DS lever (no different than flashing the high beams) and you would have dropped down a gear in a heartbeat. Plus with the hst you set your engine speed for PTO rpm and never have to worry about it.

Two different transmissions, both have nice ways that require little effort to operate.