" Uhhh - and some folks wonder why some of the "gear guys" get ticked off at some of the "hydro guys" at times.....? "
Interesting Ranchman, so I should continue to discuss a topic with folks who really do not know what they are talking about, that would make me a politician. It is not this particular thread to which I was addressing but rather a few months ago. I quickly glanced back, I did not find the particular thread, it wasn't "Calling all Gearheads". Basically the question was asked "hydro or gears". While I never once read a person say "gears are for babies and backyard do it yourselfers" it was spewed forth from folks with the standard or geared view point regarding hydrostatic that it was obvious it was a waste of time trying to explain or rationalize with them. Those comments made no contribution for the fella asking the question. Interestingly, I seem to recall the comment being made by guys who bought tractors from manufactuers that don't even offer hydrostatic as an option. Indeed hydrostatic is not the end all and be all of transmissions. My gear tractor does most anything that my hydrostatic does. Ed the purple tractor man had mentioned in one of his comments regarding comments that we (HST folks) felt HST to be safer. He said "safety is the responsibility of the driver, you could kill yourself with a screwdriver used improperly" something along those lines. While that is true enough, after using my hydrostatic and my big geared tractor, I can tell you, hydrostatic is inherently safer to operate. As I mentioned numerous times, with hydro you are never out of 4WD unless in my case you shift to either neutral (yes, hydros have gears too) or depress the clutch which not all hydros even have. On slopes, which is all I have, I must say, that little advantage is enourmous. The shuttle shift tractor I use besides the hydro and manual I own can be a bit unnerving when operated with a full bucket downhill, no front brakes (I don't know of any compacts that have front brakes). While again Ed is correct about safety being in the hands of the operator, this operator with a few thousand hours of experience and only 200 on a hydro can tell you, the hydro is indeed safer to the point that I suggest you not attempt the above task with anything but hydro unless of course you know precisely what your doing. That would involve using the lowest gear, never putting your foot on the clutch, 4wd engaged, bucket low, dump your load while moving, and at the same time, brake and shuttle shift to reverse. The braking is necessary because of the small lapse in time it takes for the shuttle to do its job. Sounds easy enough, just try it with a steep slope, that fraction of a second delay in shuttle action accounts for alot of movement on the tractors part, all wanting to quickly take you for a ride downhill.
I don't mind discussing the subject with folks with an open mind, I won't try to convince anyone to quickly run out and buy HST, nor will I tell them that gears are a crummy deal. I will offer those that ask, my opinion regarding its use. When I first got my HST tractor, I was not all that convinced I made the right choice. Frankly, it took me about 25 hours of use to really get a accurate feel for it. Its not that is was hard to operate, it just took me some time to get proficient with its use. I like to do things quickly, I like to master what I do. This takes a lot of experimenting and in particular, no one watching over my shoulder commenting on what I should have done. Now with about 200 hours and roughly 1600 yards of dirt cut and moved, my proficiency with HST has escalated. Do I still have my gear drive, YES. Do I make disparaging remarks about it and tell folks gears are dogdew, NO. Am I remotely qualified to discuss the benefits of both with folks that ask, maybe. You decide. If you feel me to be less then honest, mark me down as a knuckle head and click right past my post. Rat....
