fuel consumption Hydro vs Gears?

[IndyIan]

I do agree that the higher rpm for running the HST isn't as nice as running a gear tractor. But yesterday I had to unstack my pile of round bales as the wind finally killed my bale tarp. I put them all in a row instead. Anyways its fun to do, with the HST I can keep one hand on the steering, one on the loader and zip forward and back with my right foot, so I'm doing 3 things at once. I don't know if an HST tractor is twice as fast as a gear tractor for that kind of work but its fun to do and no clutch slipping.

 

[94BULLITT]

If everything is equal the hydro tractor will use more fuel because it is turning a pump to drive the tractor. The hydro tractor will be more efficient time wise doing something like loader work so even though it may use a little more fuel more work is being done.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

someone with more diesel knowledge than myself can confirm this, but as I recall a diesels fuel consumption is more tied to the load on the engine than RPM. The difference many not be as great as you'd expect.

 

[94BULLITT]

someone with more diesel knowledge than myself can confirm this, but as I recall a diesels fuel consumption is more tied to the load on the engine than RPM. The difference many not be as great as you'd expect.

That is what I thought. I just did not want to say it and be wrong.

 

[arlen4720]

That is what I thought. I just did not want to say it and be wrong.

If you take a look at a few random nebraska tests, you will see that you are right.

The one for my 4720 shows an almost completely linear relationship with load and fuel, holding the RPM fairly constant. It does drink about .78 GPH though with a 2 HP load at 2600 rpm. HP hours/gal goes up considerably as load increases.