Gear or Hydrostatic Transmissions for Compact Utility Tractors?

[Turbys_1700]

My grandfather said we had to keep an Allis Chalmers on the farm to jump start the M and A Farmalls. Once we converted them to 12 volts we were good to go.

 

[MossRoad]

Nope, not always... Just in the fall when I know it probably will be used for firewood...

Actually I've pulled a loader tractor to start it too, just run the chain under the bucket and it will lift it enough to bump start the tractor.

SR

Well, that's how the tow-truck had to hook up to my HST IH2500b tractor loader to get it on the roll-back. :laughing:

But it wasn't because of a dead battery. Eventually found the gear on the distributor had spun off.

 

[4570Man]

For YOU... BUT not all of us have or even want a loader on every tractor... And, THAT would be me. SR

I also have a non loader tractor, but the circumstances where I could pull start it have yet to happen. What's wrong with jumper cables?

 

[MossRoad]

I also have a non loader tractor, but the circumstances where I could pull start it have yet to happen. What's wrong with jumper cables?

I think he's getting at in a pinch, you can pull, push, or roll start a geared tractor whereas you can't a HST tractor, that's all. Its not a selling point to most folks. In fact, its probably an unknown point to most folks these days.... as in, they've never push started a car, either. :laughing:

 

[4570Man]

I've push started a truck several times with my tractor.

 

[MossRoad]

We used to push start vehicles often when I was a kid. I specifically recall us kids getting out of our VW van and mom telling us to push it down the gravel driveway to the street, because she couldn't pop the clutch in the gravel and get enough traction to start it..... my mom... she taught me to push start a car! I miss her.

 

[paulfun9]

Nope, not always... Just in the fall when I know it probably will be used for firewood...

Actually I've pulled a loader tractor to start it too, just run the chain under the bucket and it will lift it enough to bump start the tractor.

SR

Been there done that! Works like a charm!

 

[k0ua]

I think he's getting at in a pinch, you can pull, push, or roll start a geared tractor whereas you can't a HST tractor, that's all. Its not a selling point to most folks. In fact, its probably an unknown point to most folks these days.... as in, they've never push started a car, either. :laughing:

Back in the "old days" I push started many cars and trucks. But things change..

 

[N80]

We have three vehicles. Two are manuals. My F150 is an automatic because for some inexplicable reason you can't buy a full size pick up in this country with a manual, otherwise we'd have three manuals. My wife's car is a 2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe. She ditched her G35x Sedan because she hated the automatic transmission. I drive a 350z, manual of course. Our days of driving manual cars are numbered as fewer and fewer makers are producing them anymore. I'd happily step up to a double-clutch paddle shifter but those are pricey. All other automatics, even the ones you can "shift" (what a joke) just suck in my opinion.

My tractor is a gear model. Never had to push start it. In fact, the battery is the original, 10 years old, and fires every time.

I like geared tractors for a number of reasons. I'd enjoy the convenience of a hydro for a lot of reasons. My two primary reasons for going geared where price and simplicity. Its been paid for for a long time so now it is just simplicity. If it breaks, chances are I can fix it even if it has to be split. If a hydro breaks I couldn't touch it.

 

[k0ua]

We have three vehicles. Two are manuals. My F150 is an automatic because for some inexplicable reason you can't buy a full size pick up in this country with a manual, otherwise we'd have three manuals. My wife's car is a 2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe. She ditched her G35x Sedan because she hated the automatic transmission. I drive a 350z, manual of course. Our days of driving manual cars are numbered as fewer and fewer makers are producing them anymore. I'd happily step up to a double-clutch paddle shifter but those are pricey. All other automatics, even the ones you can "shift" (what a joke) just suck in my opinion.

My tractor is a gear model. Never had to push start it. In fact, the battery is the original, 10 years old, and fires every time.

I like geared tractors for a number of reasons. I'd enjoy the convenience of a hydro for a lot of reasons. My two primary reasons for going geared where price and simplicity. Its been paid for for a long time so now it is just simplicity. If it breaks, chances are I can fix it even if it has to be split. If a hydro breaks I couldn't touch it.

The hydro is in many ways simpler in construction than the gear and clutch system. And is an order of magnitude simpler than the Kubota Glide Shift system. Not that those systems are bad or give much trouble either. Hydrostatic transmissions are not complex.