Glide Shift(GST) vs Hydrostatic(HST)

[PaulB]

I think what Mark meant was they are excellent at maintaining a given ground speed (better than HST) but the speed is not infinitely variable, as it is with HST. If you have 8 forward gears and ruN at 2600 rpm, you have 8 different ground speeds. My HST has an infinIte number of speeds, but unless I use cruise control I can not PRECISELY maintain a given desired speed. If gear 5 is a little slower than you want, and 6 is a little too fast, what do you do?

 

[W5FL]

>but the speed is not infinitely variable.....

IF that was ever a problem, I would just use the throttle. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

After driving an old Massey with 6 wide spaced gears and then going to a new Kubota with 8 close spaced gears (forward and reverse) and all synchronized I have never even thought about needing a speed corresponding to 1/2 gear speed. If I had a creeper set of gears (4 slower gears), I would use them sometimes with a tiller, but I do ok in first gear and PTO 540 speed running all day. For mowing, I just run in the highest speed that doesn't bounce the tractor around. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

PaulB, yes it would be, but why do I need to do all three? Just hitting the clutch is enough, or just throwing one of the two levers into neutral which doesn't require the clutch would be enough. Not to mention that with 2 legs and 2 hands I can do all at once. I've gotten myself in a few hairy situations, so I can appreciate the ability to stop quick. I usually run at a slower pace than a real "operator" so maybe I've been fortunate so far because of that.

 

[Peter]

I forget who in the above conversation questioned SAFETY with a gear transmission, but consider you have come to a stop, in gear, with the clutch in, if your foot ever slips off the clutch, you may to through your barn, run over/kill your kid, run into a hole/flip over, etc. Or when you think you're shifted back to neutral but you are not (you know, working fast, doing some back and forth repetetive thing), you let the clutch out thinking you are back in neutral. At least in a car, when you pop the clutch by mistake, the throttle is sprung back to idle and you stall out. Not so with a tractor running at 2000 rpms. HSTs are MUCH safer due to this fact. It always goes back to neutral when you take your foot off it.

I've been using my loader to fill up my truck. I can creap up to within an inch of the wheel-well without worry. With a gear transmission and a little slip, big OUCH.

And installing the back hoe or other implement, you can stand next to the tractor, push the HST peddle with your finger and move the tractor an inch at a time. HSTs rule unless plow fields all day long.

Again, the archives have these arguements and many more.

 

[W5FL]

Tractors are indeed dangerous pieces of machinery. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif But they enable many of us to do jobs that would be even more dangerous or impossible without them.

Although I do not agree with you that hydro's are any safer than gear transmissions, but if you are right, then they should make all tractors with hydros as we need all the help we can get in making these machines safer.

My truck is a standard shift, my Honda is a standard shift and my Tractor is a gear tractor, and fortunately I have not had any of those things happen to me, yet, although I am aware that they could.

My tractor is extremely useful because it it heavy, very strong, transmits tremendous energy through the PTO, and can lift thousands of pounds, cut heavy brush, and move or till large amounts of soil very quickly. All those things that make it very useful can also make it dangerous.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Both HST & GST propel the tractor by the same method.
GST (like an old camera F-Stop setting) has 8 preset size holes through which the fluid is forced, causing 8 different speeds.
HST has a multiple size opening controlled by the foot petal giving many other size hole opening, and so other speeds available.

I have A L3600GST (I got it used with less than 50hr at a good deal).

If I was buying new(which I almost NEVER do) I would certainly entertain the HST.

However Having the preset speeds, I know when hogging up close to a fence 5th gear just a tad to quick, 4th
is just right. No guess work, just alot of cut grass.

Good Luck/Have Fun

 

[W5FL]

Does a GST have a clutch? If so, what does it do?

 

[Bird]

wen, I'm sure I've driven more miles in manual transmission cars and trucks than in automatics, and I know I've put more hours on manual transmission tractors than hydrostatics (never operated a GST, and I've only baled just a few bales of hay with a John Deere powershift). And I'm not afraid to operate any of them with the experience I've had. I figure "safety" is a relative matter. And I don't think anyone is saying that the manual transmissions are too dangerous to use, but I also don't see how anyone could not consider the hydrostatic to be just a little bit safer. Generally all you have to do is lift your foot (or toe) off the pedal to stop; no movement even to the brake in most cases, no need to move the left foot at all, no possibility of your foot slipping off the clutch and having the machine lurch forward or backward, etc.

As far as making all tractors with hydros; I wish!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif And of course, we could require all cars to have anti-lock brakes, roll bars, air bags . . .where would we stop?

Like you said, they're all dangerous; just a matter of degrees. So, if everything else is equal, then I'd still say the hydro is safer than the manual transmission, especially for new operators.

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I suppose if you WERE running your tractor at 2000rpm and you were right next to something and your foot slipped off the clutch (my feet are only size 9 and I can't recall this happening) you probably deserve to run through your barn wall. I never have my tractor at anything above an idle and certainly don't have the hand throttle yanked on when I'm ANYWHERE NEAR anything. I use the throttle pedal which also returns pretty quick. The easy creeping is a plus I'll agree. I park my BX in a space about 3 inches wider and longer than the tractor. Wouldn't try that with the L35! I'm all for an HST IF AND ONLY IF they come out with a good way to use the brakes and the HST (can you say JD?) AND have an adjustment to control the "stop" rate when you take your foot off the pedal, AND a much simpler pull lever cruise control which will work as easy as the hand throttle on the GST. But WHICHEVER any of us prefers, the GST or the HST and the Kubota itself is so far ahead of what I used for 17 years, not to mention what came before that, it's like complaining about the shade of paint on the tractor. Just grab your pick and shovel and go work for 10 minutes! UGH

 

[Anonymous Poster]

On my L35, (GST) the clutch pedal is there so the tractor will be balanced and not tip over for the lack of another pedal...or so it seems. Actually I think it is there for us gear heads to use so we won't go insane at shifting without it, until we try a few times and see that it really does go into reverse without hitting the clutch pedal. That took me awhile to start doing. I'll have to take a look, maybe the pedal isn't actually connected to anything! In reality, it is used to stop the PTO I think, and of course for us who drive stick cars all day and other stick tractors it is there to stop the tractor if you feel more comfortable doing that then operating one of the levers. The lever that is by my hip you just pull straight back into neutral, no H pattern to have to guess at in an emergency.