Gone Back To Gear Tractor?

[DSteiner]

The problem I see with hydros. In the old days the hydros were sized for the horsepower, today they are not. example: The Ford 1320 had a hydro sized for all 20hp the engine could deliver. Today the same frame, tranny etc has a 30hp engine mounted to it. Mowing etc the combination works great but put it under load on a plow and it is a different story. The New Holland tractor we had had two coolers at $1500. apiece before the warrenty was off. Traded the tractor the same week the warrenty expired.

Another example: Steiner tractors use a Sundstrand series 15 hydro system. Sized for 18hp max at 3600rpm. On a test tractor I saw 10,000psi with a 23hp Onan engine. Sundstrand says max psi is 5,000psi. Now they put 32hp diesels running at lower rpms which requires even higher pressures as fewer gallons per minute have to take the work. On a lawn mower it may be ok but put that on a load, pop the relief valves and watch the temps soar! Dumping 20gpm over a 2000psi relief is nearly equivalent to a 35,000btu heater stuck to the system.

If you want a lawn tractor by all means buy a HST. If you want it as a farm tractor, best buy a geared tractor.

 

[allenr]

The transmission in the IH 1066 is more like an automotive automatic transmission, I believe. However, it doesn't shift ranges automatically like an automotive transmission does. I could be wrong on this, but I think it operates through a torque converter rather than hydraulic pumps and motors. If someone has the correct story, I'd be happy to hear it. Could be it's closer to an HST than I think.
Bob

No it has swash plate hydraulic pump and motor. Yes it is a HST.

I have a 74 Hydro on my Chisholm Ryder grape harvester. No torque converter, it'll crawl around at idle.

Infinately variable from a fwd/rev lever under the left of the steering wheel and a manual Hi/Lo range lever to the left of the seat.

 

[allenr]

No it has swash plate hydraulic pump and motor. Yes it is a HST.

I have a 74 Hydro on my Chisholm Ryder grape harvester. No torque converter, it'll crawl around at idle.

Infinately variable from a fwd/rev lever under the left of the steering wheel and a manual Hi/Lo range lever to the left of the seat.

I scanned a page each from a 1973 and 1975 IH Catalogue - copied and saved to a Publisher file - but it wouldn't attach. Sorry.

 

[The Haymaker]

While you may have witnessed the sticky valve and the neighbors tractor running hot I wouldn't assume that all hydro tractors have problems. I know both of my hydros' run cool under load.

Maybe we should turn this into a "Is NH HST superior to Kubota?"

Ha!

 

[jenkinsph]

Maybe we should turn this into a "Is NH HST superior to Kubota?"

Ha!

Not following you.


After reviewing the thread, it could be simple cooling issues, some things can affect all brands. Have to keep radiators and oil coolers clean, may or may not be the issue in this case.

To make good decisions people need to be open minded, there are times when a hydro excells and times when a gear excells, people need to be able to distinguish the difference.

 

[joes_427_vette]

Alot of people just can't understand a simple question. " Did you go back to a gear transmission & for what reason " ?
I traded my tc45da for a tc55da which has gears and power shuttle. Had nothing to do with price. I'm old and usually buy what I want. The whine, loss of power, the constant attention to speed ( when not in cruise due to circumstances ) are the main reasons. With 45hp the trans and loader take a huge percentage of the available power. I feel it would take 70 hp hydro to do what my 55 gear does and I operate on less fuel.
Personal preference but this generation is shiftless and less is more to them. I wish them well at the fuel pump and the repair center.

 

[some zilch]

What no one has mentioned yet is WAF (wife acceptance factor)

i wouldnt want to base a tractor purchase on whether or not my wife can drive it. it's be the exact opposite of what i want and what i find useful. i'm going to let her take over the lawn tractor. -see below-

i have a hydrostat lawn tractor, and it will be THE LAST light duty hydrostat i ever own. it whines like crazy just mowing the lawn, whines more going up the hill, whines when its cold, has a PLASTIC fan on it to try to keep it cool, and a rock got stuck in the linkage and it wouldnt reverse until i figured out the problem. I'll stick with my rugged, proven, durable gear drives.

 

[Lyrch75]

Yes, had HST TC33. Ditched it for a TC55DA. Even if I had not decided to jump up to approximately 2x the PTO hp I would have replaced the HST with a gear unit.

Too much power loss to the hydro. Would bog down an impressive amount when I would hit grass that was just a small bit thicker/higher than the rest of the yard.
Heat issues. I would end up having use the air hose to blast the coolers clear two times per day if I was doing a fair amount of bucket work and it was dusty out.
Add into the fact that I had learned to drive tractors on full sized ag models and my muscle memory was to jab the clutch every time I wanted to change dirrection...
SIzed up again to the M7040 and am still happy with the decision.

 

[taborekle]

snip snip snip

The Kubota's HST got VERY HOT just pulling a load of logs from the neighbor's back field to our yard for splitting, there is NO WAY it would hold up to serious field work based on that and the 2 hours we spent in that field with the tiller breaking soil. It gets hot fast! Everyone knows that hot oil/transmission fuild = bigtime bad for durability/reliability.

Not to derail the thread, but hydros are counter-intuitive with the -go- peddal. The more you push down on it, the higher the gear ratio goes, and the less torq you have. IF when pulling the logs, you applied MORE go peddal rather then less, then you would have been -shifting- into high, and it could have made the transmission hot. The correct application of the -go- peddal when pulling a heavy load, is to let up on the peddal under a heavy load, slowing the tractor but applying a lower gearing ratio and more torque.

 

[wampum]

I have just traded my hydro in for a gear tractor. I really like the hydro,but with a clean screen and radiator it still over heats when it is being constantly used. Example,pulling a 2 row corn planter,after about 15 minutes its in the hot zone. It is hard to beat for cleaning a barn,but any more outside of feeding my horses,they seldom come in the barn. It was a pretty big thing for me to give up my hydro,but all I had before was gear so I will get use to the gear again.