The tractor is ok for open field mowing, and that is where it will be kept from now on. The problem occured when it was used to mow a retention basin, which is basically a deep pond with a restricted drain in the bottom center of it to prevent flooding of property downhill. The tractor would be backed up the sides due to the steepness, then once at the top you would bring it back down to repeat the scenario until the bowl was mowed. With the hydro this is a piece of cake. With the GST once you reach the top you have to throttle the tractor down to shift the shuttle pausing momentarily in the neutral position before going to forward, this is per the manual. While all this is going on you have to be on the brakes to keep the tractor from running away. Having to lower the engine speed to idle just to shift the shuttle is a joke. All of the other shuttle shifts on Massey and Case that I have owned did not require this. I even tried just shifting the shuttle without throttling down the engine first, it was hard to shift under load and would usually not complete the shift which meant it stopped in neutral and the tractor was freewheeling down the hill. I thought of trading it back in, but it is in great shape with low hours and I have enough places to use it to justify keeping it, I will probably just buy another with the hydro.
