High vs low range.....whats your policy?

[chucky79]

Thanks guys, my dealer reassured me almost to a T back when i was first shopping. he told me the tractor is tough and smart and will protect it self before i get a chance to hurt her. As for the pressure relief kicking out....im not sure it happened or not. When the engine bogged down i let up quick so i may or may not have experienced that yet. Im sure i will in time. I also agree that i have not had an experience yet where i ran out of power in low and i dont expect i ever will unless its on concrete or something trying to do something i really shouldn't be. As a matter of fact i was working last week and got the front deck hanger and axle high centered and stuck on a hidden tree stump and used 4 wheel drive and diff lock to back out (which didn't work by the way) The BX just dug me two really nice holes and spun the tail end around about 45 degrees digging a trench the whole way. So id say that pretty much proves that Low gives more power than i will ever need and those wheels just keep spining...., ground clearance, now that's another story.... took an ATV and a logging chain to get me free that day.

 

[Ken45101]

I wouldn't worry about occassional overloading in the wrong range. As has been said, these are tough TRACTORS, not some fancy hot performance vehicle.

I don't have a BX, but I have two B's and two M's. A couple of times, I've even totally stalled them. Now that's certainly less than ideal. (I"ve stalled the 90 HP M9540 when the Bush Hog grounded out on a hump, Now that's a lot of load!)

It's best not to overload or "lug" any engine but once in a while for a short bit isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[AStanton]

I was in my BX-25 one day, and going down a hill in rabbit speed and hit a bump. Not having my seat belt on, I almost did a dixie. I would advise anyone boggieing downhill in rabbit speed to wear a seat belt.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

As the others have said it is normal what you experienced. I work in turtle on BXs and move from place to place in rabbit and usually in M on Bs until I get to heavy FEL work and then do L or going down steep or gravel covered terrain, I do L.
High on B is usually just on paved road in 2wd.

 

[TripleR]

Pretty much in line with everyone else, our BX2200 is eleven years old and runs like new, it has been stalled, run in high as well as low when mowing and spent two years without maintenance (long story) and it has many years of trouble free use ahead.

With use, you will learn what works best, one of the hardest things some of us had to learn going from gear to HST was to let up on the go pedal not press down.

 

[vabiker23518]

I don't have a BX, but general rule for me is: when moving from point a to point b, I use high range. When cutting grass, plowing, moving materials with FEL, etc I use low range.

 

[jejeosborne]

I have a B7800 with 3 speeds. Steep long driveway. I'll run it full throttle in high range if I am not moving anything heavy and it will slow down quite a bit. I modulate the pedal to keep rpms up and let it eat up the hill. It is just hydraulics and unless you do it for long periods, creating heat, I see no problems. Sometimes I will stop in the middle of the hill and downshift if I think it would go faster in mid range.

 

[Threepoint]

We've had our 1993 B2150HST for 21 years, so my input dates to Kubota's early development of their HSTs. (I think it was the largest HST they offered in the U.S. at the time!). I've consistently been amazed at how well they matched the powertrain to this tractor, and I suspect they've kept that up with later models. Mid-range handles everything from very heavy loader work to maintenance of 1 mile of gravel drive with a fully loaded 60" box blade. I've needed low range maybe 5% of the time over the years. High range for very light loader work and for getting from point A to point B quickly. My advice to folks with HST is to just listen to the tractor. When it starts to lug down, pay close attention and try letting up on the pedal. If the rpms don't ramp back up, time to go to a lower range. For 3pt hitch ground engagement, you'll likely lose traction before power in low range. For loader work, if you're bogging down in low, back out and take less material with the bucket.

 

[RaydaKub]

Agreed with all the above; you didn't hurt a thing. I use both low and high when mowing. Low gives a better cut, but sometimes you just gotta git'er done. On my lawn hill, I can stall out if I'm not WOT, but with the engine rpm up, it walks right up. On the sledding hill, it won't go up at all. Low range has never been a problem though.

It is interesting to me what generates more heat from the rear end. 45 minutes of mowing and there is some warm air coming from the rear end up around the seat. I took my yard trailer over the the nursery about a mile away this weekend and brought home a load of composted manure (loading it myself of course). Climbing the neighborhood hill (all paved) in high range causes way more heat to come up from the rear end in those 3 minutes than all the mowing.

 

[buck boost]

I try to use the lowest range I can. That theoretically maximizes the mechanical advantage putting the least amount of strain the HST. e.g. : If running for extended periods, I would rather run full speed in low range than half speed (or whatever) in medium. Full volume out of fluid out of the hst means full cooling and less hst whine. If that is not a ideal wheel speed, for sure I'll use the medium range.

I can't really use high range much. Everywhere I wanna go is just do darn bumpy! lol