HST in larger tractors?

Egon · Feb 4, 2002

Bill

Do you pack a parachute with you ?

Egon

JJT · Feb 4, 2002

Would a seat belt make a difference?

Anonymous Poster · Feb 4, 2002

<font color=red>...sometimes dump a load over the edge of a serious drop-off (like 500' or more)...</font color=red>

Bill...

I don't think the Grand Canyon has a 500' drop-off... /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Do you by chance have HST on your Airplane you're telling us about.../w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Like Buck... I'm getting nervous Bill just thinking about you creeping along like that.../w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Buck · Feb 4, 2002

JJT,

I was just kidding. If I were near a 500 ft ledge, seatbelts would be the last thing I would wear.

Buck

Anonymous Poster · Feb 4, 2002

Buck,

I've got an 80-100' drop-off on one part of my property... and I come maybe 25-30' close to the edge...

I'm gonna have nightmares thinking about this 500' drop... with that heavy tractor and loader and brushhog... landing on my head when I hit the bottom... all ~~ 8700 lbs. of it... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

rbargeron · Feb 4, 2002

(psst......anybody know if MarkC is still listening?)

I sorta prefer them TOOTHED WHEELS when I'm creeping up to the edge of a cliff - and I REALLY like that little lever I can bat and be going the other way instantly (no clutching, no selecting gears, no wondering if my muddy boot will rock the pedal back correctly). Yeah, yeah, I know, old dog, new tricks, etc.etc.

Dick B ----- power is good, weight is too, and gears have their place.

RET · Feb 4, 2002

The fall is totally painless.
It's that sudden stop at the bottom that's rather unpleasant.

GlueGuy · Feb 5, 2002

Buck, Frank, Egon, John,

Didn't mean to scare you all. It's probably not as bad as it sounds. It's not a "straight down" kind of drop off, but it's steeper than <font color=orange>Lucy!</font color=orange> (or any other tractor I've ever seen) could negotiate. I would estimate the grade at 150 or 160% (let's call it 60 degrees), although I've never measured it. I'm also estimating the "depth", but let's just say it's a looooong way down before you hit the bottom.

I once dislodged a boulder near the edge; maybe about a 500 lb rock (that's a guess too, I didn't weigh the sucker). Even with Lucy humming along at 2200 RPM or so, I could hear that puppy bouncing down the mountain for a minute or so.

And, no, I don't wear the seatbelt when I'm negotiating that. I'd take my chances trying to jump clear rather than riding her all the way down....

Maybe I'm stupid, but you take the territory as it comes.

BTW - The other side of the hill goes down at least 1500', and I mow along the edge there. However, that's only a 100% grade (45 degrees).

cowboydoc · Feb 5, 2002

Actually tractors have had HST in them in the larger ones. The problems were 1. They broke down all the time and 2. They never could keep a constant speed so that your planters, sprayers, etc. wouldn't work efficiently. So you'd wind up putting more or less seed or spray down than you needed. Gears are much more reliable for farm work where everything has to be at a constant reliable speed no matter what the conditions are. Now they have the GPS systems which do it all for you as well. With the big tractors as well you don't do much forward and backward work. Most of your work is done out in the field and other than that that tractor sits. So the benefit of the hst is reduced with this kind of a tractor. Lastly I think because there were so many problems when they tryed to introduce hst alot of farmers won't even try them. What is out there works so well that there's really no need to at this point.