HST or man

frank_f15 · Feb 24, 2002

GUESS IT DEPENDS ON WHAT U WANT TO DO. if u are plowing 40 acers then gear is fine, if u want to stop forward motion , reverse and then go forward agin in an effortless way and do it many times then hst is better. mho

Bird · Feb 25, 2002

Standard still holds back better on hills in 4wheel drive no roll away

Have you tried out tractors with HST? I think you'll find you use the brakes less with an HST than with a manual. It does have some similarities with automatics in trucks, but there are some major differences, too, and when you let off the hydro pedal, it feels like you just applied the brakes. I just almost never use the brakes on my HST tractor. However, I'm not trying to get you to change to HST; there may be other reasons that a manual transmission is best for you.

MikeFLA · Feb 25, 2002

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure you guys will. One of the great advantages to my HST over my earlier gear model is the Live PTO. With the gear model during mowing when you push in the clutch to reverse gears you lose power to the PTO, blade stops spinning. With the HST there is continuous power to the PTO with during forward and reverse direction changes.

Bird · Feb 25, 2002

Mike, you're right for most of us with compact tractors. But of course, with a lot of the larger tractors with independent PTO (sometimes called live independent), then even with the clutch depressed and a manual transmission, there is continuous power to the PTO.

RobS · Feb 25, 2002

... unless you have a two stage clutch. On my tractor you push the clutch halfway in to release the transmision and all the way in to release the PTO. That way you can keep the PTO spinning while changing transmission gears /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Jeff396 · Feb 25, 2002

I have a couple of hills I mow that are easily 25 or 30 degrees. I generally drive up and back down. I have never needed a brake on these hills. This is one of the thing I was pleasantly surprised about when I bought my B7500. Heck, if you let off on the pedel too fast it will actually push you forward in the seat. On the other hand, we used to own a CASE garden tractor with hst and had a lot with a 10 degree hill. Now on this tractor when you went down it would start to run away making a terrible racket until you made your turn and got back to level. Of course that was a 1976 model year. I'm sure they are much improved by now. BTW, that tractor is still running strong!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Jeff

GlueGuy · Feb 25, 2002

problem with HST is like an atuomatic truck and a standard. Standard still holds back better on hills in 4wheel drive no roll away

I suspect you haven't actually driven an HST? An HST is NOT like an automatic transmission at all. When you let up on the pedal, you slow down, whether you are going uphill, downhill, or level. It's an amazing device, and is really really handy when doing close work.

My own inclination would be to go with an HST if you expect to be doing more close work (FEL, and similar), go with GST if you will be doing longer straight stretches.

As for the power thing, everybody keeps bringing this up, but if I can spin all four wheels with HST, why would a manual be better? Manual won't improve the traction, but HST allows you to apply the power more gradually, and maybe finess your way out of a "sticky" situation.

JATO_RaT · Feb 25, 2002

Right GlueGuy, the HST is more like, well like all the best features of a manual in that you still select which range you want, typically high, medium or low, all the best features of an automatic in that you don't use the clutch for most operations, and then some features that neither has like better hill holding capacity then either. Perhaps the biggest negative to a HST is not to the farmer, but to the farmer that insists on an absolute speed for whatever the reason. Of course, if this is the requirement, most farmers will probably be looking at tractors other then compacts. While HST requires more HP then a manual, the convenience it offers offsets that for many folks. Rat...

internationlman · Feb 25, 2002

Your right haven't driven hst yet. Still comparing, But to give you some ideas of use my road to my, future new house is 874' up. The back hill is steeper yet. I currently mow with a int. 300u. so any further insite you all can give me is appreciated.

GlueGuy · Feb 25, 2002

I can beat that. Our driveway is 4,300' long, and pretty darn steep in a couple of places. I maintain it with my little old HST-enabled B7500 (AKA Lucy!)and a 4' boxblade. The bottom of our driveway starts at about the 2200' elevation, climbs to just over 2500', then goes down again to 2400' (with a couple of ups and downs in between)

I also use a 4' brush cutter on some pretty steep stuff.