HST vs shuttle

[ovrszd]

It's my contention that there are many more HST supporters in this thread that have never owned a power shuttle tractor than there are shuttle supporters that have never owned an HST.

This becomes obvious by some of the comments such as having to remove your hand from the steering wheel to shuttle.

 

[MossRoad]

It's my contention that there are many more HST supporters in this thread that have never owned a power shuttle tractor than there are shuttle supporters that have never owned an HST.

This becomes obvious by some of the comments such as having to remove your hand from the steering wheel to shuttle.

so how do you shuttle it?

 

[ovrszd]

With my finger while my hand is on the wheel. It's so easy you don't even think about it. Same as moving toes from one pedal to the other. Actually easier than some HST pedal setups.

 

[ovrszd]

When doing loader work with the powere shuttle and/or the torque converter shuttle the engine rpms are at an idle. Rarely I might bump up the rpms on the power shuttle a couple hundred to speed up the loader a tad. If more rpms are needed at specific times the foot throttle serves that need.

My old Ford TLB torque converter shuttle has an awesome feature. A button on the joystick that controls what is known as a dump valve. With shuttle lever engage and in need of rpms for hydraulic speed to run the loader you simply depress the button and hold it. This puts the converter in neutral. Depress foot throttle and complete task. Let off button and foot throttle and continue working at or slightly above idle. Smooth as a '57 Chevy!!!

 

[MossRoad]

With my finger while my hand is on the wheel. It's so easy you don't even think about it. Same as moving toes from one pedal to the other. Actually easier than some HST pedal setups.

That sounds like it would work fine if you're going straight while changing directions. I frequently am turning while changing directions. Seems that would induce some jerky movement unless your other hand was stabilizing the wheel.

Again, to each his own.

 

[aczlan]

That sounds like it would work fine if you're going straight while changing directions. I frequently am turning while changing directions. Seems that would induce some jerky movement unless your other hand was stabilizing the wheel.
Again, to each his own.

Especially if you need to change directions (LH side of the steering wheel), turn the front wheels (steering wheel) move the FEL joystick (RH side of steering wheel) and change gears (LH side of seat) at the same time (think front mount snowblower as you get up to the road) while keeping the PTO at 540RPM. Its a pain on the L3830GST with the front mount snowblower, its much easier with the B7500HST and its loader bucket.

Aaron Z

 

[ovrszd]

It's no different than sliding your hand on the steering wheel of your truck when turning. Is that jerky?

 

[ovrszd]

Especially if you need to change directions (LH side of the steering wheel), turn the front wheels (steering wheel) move the FEL joystick (RH side of steering wheel) and change gears (LH side of seat) at the same time (think front mount snowblower as you get up to the road) while keeping the PTO at 540RPM. Its a pain on the L3830GST with the front mount snowblower, its much easier with the B7500HST and its loader bucket.

Aaron Z

Are you one of those that have never owned a power shuttle?

 

[HEC]

I have both and they both have advantages and disadvantages . I love the hst for snow blowing and rototilling with the 2650 but do not like the whine , I have a radio in my cab but with ear protection on it is useless . I have a bad left knee but with the hydo shuttle shift I hardly ever have to use the clutch . I do have creeper gears which are great , use them quite often especially when using the snow blower on the 5700 which has the hydro shuttle . You will have to define your uses for your tractor and pick which is right for you . I like both , all for different reasons . I would not want hst in my 5700 for sure but only because of what I use the tractor for . I haul land plows and mow fields which I can usually do around 1800 rpms and hear myself think . When your on a tractor for hours at a time the less noise the better . I can listen to an eng. purr all day but not that whine of an hst . I will say I have never been disappointed with the power of the 2650 as it has always amazed me with what it can do , snow blowing , rototilling with a 5ft. tiller on plowed ground , hauling a 6ft. cultivator on our garden plot . It is great little tractor hst and all .

 

[ovrszd]

I have both and they both have advantages and disadvantages . I love the hst for snow blowing and rototilling with the 2650 but do not like the whine , I have a radio in my cab but with ear protection on it is useless . I have a bad left knee but with the hydo shuttle shift I hardly ever have to use the clutch . I do have creeper gears which are great , use them quite often especially when using the snow blower on the 5700 which has the hydro shuttle . You will have to define your uses for your tractor and pick which is right for you . I like both , all for different reasons . I would not want hst in my 5700 for sure but only because of what I use the tractor for . I haul land plows and mow fields which I can usually do around 1800 rpms and hear myself think . When your on a tractor for hours at a time the less noise the better . I can listen to an eng. purr all day but not that whine of an hst .

Well stated. No bias. Just personal experiences.

I'm spoiled with four tractors having four different transmission types. Each performs it's specific tasks better than the other three.

 

[aczlan]

Are you one of those that have never owned a power shuttle?

Nope, the GST transmission on the L3830 is power shuttle transmission. No clutching needed to change gears or directions, but you do need to lift the end of the lever ~1" to clear the detent when changing directions.
I have also driven manual shuttle tractors (such as a Massey Industrial 30), HST tractors (such as the B7500 and BX2660, what I think was a power shift (a 80-120ish HP Deere, only drove that once though), HST with Stalllguard/Linked throttle (on a ~30HP Deere at a farmshow), twin stick (Zero turn, Skidsteer, etc) and a Cat backhoe that had some transmission in it.
Unless I am doing ground engaging work (plowing, discing, etc) I would prefer HST. When cutting hay, HST would be nice to adjust speed while keeping one hand on the wheel and the other on the rear remote lever to lift the Mower Conditioner.

Aaron Z

 

[KB7210]

There's a lot of whining in this thread and it's not all coming from an HST.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

There's a lot of whining in this thread and it's not all coming from an HST.

 

[ovrszd]

Nope, the GST transmission on the L3830 is power shuttle transmission. No clutching needed to change gears or directions, but you do need to lift the end of the lever ~1" to clear the detent when changing directions.
I have also driven manual shuttle tractors (such as a Massey Industrial 30), HST tractors (such as the B7500 and BX2660, what I think was a power shift (a 80-120ish HP Deere, only drove that once though), HST with Stalllguard/Linked throttle (on a ~30HP Deere at a farmshow), twin stick (Zero turn, Skidsteer, etc) and a Cat backhoe that had some transmission in it.
Unless I am doing ground engaging work (plowing, discing, etc) I would prefer HST. When cutting hay, HST would be nice to adjust speed while keeping one hand on the wheel and the other on the rear remote lever to lift the Mower Conditioner.

Aaron Z

All good experiences.

The GST is pretty close to a power shuttle. Having never ran one I can't testify to it's smoothness.

The Cat backhoe would have been a torque converter shuttle.

The Cat's meow in shuttles is the multi-speed power shifts. Wish my Kubota had that.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I can see your points. Our woods are relatively young, with most trees being 12" and under. However, there are probably 10% large, mature trees that have to come out eventually because they shade out the new growth; around 5-600 mature trees. Also, the mature trees tend to get storm damaged easily and tipped over, so they have to come out or they rot on the ground (which isn't bad for the forest floor, but they sometimes block the trails). We don't want to cut down the young trees, so we snake out the large trees between them carefully, which requires lots of speed and directional changes. I don't want to clutch or shift all day long. Even if it was clutchless, I don't want to shift forward/reverse all day long. It gets old, fast.

So far, I've planted 12,300 tree's here on my place, I started many years ago, so I have all ages that adds up to, from young, to about 100 yrs old.

My tractor has enough torque to get a load going at idle and there's a LOT of ground speed between idle and open throttle, so why all the gear changing ?? and why all the "clutch shift all day long", I sure don't have to...

You are welcome to work on your "carpo-ankle" with a whiner trans if you want though...

SR

 

[MossRoad]

So far, I've planted 12,300 tree's here on my place, I started many years ago, so I have all ages that adds up to, from young, to about 100 yrs old.

That makes you about 112, I suppose?

 

[ovrszd]

That makes you about 112, I suppose?

Now that's funny!!!!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

That makes you about 112, I suppose?

Actually, I'm a little older than that, but who's counting???

SR

 

[MossRoad]

Hahaha, nice! :laughing:

Only way to find out is count the rings....

I love working in my woods. When we bought the place, it's kind of kite shaped. There was a 4 acre field on one side, a 6 acre field on the other, and about 10 acres of existing woods down the middle. The forester estimated 10-12,000 trees on the place. We had the 4 acre field planted with 2100 trees, alternating rows of pines and mixed hardwoods, with the intention of the pines growing cone shaped fast, stressing the hardwoods in between the pine rows to grow tall and straight. So far so good. That was in 1990. The pines are in excess of 45' and 12-14" in diameter. The hardwoods are 50-60' tall and 10-12" now.

The existing woods had a ton of black locust througout, with the front half having a bunch of sugar maples and oaks mixed in, and the back half a ton of large gnarly cherry, oak, and others. And there's sassafrass along any open edges.

So when it was planted, we were reimbursed 75% of the cost as long as we mowed or sprayed the trees for weeds for 5 years. After that, we were free to do as we choose with them.

I bought the IH2500b tractor loader to cut in a road, and brush cut between the rows of trees. The IH worked fine for cutting into about an 8' bank at the highway where the gubermint said we had to put the driveway. We were fortunate in that the land is entirely sandy loam and adrian muck, with the exception of about 1/2 acre of fox soil, which has gravel under it, and, that pocket of fox happened to be exactly where the state said we had to put the drive. So I cut a trench 8' wide X 12" deep about 450' long through the sand and set that aside. Then excavated the gravel and made a nice 6" deep bed of gravel, then brought in truckloads of slag from the steel mills and laid 6" of that on top of the gravel.

The IH2500b worked great for that, and for mowing, until the trees got to bushy to drive between. And I could pull logs out of the woods pretty well, but it was 2WD, had industrial R4s on it, and would get stuck in the sand quit often. It was just too big for the needs after the excavation.

That's when we downsized to the little PT425 for trail mowing and hauling firewood out of the woods. In all reality, the little bitty machine is more productive than the big one ever was due to the places it can go that the big one couldn't. It also shuttles loose material from point A to point B a lot faster. I can only imagine what a larger Power Trac with a bigger bucket could do. And the brush cutter works great being out in front VS the brush cutter that was behind the IH. I frequently had to stop the IH and clean out the radiator and hydraulic cooler of seeds and chaff because it had to go through the weeds first. The PT chops everything down before you drive over it, so it's all down on the ground, and not that much gets sucked up into the cooler mounted in the top of the hood.

So, the little machine handles all the chores at the woods, plus it mows our lawn at home, does snow removal, etc...

Since I only wanted one machine, this one fits our bill to a T.

I'd like to get my hands on one of their 1460's and see what kind of damage I could do with that.
T24 Class

 

[tman1020]

When I had my IH2500b I found it very easy to vary the speed in my woods while dragging out trees. Slowing, stopping, reversing, speeding up, etc... was just a matter of moving my left foot and steering. Never had to touch a lever.

I agree. Hydro much better and safer for dragging. Nice easy precise starts and no clutching or lose of momentum to change speed.