Hydro or Shuttle for the long haul?

[5030]

Funny you mention that, because I noticed that and I tried that and I believe I broke something. Didn't even have the hood swung all the way back and that plastic hinge nut cover on top of the hood popped loose and I heard something snap and fall into the engine bay. Sigh..... So that's not going to work for me. I guess when it comes time for service I'll have to remove the loader. That's a real bummer.

Should I be running the engine full RPM when using the box blade? I tried it tonight and when I hit the hill in medium range at 2,000 RPM the tractor really bogged down. And I didn't even have the box full of gravel. I was just lightly leveling the ruts out of the driveway.

Obligatory picture:

View attachment 683868View attachment 683869

Nice unit. Way too tiny for my uses. Wrong tires too. I run radial R1' but then I'm on cropland all the time. Always been a New Holland fan but I don't care for the European designed larger units so I stick with my large frame Kubota's. I run exclusively NH hay tools however. red and orange seem to get along just fine.

 

[oosik]

I wonder what we would be saying here if we didn't have all these choices. One sub-compact - one compact - one utility.

 

[5030]

.... and one large unit for commercial farming. Would be interesting. Lets not forget an electric tractor for those greenies with deep pockets too.

 

[big bubba]

Nice unit. Way too tiny for my uses. Wrong tires too. I run radial R1' but then I'm on cropland all the time. Always been a New Holland fan but I don't care for the European designed larger units so I stick with my large frame Kubota's. I run exclusively NH hay tools however. red and orange seem to get along just fine.

let the OP enjoy his honeymoon w/his new equip. he did his homework in his decision making according to his needs.
we all can brag about the size of our own equip on other threads.
just out of respect & courtesy for someone w/a new machine...he seems seems happy w/the purchase, that's all that matters

 

[coobie]

Funny you mention that, because I noticed that and I tried that and I believe I broke something. Didn't even have the hood swung all the way back and that plastic hinge nut cover on top of the hood popped loose and I heard something snap and fall into the engine bay. Sigh..... So that's not going to work for me. I guess when it comes time for service I'll have to remove the loader. That's a real bummer.

Should I be running the engine full RPM when using the box blade? I tried it tonight and when I hit the hill in medium range at 2,000 RPM the tractor really bogged down. And I didn't even have the box full of gravel. I was just lightly leveling the ruts out of the driveway.

Obligatory picture:

View attachment 683868View attachment 683869

Great looking tractor.Enjoy..

 

[Blue Mule]

Well, EVERYBODY would like to have more power. Problem is, once you go above 26 HP you get saddled with DPF, DOC, EGR, or a combination. AND the price tag goes way up.

Tonight for kicks and giggles I chained the tractor to a tree in an area of damp compacted soil to see if the hydrostatic trans and 25 horse engine would generate enough power to spin the tires. I figure if it'll spin the tires with my loader and box blade hooked on and a load pulling off the draw bar, then that's all you can hope for, right? Well, in high range it's a no go. In fact, the tractor won't even maintain full speed in high range on a gravel road. Very disappointing. So high will almost never get used even when driving down the road. Sad. In medium range it would spin the tires in 2WD but not 4WD. Hmm. And in low range it would spin all four with ease. This is with the throttle at 2,300 RPM.

So it appears that any real work with this tractor will require full throttle and low range. A lot of other chores I might be able to do in medium. But, despite the 3 range trans. being a selling point for me, I'm finding that in practicality the tractor is a 2 range machine.

Would a 35 horse engine really change things?

 

[buck12]

I have owned a 26 hp three range geared Mahindra and now a 54 hp three range HST Kubota. My experience with both has been high range is for road, mid range is for bush hogging, and low range is for FEL and ground engaging work. Of course there are exceptions like at times I use the loader in mid range and at times i bush hog in low and high range.

 

[LouNY]

This comment makes me smile. When people ask for opinions on a tractor I rarely see anyone mention the ease of loader removal etc. To me it's more important question than the hydro vs shuttle debate as that single question has a lot more to do with how you are going to use your tractor than the transmission type. If the loader is a pain to take off you don't do it unless you really need to. I can have my loader off in less than a minute and back on in a little over a minute. That means that if I really don't want it on or it's in the way I take it off. There are some on these forums that have never removed their loader!!! I've had mine off several times a day at times because that's how my work for the day was laid out and.... because it is really easy to do.

All the best with your new purchase.

First off;
to the original poster enjoy your new tractor.

Now to address the above quote,
We have 3 loader tractors over on the farm all of them are approaching or over 9000 hours,
the old IH 656 had the loader removed when the tractor was split, once.
The CIH Puma125 has had the loader removed twice, both times for some welding repair and reinforcement,
The NH T6050 has never had the loader off it.
My Branson 8050 only has about 900 hours and the loader has never been removed.
We do drop the buckets off frequently to shed the weight for field work.

 

[the old grind]

Would a 35 horse engine really change things?

NO! My 33 & 35 hp same wight same tires would not do anything different in your test or similar work. (I began with the 23hp version, a '98 NH 1520 and used for 15 yrs)

What was said, just like with a HST ZTR, when you go up a slope of the load gets tough (w/box blade, disc, etc) you ease up on the pedal to 'gear down' w/o switching ranges. Back on level ground you pedal-up to speed. The governor will give as much fuel as needed up the the max power at that rpm. Your FEL would handle either of my grapples and the work they do. You'll get a feel for you clutch-less '3-speed hand-shift' erelong, and I agree you'll be in Med most of the time and operating at 1,800-2,000 as many of us do.

btw, if you said you have filled rear tires and hang a 5' box blade on the back (my default) you'd have pretty good weight for most FEL work. We have the same size and weight, you have a better FEL and other feaatures. I'd could be jealous, but I'd rather be happy for you.

 

[Blue Mule]

NO! My 33 & 35 hp same wight same tires would not do anything different in your test or similar work. (I began with the 23hp version, a '98 NH 1520 and used for 15 yrs)

What was said, just like with a HST ZTR, when you go up a slope of the load gets tough (w/box blade, disc, etc) you ease up on the pedal to 'gear down' w/o switching ranges. Back on level ground you pedal-up to speed. The governor will give as much fuel as needed up the the max power at that rpm. Your FEL would handle either of my grapples and the work they do. You'll get a feel for you clutch-less '3-speed hand-shift' erelong, and I agree you'll be in Med most of the time and operating at 1,800-2,000 as many of us do.

btw, if you said you have filled rear tires and hang a 5' box blade on the back (my default) you'd have pretty good weight for most FEL work. We have the same size and weight, you have a better FEL and other feaatures. I'd could be jealous, but I'd rather be happy for you.

Good info, thanks.

Yeah, my loader operator's manual states that I only need 550 lbs. of rear ballast. With the box blade and fluid in the tires, I'm at roughly 1,000 lbs. maybe a little more. I'm actually debating letting a little bit of fluid out of the rear tires to free up a little driveline power (and maybe to prevent accidental abuse of the front axle when using the grapple or bucket). On the other hand, the super heavy rear end adds stability on hills, so..