Just for the record, my New Holland TC40D-SS has turning brakes. I rarely use them since I don't do much row work, and using turning brakes rips the soil up quite a bit.
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If you let off the pedal on a hydro with a load in the bucket while going downhill, will the tractor stop, or continue moving down the hill? If you lighten upon the pedal, does it slow under those conditions? Sorry to sound ignorant, but I am. Comments, please?? )</font>
Letting up on the HST while going down a 20% grade with my HST will result in one of two things happening:
1) If I am in 2WD, there is so much HST braking force to the one wheel it will lock up, and under wet grass conditions the tractor will continue to slide. I've had two rides like this, and it wasn't until I understood what was going on that I learned point two.
2) If I am in 4WD, the HST braking force is applied eaually to both rear wheels and I will stop, whether it is wet or not. No sliding. If I let up, I go slower.
I have a TC40D with Super Steer, which has an autosensing 4WD activation feature. That means, the tractor operates in 2WD until slippage is detected, and the 4WD kicks in when needed. This is a great feature, and really saves the grass from tight turn destruction. I tend to keep it in the Autosense mode, but when working on hills I now force 4WD. I don't think this Autosense feature works when slowing down, only with speeding-up or under load.