Hydrostatic (HST) Transmission Longevity?

[RonR]

Gee, I guess if my hydro bearings go out at about 5000 hours, I won't complain too much. By that time, I should be about 190 years old, and won't remember too much about this Kubota then anyway...........

Have a good one,
Ron

 

[_RaT_]

"HST results in some HP loss, but not necessarily the "amount of work" that is accomplished"

Alan, you bring up a great point. I would often argue that my productivity is enhanced with my HST L3830 versus my gear drive 8/4 International. The many varied tasks I find myself doing each week/month lend themselves very well to HST. In these instances, I would gladly sacrifice a couple of PTO HP for the pure amount of work I can accomplish with HST. My two mowers are not sized for my current tractor. I have a 84" finnish mower and a 80" offset brush mower. The maximum according to my manual is 72". My little L3830 can spin the mowers with ease even in the tall stuff. If pulling a set of rippers in the ground day in and day out was my typical tractor useage, I think I would opt for a shuttle drive and probably not a compact.

 

[OrangeGuy]

Gary in Indiana,

Thanks for the tip!

OrangeGuy

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue">I know nobody will agree with me but nobody else here that I know of trys to farm like I do with one.</font>
I agree with you, because I don't think that a HST would hold up for what I do either.

 

[_RaT_]

"I know several equipment mfg. that always ask me if I have a hydro or a gear tractor when sizing implements. Most of them say that the hydro will not do the same work with an implement that a gear tractor will. "

Makes me curious now about what implements we are talking about. PTO driven and /or ground engaging? What manufactuers?

 

[Henro]

Too bad this is not an HST tractor... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

About a year ago B2400 posted the following:

Don't let the hours bother you too much. The prison where I work has a 1986 L2850 2wd that has over 20,000 hrs on it and the only repairs have been three alternators, several(!!) sets of tires, and 1 clutch( courtesy of a bone headed inmate). It is stored in a heated building and receives regular maintenance. This tractor was the biggest selling point for a kubota to me when I bought my first one and have never looked back!!

I remembered the post and previous mention of this tractor with high hours...

20,000 hours...gear tranny...any tranny...pretty impressive...

When it is all over, for the average owner, I can't help but think that transmission type is a moot point today...

 

[To20Chris]

The power that's lost to the drive wheels (greater than the PTO power loss) ends up as heat in the HST hydraulic system. While undesirable, that does not necessarily mean that the reliability is reduced. If the system is designed to eliminate that extra heat, and all the components stay within their acceptable temperature ranges, then there is no real reason it would be. If you are doing serious ground engaging work, or anything where you are putting a lot of power through the drive wheels in a constant way, then such a system would not make the most sense. You’d just be turning diesel into heat for no reason.

 

[RichNJKubota]

Good and to-the-point article on HST longevity problems.
I doubt I'll ever hit the 5000 hr mark on my L4310HST but I use synthetic universal hydraulic oil to increase my chances of having a long and trouble free life on the HST.

Rich

 

[JDgreen227]

I will never see the 5000 hour mark on my JD either...so I'm not too concerned about getting it to 10,000 hours.

Question.....does anyone know of a study where comparisons were made between conventional and synthetic hydraulic oil in identical tractors using the hydrostatic transmissions? If this is off topic, my apologies.

 

[kensfarm]

I'm almost at 1100 hours w/ my TC35D.. one thing I've noticed.. my engine temp. stays at normal operating temp pulling a two bottom plow.. but using the 72 tiller my temp rises above the normal operating temp.. both are from operating the tractor for 3 or 4 hour duration.