joshuabardwell
Elite Member
I have heard a couple of references on this thread as to how you can run a gear tractor at lower RPMs but an HST poops out. My understanding is that's not because the HST is sapping HP or anything like that, but because the hydraulic transmission requires good flow rate (i.e. RPMs) to work properly. I have only ever owned an HST tractor, so I'm aware I'm not exactly coming from a position of knowledge, but when I got it, I was told that it needed to be run at close to PTO RPM or it would bog down and act under-powered, and that has been my experience. It's not that the HST has less torque than the gear--and, at the end of the day, if it can spin the wheels, then it's got more torque than you need--but that if you try to run an HST like a gear tractor, trundling away and letting the throttle control the speed, you'll get bad results. I suspect that more than a few bad reviews of HST tractors are coming from people with years of experience behind a gear tractor, who haven't yet figured out that you have to run the throttle differently. And then when they have to run at max throttle all the time, they think it's because the HST is under-powered, when that's not the case. Not saying that's what's going on here, necessarily, just throwing out two cents.
(Which is not to say that the HST doesn't sap some HP, just that it's not a huge amount, and not enough to make up the difference that some folks talk about.)
(Which is not to say that the HST doesn't sap some HP, just that it's not a huge amount, and not enough to make up the difference that some folks talk about.)