Low vs high gear?

[atcNick]

So far I've only used my tractor in low gear for brush hogging. I have a ck30 shuttle. What application would high be used for?

 

[motownbrowne]

Driving into town for the parade.

Hauling a trailer of firewood from the back 40.

Going to the end of the driveway for the mail.

Without knowing how fast each gear is, I can't say for sure, but it's possible you'd use high range for bush hogging thinner stands of material.

 

[RalphVa]

High gear on my JD 2025R is only good for highway travel. Doesn't have much pulling power in high.

Ralph

 

[CobyRupert]

For faster speed, lower torque applications.

 

[Qapla]

With our NH TC40D we use low gear when we strike a load with the FEL. Once the bucket is full and we are backed out, turned around and headed for where the load (usually dirt) is needed, we use high gear because we get there quicker.

High gear also helps when we are back-blade smoothing for the finish grade. I use low when first spreading the dirt and the initial smoothing, but the faster speed makes getting a smooth,finish grade easier and quicker.

 

[mddorange]

The ONLY time I have used high range is for highway travel.

 

[k0ua]

So far I've only used my tractor in low gear for brush hogging. I have a ck30 shuttle. What application would high be used for?

Hmmm.. you mention low and high gear. By my estimation you have 8 forward and 8 reverse gears. Which ones of those 8 speeds are you calling low and which ones are you calling high?. You have 8 choices of torque versus speed ranges to select from. But basically, you select the gear that gives you the torque you need to accomplish your goal without bogging down the tractors engine at the ground speed you desire to do the work. You often have to shift gears to accomplish a given task.

As an example if you are doing loader work, and you are pushing into a pile of material, you may want a lower gear to have enough torque to be able to push into the pile at a lower speed without slipping the clutch, and then after you back out and get turned around, you may want a higher gear to transport the material at a faster speed to your destination.

Did this help any?

 

[KennyG]

Each tractor has it's unique gearing. My JD 2320 is used in high range at least 80% of the time. I do almost all my mowing in high and use low only for loader work, etc.

 

[atcNick]

Hmmm.. you mention low and high gear. By my estimation you have 8 forward and 8 reverse gears. Which ones of those 8 speeds are you calling low and which ones are you calling high?.

I have gears 1-4 and a lo and high selector. I've only used my tractor one so far and that was to brush hog, I did it with lo selected and gears 2,3, and 4 depending on how thick the grass was. The guy I bought it from said he never used high.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think that answers it for me. I'll play with it next time I'm out on the land.

 

[k0ua]

I have gears 1-4 and a lo and high selector. I've only used my tractor one so far and that was to brush hog, I did it with lo selected and gears 2,3, and 4 depending on how thick the grass was. The guy I bought it from said he never used high.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think that answers it for me. I'll play with it next time I'm out on the land.

Yep, just test it out to achieve your goal. If 4 LO is too slow to get done what you need done, then try 1 HI and if is still not fast enough 2 HI and on UP. You will find that the last 2 gears 3 HI and 4 HI (which are gears 7 and 8) will be pretty worthless for anything except road transport and on pretty flat ground at that. If you have hilly roads you may not be able to pull hills if you are loaded in the last couple of gears. But if roads are flat and you want maximum speed and the tractor is not loaded too heavily you will probably be able to use the top gear for getting from point A to point B as rapidly as possible.

 

[woodchuck123]

I have a CK35 and use all but the upper two gears. Low 1 and 2 for driving into dirt and using the ratchet rake, low 3 for bush hogging high grass and driving with a bucket load, low 4 for mowing shorter thick grass and high 1 for moving around and mowing the thin dry stuff.

Cheers

Ian

 

[CobyRupert]

Yep, just test it out to achieve your goal. If 4 LO is too slow to get done what you need done, then try 1 HI and if is still not fast enough 2 HI and on UP.

I won't doubt you that this is true in this case. But, like Kenny G says, each tractor is different, check your manual. There is a possibility that there's overlap (i.e. 1st-HI may be a lower gear than 4th-LO.) This was often done so one doesn't have to split ranges as often and/or is just a outcome of the gaps between gears.

 

[Qapla]

We have a NH with HST - they have a hi and lo range with a "rabbit/turtle" switch for each of the two ranges. So, switching from one to the other is quite simple.

 

[jabelding]

I won't doubt you that this is true in this case. But, like Kenny G says, each tractor is different, check your manual. There is a possibility that there's overlap (i.e. 1st-HI may be a lower gear than 4th-LO.) This was often done so one doesn't have to split ranges as often and/or is just a outcome of the gaps between gears.

No Overlap on the CK series the ratios are fairly equal all the way up through. Mostly use 6-8 for just transport 5th sometimes for mowing 1-4 for everything else.

 

[4570Man]

I used 1-4 98 percent of the time. 5th was occasionally used for mowing or driving around while hardly idling. Anything higher was used for road travel only. On my current HST I have high and low range over, low, medium, and high. I use high and low of low and medium quite frequently. High and low is only useful for road travel.

 

[LD1]

This is one thing I wish tractor MFG's would publish specs for.

I have no idea how fast your 1-4 gears are, nor 5-8.

My old kubota, which was similar in HP and weight, I was probably 50/50 between high and low. Most of my mowing was done in 1-H and 2-H, which were something like 4.1 and 5.3 MPH. Rarely did I need 4-L or 3-L for mowing. If I did, it was real thick and nasty.

For loader/dirt work, I usually stuck to 4-L. And the only reason for not choosing 1-H is there is only 1 reverse range. So while I had the power to scoop/dig dirt in 1-H, shifting to reverse at 1-R was extreemly slow unless I shifted the second lever to 4 (4-R). So instead of shifting both levers all the time, I just stuck to 4-L.

I honestly dont think I ever used 2-L. I used 1-L for tilling the garden. Everything else was done at 3+.

3-H was too fast for mowing or much else, and too slow for a road gear. But was nice traversing long distances across a smooth field that was still just a bit too rought for 4-H. Cutting firewood, I used 4-H down the roads, and 3-H across the fields

 

[4570Man]

The old L2550 had 1-8 gears. I liked it a lot better than 1-4 H/L gears.

 

[CobyRupert]

This is one thing I wish tractor MFG's would publish specs for.

I'm surprised they don't.

(Almost) every (post-1960 era) tractor I've driven had some sort of indication of what the ground speed of each gear at 540 (pto) rpm will be. From there it's just proportional math
If I recall correctly, some of the 1950's Farmalls (e.g. 560's) had this info (graph/chart) built into the tachometer. I know 1970's (& 2012) Deere's have a chart (sticker) that shows speed for each gear when at 540 rpm (pto).

I often reject all my engineer training and say: Who cares? Why do you (I) need to know a number? Either you want to go faster or slower. Why the obsession with quantifying?

 

[k0ua]

I'm surprised they don't.

(Almost) every (post-1960 era) tractor I've driven had some sort of indication of what the ground speed of each gear at 540 (pto) rpm will be. From there it's just proportional math
If I recall correctly, some of the 1950's Farmalls (e.g. 560's) had this info (graph/chart) built into the tachometer. I know 1970's (& 2012) Deere's have a chart (sticker) that shows speed for each gear when at 540 rpm (pto).

I often reject all my engineer training and say: Who cares? Why do you (I) need to know a number? Either you want to go faster or slower. Why the obsession with quantifying?

Because enquiring minds want to know. :laughing:

Most of the time the tractordata.com site will show you the gear ranges and speeds. Unfortunately for the model in question the chart is not complete.

 

[LD1]

Why the obsession with quantifying?

Gotta know how fast you are going so you can figure out how much you can do in a given time.

Ya gotta know two things.....width of implement, and ground speed. Without knowing ground speed.....you have no idea how many acres/hour you can mow, till, plow, disc, etc. And without knowing that, its hard to plan for and estimate jobs.