Mowing Mowing speed changes

Volfandt · Jan 3, 2005

Greetings, like most have said, to keep your RPM's up you'll have to change gears to either go slower or faster. That aside, in my experience with bushhog'n with an older gear drive TE20 which had 4 forward gears/speeds, I generally mowed in 2nd gear in the wide open and down shifted to 1st when I had to manuver around tress and other obstacles. 3rd gear was usually reserved for transporting in the feild and 4th only on the road. Sometimes I would vary the engine RPM's down in tight turns but not much as this could bog down the bushhog in high grass. Running a gear drive is fine and doesn't take much to get used to it but like others have said, an HST has better resale and is alot more flexible when the need to vary speeds is needed.
Plowing and/or disking is when the gear drive is in it's element IMHO.
Volfandt

Bob_Skurka · Jan 3, 2005

I won't repeat anything that has not already been written, but if you are going to a gear machine, do yourself a favor and get one with syncronized gears.

frank_f15 · Jan 3, 2005

( guess I am missing something. What shifting would there be? I never shift on my HST when mowing. )
WHITEROCK : what I meant was; was if you are stopping or starting the PTO it is always advisable to lower Rpms before engaging the clutch

JoshJ · Jan 3, 2005

( It sounds as if it is best to have an independent PTO when mowing with a gear tractor )
I agree

( Is the dual stage clutch different from the independent PTO or are they one and the same? )

I think a two/dual stage clutch has two positions. Push down halfway (or so) to disengage transmission, all the way to take out both tranny and PTO. Independent PTO means the PTO runs even when the clutch is pushed in.

MMM · Jan 3, 2005

I know where the thick stuff is and cut in seperate sequence. Cut the thick parts in bottoms in lower gear and then after that's all done, attack thinner grass on ridges at higher gear.

WhiteRock · Jan 3, 2005

( what I meant was; was if you are stopping or starting the PTO it is always advisable to lower Rpms before engaging the clutch )

I see. I agree. Good point!

maxtractor · Jan 3, 2005

I don't want to start another gear vs. HST war, but I would think long and hard about going from HST to gear drive for mowing. Mowing is one of the areas where the HST really shines. The ability to easily adjust your speed without slowing down the engine/pto is a major plus when mowing. Last spring I made the switch from gear to HST and it is like night and day. I cut my mowing time in half. Part of that was a bigger tractor and mower, but a big part of it was the change to HST. It lets you slow down for turns go faster in light stuff and slow down for tough stuff. the on the fly adjustment is a major plus. I would never go back to gears for mowing.

djradz · Jan 4, 2005

With syncronized shifting, common on the Ford/NH 1X10 and 1X20 lines, and many other tractors, no slowing down is necessary to shift gears. Simply push in the clutch (half-way) and shift up or down. Obviously, this also requires a two-stage clutch so that the PTO shaft keeps turning through it all. I still like my hydro better overall, but for a big field without many obstacles or turns in the middle, I prefer a gear tractor.

Soundguy · Jan 4, 2005

( I know where the thick stuff is and cut in seperate sequence. Cut the thick parts in bottoms in lower gear and then after that's all done, attack thinner grass on ridges at higher gear. )

I guess I stacked the deck in my favor when i simply got a tractor big enough to mow anything it could drive over, at pretty much top mowing speed.

While I would love to have a bigger mower than my 10' .. so far.. it is a good match to my NH 7610s.. in that, as i said, I havn't encountered brush or saplings that have made me change mowing speed. Just get to the pasture.. hit 5th gear and start mowing...

Soundguy

BER · Jan 4, 2005

So maybe more HP will reduce the number of tough spots while mowing and reduce the frequency of necassary speed changes, of course, this is if the mowing machine is capable of handling the incresed HP.