etpm
Veteran Member
My two cents follow. I own two tractors and one backhoe. My first tractor, a Ford 9N, has a transmission that can only be shifted with the tractor stopped. That means coming to a full stop to shift into reverse . My second buy was a Case 580CK backhoe. Though it has the same type transmission as the Ford it also has a feature called a "Shuttle Shift". The Shuttle Shift is a second transmission combined with a torque converter. The first transmission feeds the Shuttle Shift. It doesn't change speeds but does allow shifting from forward to reverse without clutching or coming to a complete stop. This is a HUGE advantage when moving dirt, or any operation that requires any sort of even infrequent reversing. Did I say HUGE? My third tractor, a Yanmar YM2310, which I bought less than 6 months ago, has two transmissions. The first is a 5 speed without reverse. It requires the tractor to be stopped before shifting. But this transmission feeds into a second 3 speed transmission with reverse. This means 15 forward and 5 reverse speeds. This particular setup is called "Power Shift". The second transmission has hydraulically actuated wet clutches so all you need to do to change speeds is to move the shifter lever. Though the shifting is not as smooth as the Shuttle Shift it doesn't have the slippage of a torque converter. My Case is able to push harder at higher RPM because all the power is going through a torque converter. The Yanmar transmission is not RPM sensitive. The torque converter also uses horsepower, while the wet disc clutches do not. Both the Case and the Yanmar have front end loaders while the Ford does not. On my 10 acres, of which most is wooded, I still find a front end loader so useful I would not buy another tractor without one. I bought my Yanmar to replace the Ford for several reasons, but the front bucket was a must no matter which tractor I was gonna buy. The Yanmar is a little smaller than the Ford but has a little more horsepower. For my uses it is the best size. Though I would like sometimes a bigger bucket the smaller size makes it much more maneuverable than a larger machine. And I would rather make a few more trips than have a machine that I constantly need to worry about hitting things because if the size. I know about this worry because of my backhoe. It is so long I constantly have to watch out. I bought the backhoe just to put in my septic system so that we could move into our new house. When we had our house built there was a building boom going on and though the house was complete there was a 6 month wait for any of the reputable septic installers to do the job. I found the Case for sale for 5 grand, which was a really good price at the time here on the island. So I bought the backhoe even though I had never even sat on one. It was old and beat but worked well. And since the county allowed folks to install their own septic systems, even people like me who had zero experience with septic systems and backhoes, to install their own system, I bought the backhoe. Though the perfect size to do the septic installation the backhoe is really too big for my place most of the time. It seems to me that if buying one machine get one that will do 90 percent of what you will be using it for during the years to come and hire out or rent any specialized machines. If I was shopping for another tractor today it would require a front end loader, and some sort of clutchless reversing, be it a Shuttle Shift, Power Shift, Hydrostatic Transmission, or equivalent. I hope some of my experience will help you make a decision.
Good Luck,
Eric
