Comparison Shuttle shift or hydrostat?? Is the extra costs worth it in a 50hp-ish cab tractor for pto power (brush hogging)

[I Piddle]

Wondering what people’s thoughts are on this. A friend of mine has been trying to figure this question out due to the additional expense ($8k).

I have a 58 HP with shuttle shift. I often wonder if the hydro requires less maintenance. Every time I shift from forward to reverse, I wonder how much stress that puts on the clutch. It is not easy to split one of these big tractors in half to replace clutch. I have a small JD with loader and four wheel drive (basically a garden tractor - subcompact). It has hydro. I like this particularily on hillside work down and up the hill. 8K is a lot, but may want to consider if it will be cheaper or more expensive in the long run to maintain.

 

[big bubba]

seems to me the clutch action required to engage shuttle shift puts no additional stress on the clutch than shifting gears.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

If you need 50 hp at the pto, get a tractor rated for 50 hp at the pto. The attachment you power (in this case, a mower) is going to have NO IDEA what transmission type is dragging it around.

There are plenty of hydro equipped tractors available with 50+ pto rated hp. Ignore the engine hp rating when shopping, just look at the pto hp rating. That's the stat that actually matters. If you want a hydro, get a hydro. If you want a gear or shuttle, get one of those. But anyone claiming you can't make 50 pto hp in a hydro is full of meadow muffins. Same with anyone claiming you can't run one all day in the fields.

I can mow all day in my hydro tractor. I put the A/C on (it's got a cab), turn on some music, and set the cruise control when I want it. Never any issues on flat ground or going up and down hills. When I'm mowing around fence corners, trees, out buildings or obstacles, a hydro is very handy to have. If I get to a spot where I need to change ground speed or back up, I can easily do that while always maintaining full engine rpm for best mowing performance.

 

[flyingace43]

An easy way to solve this is to buy the Yanmar YT347 or YT359 because you have the IHMT tranny which gives you the power of the shuttle shift and the ease of the hydro, this is the only smaller tractor with this tranny that is usually only found in much larger tractors. Hands down the nicest tractor I have owned and I would put this up against any tractor in this HP range. I have the cab and the A/C is great and the cruise control works very well and I have a Yanmar dealer only 30 miles away. Go test drive one if you can you will not be disappointed. Price for the YT347 is around 45K and the YT359 is around 50K for the cab models

 

[mikester]

Test drive each and decide for yourself.

I have an HST now and like it. Some HST systems are gutless and will struggle with hills and towing. Not all HST's are the same.

 

[sandman2234]

I have a HST, but I've been using a M7040 for a few weeks with shuttle shift. I will never buy a shuttle shift after that. It's a great tractor, but the control is just not there for me. Maybe after a few years I'd not even notice, but the HST is such an advantage imo. I work in a lot of tight areas and the shuttle shift is a real pain.

Interesting, because I own an M7040 with a gear transmission and shuttle shift. I also own a JD2555 without the shuttle shift and I wouldn't want to use the JD2555 for regular loader work. I also wouldn't want to have to have the engine running wide open all the time when trying to do close quarter loader work that HST requires. I love the shuttle shift, as it allows me to change direction without touching the gear shift as well as shifting the transmission without touching the clutch if I use the shuttle shift as a clutch.
I think shuttle shift is very much well worth the money it takes to buy it, although I bought mine used.
David from jax

 

[bridge4]

Interesting, because I own an M7040 with a gear transmission and shuttle shift. I also own a JD2555 without the shuttle shift and I wouldn't want to use the JD2555 for regular loader work. I also wouldn't want to have to have the engine running wide open all the time when trying to do close quarter loader work that HST requires. I love the shuttle shift, as it allows me to change direction without touching the gear shift as well as shifting the transmission without touching the clutch if I use the shuttle shift as a clutch.
I think shuttle shift is very much well worth the money it takes to buy it, although I bought mine used.
David from jax

I don't know what you are talking about. I loaded logs into a trailer all week at 1200 rpm and they were frequently heavy enough to almost tip my tractor over. Yeah you need a little more juice, but you don't always need to be wide open. Maybe if you are doing heavy ground engagement work, but again, its more about having the right weight on your tractor than being wide open the whole time.

 

[big bubba]

just keep in mind there's a big difference between hyd shuttle & shuttle shift systems. hyd shuttle usually involves a wet clutch pack, the shuttle shift usually has a single dry clutch plate. apparently the wet clutch pack lasts longer & requires no clutch action to engage shuttle for directional change.

 

[D&D]

I don't know what you are talking about. I loaded logs into a trailer all week at 1200 rpm and they were frequently heavy enough to almost tip my tractor over. Yeah you need a little more juice, but you don't always need to be wide open. Maybe if you are doing heavy ground engagement work, but again, its more about having the right weight on your tractor than being wide open the whole time.

Noise is a fairly common complaint, the second biggest probably being "my tractor won't". Then they want to tell you why, at idle (or barely above) their tractor doesn't perform well.
I have a customer that runs his tractors at a maximum of 1900 rpms (e-pto indicator). Will only make a 4x4 round bale because anything bigger will tip (no counterweight) his little tractor (only uses big tractor to make bales). He prefers small squares to feed his cattle (by hand) so he doesn't waste fuel taking bales out. He also has a JD710 hoe that he runs at 1500 rpm because anything higher wastes fuel and makes too much noise. He always pays in cash so I keep going back.

 

[Smokeydog]

Good there are choices. Depends on intended attachments, tasks and abilities of what works best. Been fun experiencing the evolution the past 50+ years.