Shuttle vs hydro, differences?

[TripleR]

James' explanation is spot on. My primary tractors are a Kubota L5740HSTC and M8540HDC. My L5740 is in the shop getting a third function and grapple, so I have been using the M8540 prepping some land for reforestation doing a lot of loader work with fairly tight areas doing a lot of back and forth and I can't wait to get my L5740 back. We love our M8540 pulling the 10' rotary cutter and a lot of other things, but overall the HST is easier to use and less tiring.

Yes a synch or hydro shuttle "will" work for you, but I have a friend who is seriously questioning the money he saved on his shuttle a few months ago ad he has a lot of years experience in addition to owning several other tractors.

A test drive certainly helps, but there is nothing that can compare to a couple of days operating one on your own land. If new to tractors, it might be well worth the money to rent one for a weekend.

 

[dmize]

I have a hydro 4035, 3 cylinder 40 hp might be similar to the 3616 3 cylinder, but it sips fuel. Very efficient even with the hydro, so that wouldn't be my concern. The Hydro instantly makes you or anyone else a better operator, this makes it is safe for mutiple reasons. I live on hilly trees land with creeks, and clearing logs on the first day would have landed me in that creek 3 time if it had been a gear tractor. The hydro whine can get annoying, but it means you probably need to bump up the throttle or ease off the go pedal if it doesn't have auto throttle.

 

[tjus77]

Didn't know if you had made your purchase or not, I have a power shuttle and love it. But as said before, it is more difficult to drive, but I like a clutch (even though I can get myself into trouble). I considered the hydro, but just liked the additional selection of gear settings. Good luck.

 

[drajj5]

I chose a Max 28, because it was small and geared.... I now find myself not even thinking when using the gears. I think the extra step or two will go unnoticed after spending some time on the tractor. But then again everything parked in my yard has gear drive -3 automobiles, 3 tractors, and one hydro husquvarna gt " it whines every time I get on it, LITERALLY". Can you tell I like standard shift?

 

[arrow]

I'll lay down an opinion based on my experience. I came from a JD geared tractor. As you can see, when this question is asked, mostly you'll get positives toward hydros. I would say this: a hydro on a lower hp machine was totally unpleasant for me. James (Koua) talked about the need for a tractor with hydro to stay up in its rpm range. This drove me nuts when I tried out the 3016 hydro. This tractor would not make it up a slight grade when in high range. I chose the shuttle. I also like the control a geared tractor provides. One seems to be able to "fine tune" a selection for power or speed with gears. I'll be contrary to many opinions but as been stated above, after a while, I don't know I'm stepping on a clutch for gear or directional changes. It becomes so common place that you are not realizing you're doing it. I can finesse a geared tractor as much as you would want and when I need "gentle" power, the tractor will do this at idle. I use mine for mostly two things: 1. moving snow and 2. skidding logs. For this 30 hp tractor, gear was my only true alternative. Forget about ergonomics right now as you will adjust. Try out both and i discover for yourself which suits you better. As always, the advice here is a starting point and the devil is in the details. Details can only be decided by you.

 

[Ram4x4]

I've had both. I will always go hydro from now on. My old tractor was a David Brown 880. Diesel, clutch, 2-range. Was perfectly fine for hogging flat land, but using the bucket, OMG, what a PIA.

My newest is a Mahindra 5035 HST. What an absolute pleasure to work with. Once you "master" moving your toe left or right to go forward and backward, it leaves both hands free to manipulate the FEL and steer, or when I want to finesse the box blade, I can steer, keep one hand on the hydraulic lever and still go forward or backward as needed without having to stop, change gears, clutch it, or what have you.

There is only one thing that you have to get used to with a hydro....mashing the pedal is not the same as mashing the gas pedal, it's more like going up in gears. It seems counter intuitive at first and you can get the impression your tractor has no power. You have to use the hand throttle to add power. When you go up a hill, instead of trying to go full speed, or if it starts to bog a little, back off the pedal some (it's like gearing down) and it'll then go fine. The intuitive tendency is to mash the pedal further, which is not what you want to do. I climb up some fairly steep hills in mid-range on mine without issue. The little 5035 is pretty heavy too. I figure based on posted weights, with the FEL, Rimguard filled rear tires and the 7' HD cutter it's right close to 10,000lbs.

I worried the hydro wouldn't put the power down....rest assured, it does. In mid-range I have to be careful when digging with the bucket. If I get too aggressive and dig too hard, it will bog it down and bring everything to a halt (engine included) as the hydro doesn't instantly release power when you take your foot off the pedal. The extra heavy weight makes the traction super good, so it's hard to spin the tires. It'll spin them all day in low range though.

As far as having to run a hydro at RPM all the time, that's simply not true. I putt mine at 1500-1700 when using the box blade or even the FEL sometimes without issue.

The only thing Mahindra needs to include on these things is a steering wheel spinner

 

[rholmes69]

Don't know if you made the decision, purchased my tractor used and it "came" with the house when I bought it. It is a shuttle shift. It is my first time ever driving a tractor, but I drove a manual transmission car for years, so it wasn't really difficult to learn. I have no problems, mowing, tilling, preparing fields. I am not skilled with the frontloader but I really don't have piles of dirt to move, it is more firewood I have cut or moving large, heavy things singularly. I have since driven a Husqvarna riding mower that was hydro and can definitely see the idea is slick. If you want to keep your wife/kids off the tractor, go shuttle. If you want them to use it, go hydro. My wife will use ours, but only doing slow work (tilling, using bucket to drive fence posts in ground, etc.) that I am involved in. I can see that hydro would be nice, but it doesn't make me want to sell my shuttle and shop for a hydro....