what are the advantages of glide shift?

[del]

RAT, I've been in lurk mode for awhile, too many candles lit, too many bowling balls in the air. I'm sure trying to operate the HST and GST tractors I'll probably succeed in putting both of them in the ditches now and then! I don't know if that was brought up in the posts, but a big advantage of the HST is REALLY tight work, like moving engines around in a garage!
Another thing that was kind of weird so I was prevented from even considering the newer Kubotas, they abandoned their mid size tractors. There is about a 1700 pound gap between the B's and L's. With all the numerous hp differences how can they just skip 1700 lbs? I had a definite idea of wheelbase and base tractor weight I wanted and it was right in the middle! I don't know what their thinking is, I shop weight and wheelbase as a start, both Kubota and JD offer almost identical tractors with different hp's. I suppose fuel is a consideration but I would always go for the max hp in a given size. Maybe I'm in the minority of buyers.

But think of the benefits, with green and orange I can start trouble on more discussion groups!

(not)

Looks like my old posts were zapped, I hardly ever "logged on" it was easier just to type a variant of del and bang away. Now it looks like its required to log on.

Probably trying to contain flamers and if so a good idea.

Were you saying you sold the L48 because the loader was SLOW? The loader on the L35 is so fast for me it's scary, at idle the thing jerks up in the air. First time I dumped with a load I thought the upper bucket pins had broke off it dumped so fast. Ditto with the backhoe. I still can't run it at much over 1500rpm efficiently. If I get too greedy I just make it a point to stop by a dealer and look at the old tractors they have for sale with the hard metal seats and levers everywhere but where you can reach them from the seat!

del

 

[_RaT_]

Del, I suspect the loader on the L48 was slower then that of the L35. It was not painfully slow by any means and remember, I rarely ever run my tractors anywhere near full speed. On the L48, 1800 RPM really was all that was ever needed because I found after that, under a load, the RPM would no longer increase anyway. I think the L48's sweet spot was right at about 1800RPM. The loader was so strong, it bent everytooth on what appears to be a virtually indestructable toothbar. I kept the toothbar for my L3830, bent teeth and all. On my L3830, I have found even tighter control with the HST over that of the L48. The engine runs best at about 2000 - 2200 RPM. At that speed, the loader moves very quickly and I find myself choking it especially for bucket positioning. While no where near as strong as the L48 loader and about half the bucket capacity, the nimbleness of this little L3830 is superb. As of Saturday, I dug out 20' of my old culvert, installed 40' of 24" dia. ADS. This entailed a lot of dirt removel in a flowing stream using just the loader. I had the entire tractor at nose down 45 degree angles until I could no longer get the traction with a loaded bucket back out. I moved in 75 tons of 1" drain rock, ripped the old road out and moved another 100 yards or so of gravel/dirt for even more fill after the pipe was covered. Other then 3 conduits I had to cut, I'm done. It added about 15 hours time to the tractor (3 days of work) and admittedly, was the most fun I've had on this tractor yet. While Glideshift and Shuttle Shift are really great transmissions, the speed/direction control and holding control of HST was a huge, no, a gigantic bonus while digging in the "swamp" at those angles. Where the manual transmissions undoubtedly would be a bonus is in the ripping department. On my HST, its more like 2500 RPM and low range pulling my 1000lb box scraper through the old road. Admittedly, you can do this with virtually any 4WD tractor and transmission type, having HST here was a real blessing. Now had I had a backhoe.....

 

[Wall]

I test drove a 4630 GST and a 3830 HST this weekend trying to decide which transmission was for me. I noticed the lag in the GST shuttle,,,one of the earlier post said it could be adjusted, is this true? The HST was really great I was reaching for a shift lever when I wanted to change directions, and then I thought this sure would make operating the loader easier. I did not really like the position of the foot pedal it needed to be further forward. I like the HST but I believe the GST would be able to do more. I guess what I am asking is;

Will the HST pull?

6ft HD box scraper with hyd ripper.
7Ft 3pt disk 22” blades
7-shank chisel plow
Single shank sub soiler
8ft no till drill

If you put the two transmissions side buy side pulling a HD box scraper or a chisel plow what would happen. Will the HST spin the tires under a load , I need to be able to do it all not just loader work and mowing?

Thanks everyone this is a great discussion board

 

[_RaT_]

You will need to be in low on a HST transmission to spin the tires. That means you have a maximum travel speed of 4 mph. I think that on a GST tractor, the same will apply, but I find spinning the tires always happens easier on a geared (direct coupled) transmission. You basically have no choice on a geared tractor, you either spin them, kill the engine or push in the clutch. A HST will slow until the resistance becomes to great and then stop or the tires loose traction. That all depends on soil conditions, tires, and the implements ground engagement. I find it to be a mixed blessing. I like the immediate response from a gear tractor that the load is beyond the given gear immediately, but I like how smoothly HST makes the transition and doesn't tear up the lawn if thats what I happen to be working on. For loader work, I still offer that nothing can match a HST. The left hand alway has the wheel, the right hand always ready on the loader control and the right foot controlling the movement. I think that as others have found and suggested, the HST pedal was a little awkward at first but now after using it find it's design very good, I for one certainly do.

I use a 72" box scraper with rippers down typically in low. A 8 foot Harley Pro 8 landscape rake in medium, my 84" mower in medium or high and the loader is typically in low or medium depending on the task. With the toothbar attached and going into piles, it requires low, no tooth bar and gravel, medium is great. Low is 0-4 mph, medium is 0-7 mph and high is 0-17 mph. Both are very good transmissions. The lag in the GST cannot be adjusted out, it is controlled by electric solenoids.