What to but hydo, shuttle or gear

[WH401]

I just got a JD3320 with the PowrReverser transmission and I wouldn't trade it for anything w/ a hydro trans. I came from regular constant mesh gear drives and have had expierence on hydros and now the shuttle shift, and the shuttle shifts is the clear winner to me hands down. Don't get me wrong hydro is nice and all, but the shuttle puts more power to the ground, its easier to maintain a set speed if your mowing or mowing while going up a hill, and its also more reliable in the sense that the hydro will probably end up breaking before the shuttle does. Also personally, hydro on a tractor just makes it feel like an enlarged, glorified lawn tractor. You get basically the same actions in each transmission, just more reliablity and available power in 1. Also, if you might be worried the shuttle isn't going to be as smooth as the hydro don't worry, it's super smooth starting off in any gear, better then most people could do using the clutch.

 

[RobJ]

I have a gear tractor but have rented or run many back hoes with the shuttle and like it the best. Pick the gear, then forward or reverse. Ran a hydro once and never could get used to the toe, heel thing. But JMHO.


Rob

 

[ScottFarm]

I have shuttle on my tractor. I like it. You can always find a gear that suits just fine for the job. So all you do is flip the lever forward and reverse, it's easy. Going from changing gears, shuttle seems wonderful. I've used a hydro some with smaller tractors and lawn mowers and for me it was ok, but I seemed to like the shuttle better.

Some questions I have, some of you might know.

What does hydro add to the cost of say a 40hp tractor when compared to shuttle?

What is the extra expense if something goes wrong with the hydro to fix?

Is there more maintenace/service with hydro? Cost?

 

[WH401]

I have shuttle on my tractor. I like it. You can always find a gear that suits just fine for the job. So all you do is flip the lever forward and reverse, it's easy. Going from changing gears, shuttle seems wonderful. I've used a hydro some with smaller tractors and lawn mowers and for me it was ok, but I seemed to like the shuttle better.

Some questions I have, some of you might know.

What does hydro add to the cost of say a 40hp tractor when compared to shuttle?

What is the extra expense if something goes wrong with the hydro to fix?

Is there more maintenace/service with hydro? Cost?

The shuttle is most likely going to be the standard option so it could be anywhere from $800 or more for the hydro option.

The price of a hydro repair would depend on what breaks.

Off the top of my head the only thing that I know will cost more for the hydro is it takes more hydraulic oil, but no more than +/- a gallon. Maybe more for the filter as it may be a bigger media, but not much more I would expect.

 

[Slackdaddy]

Now If I am not mistaken, on all CUTs, the shuttle shift IS NOT like on a full size backhoe.
A full size backhoe has a Torque Converter, a CUT has a clutch.
So a CUT has to be clutched when stopping or starting, or changing direction.
A full sized back hoe is gas pedal and brake pedal.

Slack

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. big difference in TC driven equipment and hydro and the gear/shuttle-gear machines.

As for repair in general.. I think its safe to say that the more advanced you get, the harder and more $$ something is going to be to repair. IE. take 3 shelled trannies.. a gear, shuttle and a hydro... a shuttle is likely going to cost more $$ to repair than gear.. and the hydro.. likely mor ethan gear. but not sure more than shuttle or not.... lots of goodies in a shuttle depending on design.

I'm also fairly certain I'd have not much problem sliding gears on and off a shft if I had to rebuild a straight gear trans... not so sure about the shuttle / hydro... extending that a bit.. I'd guess the plain gear trans is also the most tolerant of neglect.. lots antique tractors running around out there with an inch of 40-50-60 year old sand and gunk inthe bottom of the trans and probably decades old gear lube.. and while they may whine a bit.. or drip some oil.. if there;'s any up near enough a seal to leak out of.. they willlikely run till something outright fails.. I'm not so sure a shuttle or hydro will take that kind of abuse for 60 years like a plain featureless metal-n-oil crashbox will. t hat said.. the plain gear trans offers the -LEAST- of the creature comforts, so to speak.

soundguy

 

[KB9UDE]

Now If I am not mistaken, on all CUTs, the shuttle shift IS NOT like on a full size backhoe.
A full size backhoe has a Torque Converter, a CUT has a clutch.
So a CUT has to be clutched when stopping or starting, or changing direction.
A full sized back hoe is gas pedal and brake pedal.

Slack

Not on the Deere Power Reverser Trans. My JD 4120 requires no clutching unless you are shifting gears on the fly. F\R shuttle is clutchless.

 

[IslandTractor]

Not on the Deere

Whoa, no yelling necessary. Repent. Please.

 

[Lunk]

Wow.

For a minute there I thought I'd accessed the "Reader's Digest, easy to read edition" of this site.

Apparently offense was taken in some way

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Now If I am not mistaken, on all CUTs, the shuttle shift IS NOT like on a full size backhoe.
A full size backhoe has a Torque Converter, a CUT has a clutch.
So a CUT has to be clutched when stopping or starting, or changing direction.
A full sized back hoe is gas pedal and brake pedal.

Slack, you and I are both spoiled with our Case 580 Super E's; which are, hands-down, the best shuttle set-up for loader work. Nothing beats a TC for pushing into a stockpile of whatever with no clutch to worry about. It is my first choice for loader work, of course partly due to it having the highest capacity bucket as well.

My JD 5425 with power reverser (wet multi-plate clutch) is almost as good, but you still need to de-clutch. You just have a choice of using either with steering column stalk or clutch pedal. It is still a gear tractor, so if you're not careful when pushing into a pile, you could stall it. I will still use the foot clutch for precise control of movement, such as loading a round bale on or off a wagon, or manoeuvring to swap QA implements.

My old IH 454 has a mechanical non-synchro F-N-R shuttle lever and dry clutch. It works pretty good too, since you don't need to hunt around an H pattern for a suitable forward speed and reverse. However, you do need to come to a complete stop to shuttle between forward and reverse or you will grind the gears.

Hydro would probably be very good for loader-specific tasks, but I wasn't blown away by any that I test drove. Didn't like either the twin pedal set-up (Deere) or the pivoting pedal which I found tough on the ankle.

I concluded for myself that a gear tractor with power shuttle would do ALL assorted tasks around an equestrian facility with the least compromise.
A synchro-shuttle would have been my second choice but I also wanted the durability and longevity of a multi-plate wet clutch.