Bingo, Flip.
I love all four of my HSTs but they are not well suited for some applications.
SDT
Rotary Cutter Width
- Thread starter Raymo853
- Start date
I love all four of my HSTs but they are not well suited for some applications.
SDT
I bought a 72" light duty mower at Tractor Supply 6 years ago. Probably made in China. It continues to serve me well. I recommend the County Line brand. Once you have created your initial trail or whatever its maintenance thereafter. This requires a lot less "muscle". I could have spent a lot more money on a quality mower , however , in my opinion one must employ the same sound capital allocation decisions in the "country crafts" as elsewhere. Best of luck and have fun.
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My JD 6620SH combine is HST and I'll take that any day over a gear driven combine. But I agree with your points about gear drives in large tractors, I like picking a gear and knowing I'm dragging a disc at a certain speed at rated rpm.
Just out of curiosity what are they not suited for?
We are talking about one of three methods to move the tractor forward or backward: gear, HST, SS. If you need to move your tractor forward and backward all three are well suited for that application.
I'm confused about the 'sides' claiming one is better than the other.
HST transmissions are not well suited for ground engaging implements (tillage) due to inefficiency.
You will be fine plowing your garden once each year with your HST but you will find NO high HP AG tractors with HST transmissions.
Yes, I know, but construction equipment is a totally different market where HST transmissions are used for different reasons.
SDT
BigG
Well-known member
Equipment
l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
It is funny how HST are painted with such a broad brush. The coal haulers in the mine where my dad worked were all HST. At 110 tons of payload per load they were more cost effective then the conventional geared trucks. This was back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I do not know but I am willing to bet that 110 tons of payload on an off-road tractor trailer rig on dirt roads in the middle of the winter in southern Ohio pulls pretty hard. Just a guess.
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Key word is efficiency.Interesting. I don't do 'farming' but I plow about 50 acres (total 6-7 fields) twice a year for deer fields and find no difference between the HST on my L4400 and my 1968 Massey....other then the brakes work on my L4400 and the disk IS my brake on the Massey.
Drawbar HP is considerably less with a HST transmission than with a gear transmission, all else equal. So is efficiency.
It's a cost of operation (fuel) issue.
FWIW: ABB (might have been MAN, can't remember) tried to market HST locomotives in the US in the 60s but failed miserably due to cost of operation vis a vis diesel electric. It had nothing to do with "pull[ing]."
SDT
NCL4701
Well-known member
Equipment
L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
I’ve never posted on a HST v gear or tire v tire thread and I may regret this, but...
I like my Kubota. Grew up on a farm driving nothing but gear drive, non-shuttle, 2wd, R1’s. I don’t do that now. I’m not a farmer and don’t care to be. At the rate I’m going so far I only put about 200hr/yr on my tractor. But I have some acreage to care for and I need something to do it with. A 75hp tractor wouldn’t fit on the relatively narrow sidesloped trails down the almost sheer drops into the creek bottom and wouldn’t fit in the orchard areas that have to be brushogged. A small B wouldn’t have the PTO HP to run my chipper or drawbar HP or weight to skid logs up the steep trails out of the bottoms. I don’t do tillage work. My tractor has cruise control; tried it once on the road driving to a friend’s house to do some grapple and chipper work. Don’t have a field big enough to use it otherwise. I don’t do ag type spraying so precise speed control is unimportant. PTO HP on HST v gear in the L4701 is less than 2hp, but gear is more efficient. Maybe gear drive would give me more drawbar HP, but so far in low range I’ve always run out of traction before I ran out of torque so I’d need to change tires before I could blame the transmission. So far as drawbar HP at tillage speed; again I don’t do tillage so I don’t care. The R4’s are better for about 95% of what I do as they don’t tear up the ground like R1’s. For the other 5% what I really need to do is get a small dozer.
We all have problems we address with equipment. Our problems aren’t the same so it makes sense our equipment isn’t the same. I really do like my open station L4701 HST with loaded R4’s for my needs but I wouldn’t recommend it for a lawn mower, or chisel plowing a 200 acre field, or running a baler in a serious hay operation, or blowing snow in sub-zero temps. Conversely I have no use at all for a 19hp tractor or a 90hp tractor or anything with a cab. Nothing wrong with them, there’s just nothing I need that they could do.
I like my Kubota. Grew up on a farm driving nothing but gear drive, non-shuttle, 2wd, R1’s. I don’t do that now. I’m not a farmer and don’t care to be. At the rate I’m going so far I only put about 200hr/yr on my tractor. But I have some acreage to care for and I need something to do it with. A 75hp tractor wouldn’t fit on the relatively narrow sidesloped trails down the almost sheer drops into the creek bottom and wouldn’t fit in the orchard areas that have to be brushogged. A small B wouldn’t have the PTO HP to run my chipper or drawbar HP or weight to skid logs up the steep trails out of the bottoms. I don’t do tillage work. My tractor has cruise control; tried it once on the road driving to a friend’s house to do some grapple and chipper work. Don’t have a field big enough to use it otherwise. I don’t do ag type spraying so precise speed control is unimportant. PTO HP on HST v gear in the L4701 is less than 2hp, but gear is more efficient. Maybe gear drive would give me more drawbar HP, but so far in low range I’ve always run out of traction before I ran out of torque so I’d need to change tires before I could blame the transmission. So far as drawbar HP at tillage speed; again I don’t do tillage so I don’t care. The R4’s are better for about 95% of what I do as they don’t tear up the ground like R1’s. For the other 5% what I really need to do is get a small dozer.
We all have problems we address with equipment. Our problems aren’t the same so it makes sense our equipment isn’t the same. I really do like my open station L4701 HST with loaded R4’s for my needs but I wouldn’t recommend it for a lawn mower, or chisel plowing a 200 acre field, or running a baler in a serious hay operation, or blowing snow in sub-zero temps. Conversely I have no use at all for a 19hp tractor or a 90hp tractor or anything with a cab. Nothing wrong with them, there’s just nothing I need that they could do.
Well said.
HST transmissions are wonderfully convenient, and I love all 4 of mine but they are not well suited to tillage type work due to efficiencies, which is why they are not used in high HP AG tractors.
No, I have never said that one cannot plow with a HST.
SDT
I like my HST for doing loader work. I have an 11 acre obstacle course. If it was a 200 acre open field, I would have a bigger tractor that was gear.
I never through my thread would evolve as it has. How about I add this to stir things up more?
Fudge, I miss living in CO.
Fudge, I miss living in CO.
