ArlyA
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2016
- Messages
- 11,990
- Tractor
- Outlander max 1000 6x6, Ego lawn mower
My family members operate farms and HST tractor's there are rare and they have many, many tractor. All larger and with more HP than the ones you speak of.The fact is that gear tractors are going away. Maybe not soon but they are going to fade away just like manual transmissions in vehicles. first it was cars and pickups. Now getting a stick in a semi is getting harder. The old farmers are dying off and the younger ones taking over are more open to not dealing with shifting or clutches. Even power reversers are going to be mated to some sort of stickless transmission.
Let's face it. Gear was king because they were cheap and mostly bullet proof. Nobody put a computer into a tractor. Operators just expected to spend the day pushing in a clutch and shifting gears. Lots of things have gone by the wayside. Manual windows in cars and AC being optional. We as consumers have grown accustom to spending more money. I expect in 10 years we'll see a form of hydraulically controlled automatic shifting transmission that will operate just like HST in the 50hp to 100hp tractor range. You'll just control the speed with a pedal, like HST, or a lever. It'll be independent of engine speed so the PTO can be ran at speed without impacting tractor speed.
It just makes sense since driverless vehicles are slowly becoming a thing. That also is going to doom manually shifting gears.