HST vs. Gear Drive

[Egon]

!965?? that does not equate to the test of time does it?? Heck, its just a little over 40 years old!

 

[Dargo]

Aww, c'mon guys, make up your mind as to which is best!! I have both gear drive tractors and hydro drive tractors. Whichever I'm on at the time is the best by far!

 

[DK35vince]

I ferget who posted that hst are only on small tractors, but what about the 5yd articulating 30,000 pound payloaders? Does the hst in them not count or what?

Maybe some of the newer larger payloaders have hst. But I have never seen one.
I've been around or run a lot of differant front end loaders. Catipilar, Fiat Allis, Dresser, Volvo, John Deere, Halla, Atlas, Etc. None had hst. They all had torgue converter powershifts transmissions.

 

[Soundguy]

DK hit the nail on the head...Exactly.. and the average user don't know the major differences between a torque converter machine, a straight valve/ hyd motor machine ( like many steel wheel rolers have ), power shift trannies ( really a gear tranny with hyd clutches ).. and plain gear drives.. that's the problem.. everyone throwing in their 2 cents.. but lots don't know the difference

soundguy

 

[N80]

DK hit the nail on the head...Exactly.. and the average user don't know the major differences between a torque converter machine, a straight valve/ hyd motor machine ( like many steel wheel rolers have ), power shift trannies ( really a gear tranny with hyd clutches ).. and plain gear drives.. that's the problem.. everyone throwing in their 2 cents.. but lots don't know the difference

soundguy

That would include me. I know what an HST is and I know what a manual gear box is, but I don't know about much of anything in between.

 

[Volfandt]

I primarily finish mow and HST is the way to go for that. An HST will out perform a gear tractor finish mowing everytime

A gear tractor is in it's element when working ground engagement implements. A gear tractor with draft control and turning brakes will out perform an HST plowing, disking and cultivating everytime

I used to think that Haying would be a tossup except everyone that I know that does bigtime haying uses gear tractors. This one elderly gentleman has his operation down pat so much that he knows to the minute how long it takes to cut each parsal of his 300 acres. He fusses at his SIL (my co-worker) if he takes a couple minutes more

Back when I was learning to drive, 3 on the tree was the common setup and we young-uns couldn't wait to change it over to a floor shift. But, sitting at long redlights with the old style (non hydraulic clutches) could get ones leg to shakeing in the big city. Once we discovered how to hop up the "powerglides", auto was the way to go.
Shift'n gears is great on nice windy country roads but they get old around town.....

Back to your regularly scheduled debate

 

[plastikosmd]

"major differences between a torque converter machine, a straight valve/ hyd motor machine ( like many steel wheel rolers have ), power shift trannies ( really a gear tranny with hyd clutches ).. and plain gear drives.. that's the problem.. everyone throwing in their 2 cents.. but lots don't know the difference "



true..but I'm sure what most are really talking about is a machine that you have to manually clutch vs not...even in your own example of someone burning up a clutch in 30 min....I doubt you were referring to a sequential gearbox with integral clutches TQ machine or any other form of non-maunual clutch (air/hydraulic/electric etc)

 

[Soundguy]

Still, big difference in the way an hst operates, and the way a torque converter machine operates, and the way a machine with hyd motors with a spool valve control operate.

soundguy

 

[cbturf]

Well I can't stand it anymore I will throw my $.02 in as well. For me an HST or gear drive was a no brainer (which is very fortunate, because guess who has no brain) I use my B3030HSDC for lawn prep in my hydroseeding business. If you are running the Harley rake and hit some hard ground you can slow the machine instantly and keep the rake running full song to break up the ground. After the Harley Rake work I just spin her around and pick up the rocks and debris. If you are constantly back and forth or need to change speed constantly HST is the way to go!

 

[jas67]

Well, I have found the deal that I'm looking for, and if nothing goes wrong, I'll be purchasing a 1998 B7100 HST w/ A Woods FEL, Kubota 60" MMM and 48" Meteor snowblower.

 

[Soundguy]

Thanks for posting a followup.. many people start threads and then never report back!

I'm sure you will enjoy the tractor.. it should be quite capable.

soundguy

 

[Andy Z]

I think some people will roll their eyes at me for asking this question. My wife and I are in the market for a Kubota B2320. We've looked at the hydrostatic but it is quite a bit more expensive than the gear (DT). Both of us have no problems with shifting gears. We'll need the tractor for grading with a box blade as well as snow blowing our 2200 ft driveway. It will be used to pull a utility trailer around the yard as well. No grass will be cut with it. Anyone predict any kind of issues? The gear drive is actually pretty rare to find. Is it because it is that bad or just that the ease of the hydrostat is just that much more in demand? We're leaning towards the gear drive. Any thoughts?

 

[k0ua]

You will want the HST with the snowblowing task. The ease of slowing down and speeding up in relation to the snow conditions while keeping the rpm's up on the blower.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I think some people will roll their eyes at me for asking this question. My wife and I are in the market for a Kubota B2320. We've looked at the hydrostatic but it is quite a bit more expensive than the gear (DT). Both of us have no problems with shifting gears. We'll need the tractor for grading with a box blade as well as snow blowing our 2200 ft driveway. It will be used to pull a utility trailer around the yard as well. No grass will be cut with it. Anyone predict any kind of issues? The gear drive is actually pretty rare to find. Is it because it is that bad or just that the ease of the hydrostat is just that much more in demand? We're leaning towards the gear drive. Any thoughts?

I've bought over 160 cars/trucks with 4, 5 and 6 speed gear drives and automatics. May buy another gear drive vehicle one day since I've usually always owned a 2 seat sports car, currently don't but.....
I've bought 17 Kubotas in 11 years. One of the 17 was a B2320 geared, my first and last geared tractor. I thought I'd save a thousand dollars or 1000 divided by 60= 16.66 dollars per month. Already owned a BX25 with FEL BH so why not get a cheaper gear drive for tilling and using other 3ph implements? After 23 hours or less:thumbdown: I got rid of the gear drive B2320:shocked: to never own another one again unless it's half price and even then at this point in my life I probably still wouldn't buy it. Sure I've already answered this post in past pages with more detailed explanation and if you haven't read the entire thread from the beginning you need to do so, now.

 

[JMER817]

How much more is the HST?

 

[Cherokee140]

I was thinking the same thing during my shopping and talking to so many people said to do the hydrostat. As someone already said with the snow blowing you will really want it. I have a snow blower on my biggest garden tractor...I have had it for 3 years now. And you really do need to adjust the speed of the machine with the type of snow....light fluffy snow you can rip right through....even if it is pretty deep. The heavy wet snow you have to move very slowly and like the other poster said you have to keep the rpm's up. The other thing I would suggest is some kind of cab. The wind no matter how you have the blower adjusted you will get a face full at least once during your snow moving project. My driveway is pretty straight and a little over 800' long. The snow blower is fantastic....but the little cab just made the job so much nicer.

I would bet you are going to find many other things you are going to use the machine for. Even the driveway work you are at times going to want to go slower then the slowest gear you have or that speed inbetween.

All my real tractors have been gear up to this last one....and I really thought I would not need it. I have only had this machine a week and I already can say it has been nice....has it been the price difference nice I don't know (what I ended up with is really only found in hydrostat, but other machines I looked at had the option). I think in the end I will be happy I went with hydrostat.

I don't remember what tractor I was looking at, but the difference in price was $2,000 between hydro and gear.

 

[Notforhire]

I generally prefer gear transmissions, but because of the snow blowing I think James is right. You can regulate your speed/feed much better with a HST.
With a manual trans., if your lowest gear isn't low enough the snow will pile up ahead of the blower, and you will constantly have to clutch to compensate. I'm not sure, but I think the DT model has a clutch driven PTO. This means that when you clutch you loose power to your PTO, which is not what you want with a snow blower. If I am correct, why Kubota would hang on to this archaic design is beyond me.

Best, Bill

 

[Buckgnarly]

I snowblow with a geared tractor, have no problem...BUT....

#1 The Kioti comes with a two stage clutch, which lets me clear the shoot if (and it usually does not) it loads up by stopping the tractor moving but keeping the PTO going.

#2 I have 8 reverse gears, and have not had any issues matching speed to RPM to snow conditions.

#3 It has a manual cruise control, which is useful for snowblowing.

If you like gear, and the tractor has those three options, you may not have a problem in my experience.

 

[Andy Z]

Thanks for the advice, boys. Looks like B2320 HST is in my horizons.

 

[doxford jim]

I have a Jinma 554 gear tractor that I snow blow with. It is an open station so the weather makes for uncomfortable working conditions when snow blowing. I have 16 fwd gears and 8 reverse including creeper. I can match my snow blower to any conditions and it blows just fine - however at my age (almost 70), if I ever bought another tractor it will be a cabbed with HST. The manual levers clutter up the operating deck and I gets me rubber boots caught a lot I just adjust the pto revs to suit the situation - works well for me (going backwards too).