HST vs. Geared

johno2000 · Mar 18, 2012

Looking at buying my first compact tractor for use on 20 acre to bush hog primarily. Looking at tractors from Kubota and JD in the 30 hp range.

My father in law keeps telling me to get a geared tractor over a HST. Just curious what people thought the pros and cons are.

Egon · Mar 18, 2012

There are lot's of threads discussing :laughing: the pro's and con's of either type transmission on TBN. A search should reveal them and provide quite a bit of enjoyable reading.

Myself, I'd go for HST on a small tractor.

jenkinsph · Mar 18, 2012

Here we go again for 10 pages.

MikeInEburg · Mar 18, 2012

I've spent the last two days moving gravel with my B7800. And I appreciated the HST every minute. If ALL you're going to do is mow, gear is good. If a wider variety of activities, HST is the only way to go.
Mike

TripleR · Mar 18, 2012

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

As mentioned a quick search will yield hours of reading. I run geared and HST and for a CUT, my choice will always be an HST.

71bronco · Mar 18, 2012

MikeInEburg said:
I've spent the last two days moving gravel with my B7800. And I appreciated the HST every minute. If ALL you're going to do is mow, gear is good. If a wider variety of activities, HST is the only way to go.
Mike

I appreciate not listening to the whine of a hydro, more PTO HP, being able to use my split brakes and foot throttle. Gear is the only way to go.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Jeff

k0ua · Mar 18, 2012

johno2000 said:
Looking at buying my first compact tractor for use on 20 acre to bush hog primarily. Looking at tractors from Kubota and JD in the 30 hp range.

My father in law keeps telling me to get a geared tractor over a HST. Just curious what people thought the pros and cons are.

Welcome to TBN

Please don't think us unfriendly, but this particular topic has many thousands of pages on here. If you would like to read some of them there is the search facility at the top of the page.. I have a saying that I think fits. If you don't know, and have to ask, then there is only one choice: Hydrostat.
There are some downsides to a Hydro,, but the upsides far outweigh it for the average user. Again welcome, and happy reading, and hopefully soon happy tractoring:thumbsup:

James K0UA

oldtoyboyd · Mar 18, 2012

71bronco said:
I appreciate not listening to the whine of a hydro, more PTO HP, being able to use my split brakes and foot throttle. Gear is the only way to go.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Jeff

Couldn't have said it better myself. My best advice is to try both before you buy. I was able to borrow an old gear drive, new gear drive shuttle shift, and a hydro trans. I hated the whine from the hydro, and having to stop all the way to shift the old style gear. I bought a shuttle shift and love it.

rsewill · Mar 18, 2012

Real men use geared.

Having said that, I love my hydrostatic Deere CUT. I use it primarily for snow blowing short driveways and gear would not be as quick or convenient.

Deere Dude · Mar 18, 2012

If a HST whines, is it a female HST:laughing:

Deere's don't whine. Love them. I like the idea that if something goes bad, just take the foot and the hands off everything and the tractor stops.

The gears I drove, if something started going south, I still had to have the wherewithal to get on the clutch and the brakes. And that might be difficult at times, especially in close quarters.

Mark Page · Mar 18, 2012

They both have their place. If your going to be doing a lot of straight run mowing, save your money and go with a geared machine. If your going to be doing loader or grading work go with the HST. I really hate having to stop slow the engine down and then shift then open the throttle again.

71bronco · Mar 18, 2012

Mark Page said:
They both have their place. If your going to be doing a lot of straight run mowing, save your money and go with a geared machine. If your going to be doing loader or grading work go with the HST. I really hate having to stop slow the engine down and then shift then open the throttle again.

My 3240 transmission is syncro so no stopping to shift. Just like my 5speed Focus. Plus with the shuttle shift foward and reverse is nearly instant.

Jeff

IndyIan · Mar 18, 2012

71bronco said:
I appreciate not listening to the whine of a hydro, more PTO HP, being able to use my split brakes and foot throttle. Gear is the only way to go.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Jeff

I use the split brakes on my HST tractor(brakes on left side). I kind of miss a foot throttle, but for loader work having a constant rpm keeps the loader moving at a quick constant speed while the tractor creeps slowly inches away from the ditch and then zooms off for the next bucket load.
Anyways, I'm sure most of us could use either, but I don't like that most CUT's have a dry clutch which most likely means changing it at some point in the tractors life.

scoutcub · Mar 19, 2012

Don't fall into the trap of listening to all these guys..... Search thru the old posts, so much info it's alarming.:laughing:

I have a shuttle shift and 2 hydro's......BOTH good machines. Try em out yourself and decide......:thumbsup:

vabiker23518 · Mar 19, 2012

I have had both. First tractor was a Bolens G-152 that I had for 4 years. Geared, and I loved it. But no FEL or 4 WD...so I went looking a couple years ago. Didn't want the HST, but ended up with it. I have to say, its easier and fun to drive. Biggest advantage I see, is the PTO operates all the time. The Bolens PTO stopped everytime you pressed the clutch. Not sure if this is universal, but it sure helps to have it running, esp when cutting trails/grass with the bush hog.

johno2000 · Mar 20, 2012

Thanks guys. I'll search for some older posts. Although, I'm already better informed. Will definitely test drive before I make my decision.

This forum is great for researching tractors.

John

jenkinsph · Mar 20, 2012

johno2000 said:
Thanks guys. I'll search for some older posts. Although, I'm already better informed. Will definitely test drive before I make my decision.

This forum is great for researching tractors.

John

My opinion and advice is to spend more time on the machines with various tasks testing out the different transmission choices and less time reading thru the threads. Reasoning that most of the threads are really opinions of what others think who may not have experience with all the choices. What should be most important is what YOU feel is best for your use. Seat time in the various machine types will tell the tale for you. Don't be bashful about testing all the choices for several hours each, you need to have a chance to get used to them and a few minutes won't do that for newbies.

flusher · Mar 20, 2012

johno2000 said:
Looking at buying my first compact tractor for use on 20 acre to bush hog primarily. Looking at tractors from Kubota and JD in the 30 hp range.

My father in law keeps telling me to get a geared tractor over a HST. Just curious what people thought the pros and cons are.

HSTs are great for tractor jobs that require a lot of reversing (FEL work) or maneuvering in tight corners (lawn mowing) or rototilling (where you need the tractor to creep along at 0.5 mph ground speed or less).

Gear tractors are great for jobs where you run the tractor long distances in a straight line (field work--plowing, discing, spraying, planting, raking, mowing, hay baling, etc).

flusher · Mar 20, 2012

johno2000 said:
Looking at buying my first compact tractor for use on 20 acre to bush hog primarily. Looking at tractors from Kubota and JD in the 30 hp range.

My father in law keeps telling me to get a geared tractor over a HST. Just curious what people thought the pros and cons are.

HSTs are great for tractor jobs that require a lot of reversing (FEL work), maneuvering in tight spaces (lawn mowing), rototilling( where you need to creep along at 0.5 mph ground speed or less).

Gear trannies are great for jobs that require driving the tractor in a straight line for considerable distances (plowing, discing, seeding, spraying, raking, mowing, hay baling, etc).