Re: HST\'s Rep as an expensive repair
I'll stay away from the 'which is better... gear vs hydro'.. and just say what I've seen.
As with anything.. the more complicated it is the more it costs to fix.
That being said, the company I work for has tons of heavy earthmoving/roadbuilding equipment.. About half are hydrostatic, the other half manual.
Since I've been here ( mid 92 ) I can recall replacements clutches here and there.. at around 3-4hundred a pop.. and few problems in the manual trannies themselves.
As for the hydrostatic trannies... some major money. We redid 3 hydro trannies last year.. a loader and two rollers.... one merely had a bad oring inside.. deep inside... cost was in the disassembly... it was only an additional hundred to reseal everything while inside.
From what I've seen.. looks like the hydro's go just a bit longer before needing maintenance... then cost more.
One interesting note.. our dealer instructed us not to pull with our vehicles with hydro trannies... said they were not setup as well for it.. heated the trannies up too much.....I thought that was interesting.. .. keep in mind this was heavy equipment.. not tractors... if someone told me not to pull with a tractor I would laugh out loud....
Soundguy
