Sold my L-39 yesterday

[curtisfarmer]

Regarding HST Vs. GST/ Gear, the HST is the only way to go for hill work. Wanna stop and not worry about pushing in the clutch and brakes and working the machine like a monkey, try the hst, just let off the petal and it will hold back in neutral. I have mowed the same many hilly fields with a Ford 3400 Industrial, a L2350 GST, and now with the L48 HST, and HST beets them hands down. I move alot of dirt, huge rocks, trees, and other construction stuff and the HST is great. The only place I like the GST better is going uphill plowing in snow storms or mowing at maximum speed and capacity. Basically it matches ground speed better to torque and power than the HST. Kubota says the new HST is much better at that. FYI, I was at Chappells yesterday, and every day; George Chappell is sawing 20 MBF of logs for me in his mill out back. Saw Roger Chappell's new KX-080.......very nice, but too big for me. I am driving my KX 121 today and the KX080 would be too big for this job and probably 80% of my landscape construction jobs. Doesn't mean I don't want one though. Nice, big, thick thumb too. I think they are $83-7K.

 

[_RaT_]

Regarding HST Vs. GST/ Gear, the HST is the only way to go for hill work. Wanna stop and not worry about pushing in the clutch and brakes and working the machine like a monkey, try the hst, just let off the petal and it will hold back in neutral. I have mowed the same many hilly fields with a Ford 3400 Industrial, a L2350 GST, and now with the L48 HST, and HST beets them hands down. I move alot of dirt, huge rocks, trees, and other construction stuff and the HST is great. The only place I like the GST better is going uphill plowing in snow storms or mowing at maximum speed and capacity. Basically it matches ground speed better to torque and power than the HST. Kubota says the new HST is much better at that. FYI, I was at Chappells yesterday, and every day; George Chappell is sawing 20 MBF of logs for me in his mill out back. Saw Roger Chappell's new KX-080.......very nice, but too big for me. I am driving my KX 121 today and the KX080 would be too big for this job and probably 80% of my landscape construction jobs. Doesn't mean I don't want one though. Nice, big, thick thumb too. I think they are $83-7K.

I would like to try the new L40's type HST. The ability to kick down with a button might be interesting. I can without a doubt move material much faster with my L3830 HST loader then the L4850 shuttle tractor I frequently use. That in my mind is not even debateable. For most box scraper work I prefer the manual tractor and even better the GST. I did like the creep feature on the JD110 hoe. I'm suprised it is not on the B26.

 

[mike69440]

Regarding HST Vs. GST/ Gear, the HST is the only way to go for hill work. Wanna stop and not worry about pushing in the clutch and brakes and working the machine like a monkey, try the hst, just let off the petal and it will hold back in neutral. I have mowed the same many hilly fields with a Ford 3400 Industrial, a L2350 GST, and now with the L48 HST, and HST beets them hands down. I move alot of dirt, huge rocks, trees, and other construction stuff and the HST is great. The only place I like the GST better is going uphill plowing in snow storms or mowing at maximum speed and capacity. Basically it matches ground speed better to torque and power than the HST. Kubota says the new HST is much better at that. FYI, I was at Chappells yesterday, and every day; George Chappell is sawing 20 MBF of logs for me in his mill out back. Saw Roger Chappell's new KX-080.......very nice, but too big for me. I am driving my KX 121 today and the KX080 would be too big for this job and probably 80% of my landscape construction jobs. Doesn't mean I don't want one though. Nice, big, thick thumb too. I think they are $83-7K.

I give you the hill part about the GST. I still can't like a HST when even in medium range the thing sucked down while driving across a muddy field.

A gear tractor will also do that but at least ride the diesel's touque curve to the capacity of the engine before you need to downshift.

So why couldn't the tractor manufactures offer a direct engagement man-u-matic, that is a lot quicker shifting than the GST, has a thumb lever gear shift paddle and a hill hold feature?

 

[mike69440]

On level ground the defeatable seat switch I set up works the nuts for the L-39 creep feature. However with the GST trans ability to run away on a hill, best try this only on flat ground.

 

[_RaT_]

I give you the hill part about the GST. I still can't like a HST when even in medium range the thing sucked down while driving across a muddy field.

A gear tractor will also do that but at least ride the diesel's touque curve to the capacity of the engine before you need to downshift.

So why couldn't the tractor manufactures offer a direct engagement man-u-matic, that is a lot quicker shifting than the GST, has a thumb lever gear shift paddle and a hill hold feature?

Interesting, mine never had that issue. After all, M range is 0 to about 4.5 mph. It could easily drag my 1800 lb landscape rake up very steep hills at the optimum RPM of 1800 RPM. That was my favorite engine speed on the L48.

 

[curtisfarmer]

From what I understand JD Forestry machines like skidders are going towards a transmission that is like HST but "locks" into a gear as oppsosed to spinning either too much or too little fluid all the time. I gotta say though GST or HST compared to some of my older Ford tractors is night and day. Driving those things is a job where as my wife or anyone else can learn a HST or GST in a couple hours and be productive on a job where as with older, or even dare I say a truely geared tractor, machine you would want an operator with considerable experience on that particular machine for effeciency, productivity, and safety. Anyone ever push in the clutch of a big tractor mowing up hill and go backwards real fast? Scary. Drop the mower and loader quick and stand on the breaks. Don't swerve, stay straight, or else.

 

[curtisfarmer]

Regarding muddy fields and HST, I have never had a problem and I work in mud at most jobs when doing major things like building large retaing walls or drainage jobs. The L48 makes mud as it is soooo heavy, but has so much power it just chuggs through it. Only once did I think I was going to get stuck but my hoe was on the back and pulled my self out. The mud was up to the floor boards and the L48 was still moving around in it, but could not get out of the depression I was in without pulling up a hill with hoe. I use my tracked KX 121 in muddy jobs, and man o man, night and day. I just did a job that my L48 could do, but would have left ruts and mud like you would not believe. The blade on an excvator also smoothes all damage out on the way out too. R4s become slicks when packed with mud, almost worse than turfs with mud.

 

[WALT]

Witel:

I'll echo the other posts regarding using the GST on hills. Using the shuttle lever to forward or reverse "clutchless", it is easy to forget that when my 7000 lb L-39 is in neutral, even for a few seconds, gravity quickly takes over, and you start rolling down hill. There is also a 1-2 second delay when shifting between gears, most noticeable when going uphill. This is not the case using the HST, as it provides driveline braking with the HST pedal in the neutral position. But leave the HST in neutral position on the range selector, and it will roll away with the best of them.

It my experience on the farm many years ago, using a manual tractor w/clutch, you always covered the brakes as your left foot pressed down on the clutch pedal.With the GST, the clutch is not used, except for creeping/feathering into a tight spot. The disconnect in my brain seems to be if I don't use my left foot for the clutch, I'm not using my right foot for the brakes to hold the tractor in neutral. My initial hours using the loader uphill resulted in several stalls and reverse freewheels of 1'-10', fortunately without damage to anybody or anything.

My first 10 hours with the L-39 GST had me wondering if I made the right choice. I now have 250+ hours on it, and prefer it over HST, except for loader work on an incline.

WALT

 

[_RaT_]

Witel:

I'll echo the other posts regarding using the GST on hills. Using the shuttle lever to forward or reverse "clutchless", it is easy to forget that when my 7000 lb L-39 is in neutral, even for a few seconds, gravity quickly takes over, and you start rolling down hill. There is also a 1-2 second delay when shifting between gears, most noticeable when going uphill. This is not the case using the HST, as it provides driveline braking with the HST pedal in the neutral position. But leave the HST in neutral position on the range selector, and it will roll away with the best of them.

It my experience on the farm many years ago, using a manual tractor w/clutch, you always covered the brakes as your left foot pressed down on the clutch pedal.With the GST, the clutch is not used, except for creeping/feathering into a tight spot. The disconnect in my brain seems to be if I don't use my left foot for the clutch, I'm not using my right foot for the brakes to hold the tractor in neutral. My initial hours using the loader uphill resulted in several stalls and reverse freewheels of 1'-10', fortunately without damage to anybody or anything.

My first 10 hours with the L-39 GST had me wondering if I made the right choice. I now have 250+ hours on it, and prefer it over HST, except for loader work on an incline.

WALT

I wonder if there is anyone here that ever puts their range selector in neutral or in between ranges?

 

[WALT]

RaT:

My BX2200 HST is only in neutral range when I am starting it.

When I switch from the L-39 to the BX2200, I find myself looking for the shuttle lever with my left hand to reverse motion, instead of pressing down with my heel on the HST pedal.

WALT