TC30 HST -vs- Farmtrac 300DTC

kanthardlyfarm · Nov 21, 2005

Gumpy

Sorry for not responding earlier, had busy weekend. As I stated in my original post I wish I had gotten a HST, however the gear drive works well for me. My property and I'll bet your is much steeper than most everyone on here is picturing. The 5 acres I spoke of is so steep that we had a dozer on it and one of the operators was almost afraid to take it over and down pushing trees and stumps about 150". The track hoe operator used the bucket to get himself down. Now I have stumps and trees at the bottom which I have to cover and remove. So I took the blade and cut a road around the bottom and grassed it. Now I can get to the stumps without traversing the face of the mountain.

I have had the TC 30 on two wheels while lifting boulders. Let the bucket back down and put a strap around the boulder and moved it. For my money I think I got the best tractor I could get and I looked at many. I also got the 5 year 0% financing. This did not sell me on the tractor but it did go a long ways. As I stated earlier you'll see very few post on TBN with TC 30 break downs.

I would like to get a post hole digger and a box blade but I'll have to wait until spring on those.

Larry

PS: I tried to PM you this am and you have it blocked. I will probably be over your way this winter when my Tigers play your Yellow Jackets. Maybe we can get together. I can come over early in the afternoon.

daTeacha · Nov 22, 2005

As far as having to stop and shift, that depends on the operator and the transmission. A synchro unit (as described by JD literature) will allow on the fly shifting, like in a manual tranny car or truck. The gears are synchronized to be spinning at the right speed for shifting. A normal tractor gear box is unsynchronized and typically you just pick your gear before you start. You can, with some skill, shift gears while moving. Many pre-war, depression era cars and trucks were like that. I can shift my Kubota up and down, empty or loaded, in high range or low. I get it right about 90% of the time, and get a little noise the other 10%, but nothing major. I figure with only 16 hp at the engine I'm not going to hurt it.