Dirt Moving What's the hype with HST?

[corl]

Unless you are row cropping I can't imagine being without my HST after 35 years of geared tractors. Drive one. If you don't like it don't buy it. It still puts a smile on my face.

 

[ovrszd]

Kubota's HST+ has a control knob to adjust the quickness of the pedal. They stop/start pretty smooth.

Yep, HST takes HP. On a small tractor, <40hp, it takes a sizeable percentage of the engine's HP to function. That takes some getting used to.

My small mowing tractor has HST. Wouldn't want anything else.

My large Utility tractor has hydraulic shuttle. Wouldn't want anything else.

I've owned 30HP HST, 44HP gear drive and 95HP hydraulic shuttle. They all three have their place to shine. Buy to suit your needs.

 

[Ducati07]

Well when you say "let off of the pedal".. well if you are running pretty fast and just yank your foot off of the pedal, yes it will stop pretty fast, but why would you do that?..

Well, I would never do that. My point was is that they can be dangerous and painful giving a situation if you had to just let off (or yank off the pedal), even at slower speeds. Let's just say, for example, I noticed a rock in the fairway and had to stop quick so I wouldn't damage the reels....not dangerous, but can be somewhat painful. Especially when sudden slow downs happen 100's of times a day. Or some clueless golfer turns in front of me while in transport...possibly dangerous. I've had my share of accidents with my crew hitting trees and golf carts because they couldn't just yank off and hit the break. They needed to ride it out and slow down!

I think I've made a bad comparison because golf course maintenance equipment is not the same as a tractor.

Do you guys know if the GST has a shuttle control for forward and reverse as well? I've operated some larger skip loaders that had that option and it was nice for the multi-point turns.

Like you said k0ua, the only way I will truly know...is if I go drive one myself. It's just a little hard because to do that, it's 1.5 hrs one way. However, I will because I have to.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[murphy1244]

Try it and you will never go back to gears.

 

[Ducati07]

What kind of backhoe was it? I believe case hoe's have a torque converter in the equation and don't require clutching persay to change directions.

It was a 90's Ford tractor with a Bradco attached hoe. No clutch was needed to change directions. It had the shuttle shift for forward reverse with no clutch.

 

[TripleR]

Like Richard (ovrszd) I operate an HST+ and hydraulic shuttle shift M Series and both work well for their purposes.

You really have to spend some time on them to fully appreciate them as I was definitely underwhelmed by my test drive on the Kubota HST+, now I love it; love my hydraulic shuttle too; get what suits you.

 

[Beltman60]

so if you had a gear real mower and you saw a rock in front you would have to get the clutch peddle pushed in and then hit the brakes
sounds like that would be more dangerous than HST

nothing beats a gear tractor for row cropping
nothing beats HST for close tight work or repetitive back and forth movement

you would really have to get off of the HST peddle quickly to do what you are describing

 

[Ducati07]

so if you had a gear real mower and you saw a rock in front you would have to get the clutch peddle pushed in and then hit the brakes

No, there wasn't an option for that. They were all HST. The rock in the fairway was never dangerous....unless you had to answer to the mechanic who had to grind the reels after the rock was hit!

 

[Beltman60]

OK go with the golfer pulling in front of ya
same question

 

[Ducati07]

OK go with the golfer pulling in front of ya
same question

To answer your question..yes, I believe that I can stop safer and faster with a break than with HST. I may stall, but I won't flip, roll or crash. However, like I said...that's with golf course equipment and not a tractor. The problem with GC equipment is, the drive motors are on the front so when you slow down fast...the back end comes off the ground and you steer with the back end!

I think they are just too different to compare them both.