Zeroing in on LS or Kioti but I have some ?

Poopdeck Pappy · May 6, 2014

bh10 said:
You'd think so, but two of the four dealers the sales guys said they didnt like the HST and one was the one with the HST in stock. Said it robbed power and was a waste of money, so IDK. Im going to do a bunch of food plots so the pulling power (plowing) is important to me, so I was going with the Shuttle anyway.

If I was getting a shuttle tranny, I'd want (1) a hydraulic shuttle, which allows you to go from forward to reverse and vice versa without using the clutch, and (2) as many gears as I could get (e.g., 12 instead of 8, or even 16 instead of 12).

Having more gears increases the likelihood of being able to find exactly the right gear for any given job, especially those that require really slow speed such as tilling. With 8 speeds, 2nd might be too slow and 3rd might be too fast due to the larger ratios between gears.

bh10 · May 6, 2014

grm61 said:
I would suggest doing your own research, and discounting what most salesman tell you.... and make your own mind up....I don't mean to badmouth all salespeople...but..through my own experience, 90 percent will tell you ANYTHING, to sell you what they have on hand, and many of them don't know what they are talking about, this goes for cars, trucks, boats, tractors etc.

Educate yourself and listen to the folks on here that own and operate these things.
Make your own mind up on what you want by educating yourself, before dealing with a salesman...and stick to your guns:thumbsup:

Agree 100%. My wife usually gets pissed at me when I want a new toy for two reasons, b/c I spend way to much money on it and on the time I spend computer researching.:thumbsup:

Coyote machine · May 7, 2014

bh10 said:
Agree 100%. My wife usually gets pissed at me when I want a new toy for two reasons, b/c I spend way to much money on it and on the time I spend computer researching.:thumbsup:

That's an easy one: tell her next time you won't do any research and will just buy the first (*most expensive) thing you can find!
*Just leave out the most expensive part....
Make the happy wife/happy life work for YOU!

sacmarata · May 8, 2014

Poopdeck Pappy said:
If I was getting a shuttle tranny, I'd want (1) a hydraulic shuttle, which allows you to go from forward to reverse and vice versa without using the clutch, and (2) as many gears as I could get (e.g., 12 instead of 8, or even 16 instead of 12). [/QUOTE

Reverser clutch = invaluable!

Downgraded from a 6530C cab Branson to a Yanmar LX490 and haven't looked back! The Branson was a beast with a dyno'ed 83hp, huge bucket lots of cool features, 3 speed PTO etc...Didn't have any issues except it was a bit heavy to pull around Kentucky's slow steep hills. Got the Yanmar, which side by side, could barely hold a candle to the raw size and HP of the Branson, but in the end the Yanmar is simply SOOOO much more useable because of the reverser clutch. When it comes to brute force it can't stack up, but when it comes to getting the job done on our 18 acres, the reverser clutch won out over horse power and we would do it again.

I generally live by the rule of get more than you think you need, but don't simply apply that to ONLY horse power.

bh10 · May 8, 2014

Coyote machine said:
That's an easy one: tell her next time you won't do any research and will just buy the first (*most expensive) thing you can find!
*Just leave out the most expensive part....
Make the happy wife/happy life work for YOU!

So just did both, walked out with a DK 55, told her it was a great deal. Now I need to hide the invoice. I way over bought. lol.