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 | JerryGoucher
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 100 NW AR 
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2002-10-17 43927
Murf or others with shuttle experance,
I am looking into trading tractors. I now have a mechanical shuttle. I would like to know about the pros and cons of going to a hyd. shuttle. I have used many mechanical shuttles and hydrastats, but not hyd. shuttles. I do several things that are in very tight places and inside buildings. I have heard that the hydr. shuttle was not as good for these things. Is that right or wrong? I would like to go to the hydr. shuttle for the longer clutch wear if at all possible.
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 | Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 6898 Waterville New York 
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2002-10-17 43938
The hydraulic shuttle is nice as you can shift without the clutch on your forward and backward movement. You will still need to clutch when inching in close to objects but when in the open it is up to you. ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-10-18 43960
There was a discussion awhile back about Powershift, which I think is a type of shuttle shift. Somebody who had it said he thought it shifted slowly under some conditions. I don't know if lags while shifting is typical of shuttle shift in general or just that particular type. ....
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| Stan
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 87
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2002-10-18 43962
Tom -
I think the discussion about slow shifting w/ Kubota GST (powershift) was between "gears", not with the forward/reverse function, but I guess it could have been both.
Stan ....
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| JerryGoucher
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 100 NW AR
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2002-10-18 43964
Art,
Thanks, thats what I needed to know. Looks like I will go ahead and get the power shuttle. BTW, what is the difference in clutch life between the two? How much longer can I expect between clutch changes? 20% 30%? ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2002-10-18 43965
Jerry, since the majority of our machine time is golf course or snow removal work I don't think I'm quite an inside operation or even tight quarters specialist, however, here's my slant on it.
The hyd. shuttle, the one I'm most familiar with since all our machines are Kubota GST's, is to us the best compromise. Yes I said 'compromise'. The advantage of clutchless shifting comes with a small penalty of reduced speed in shifting, and a little loss of control over how fast the clutch engages/disengages. Overall we are very pleased with the system, and as Art pointed out you do still have the option of full manual clutch operation for detail work if desired/required. It is reasonably fool-proof (I should know) and pretty real world dependable. It is also a very easy to learn system, and stands up to multiple operators fairly well.
The big drawback that I find with HST's (Hydro Static Transmissions) is the combination of excessive heat and a noticeable power loss. This is particularly bad in a constant load situation, such as hauling, plowing or mowing. A few years back we had a HST, in repetative tasks it lost the race to the GST's, really lost, we got about 20% less production out of it pulling dump wagons loaded with sand for sand traps. The heat coming off it wasn't very nice for the operator either. They are certainly 'Rookie Friendly' though.
Mechanical shuttles have been around since Moses was digging sand out of the Eastern Deserts. Proven designs, dependable as gravity, but take a little more to get comfortable with, and more susceptable to failure from improper operation, such as excessive riding of the clutch, etc.
All in all, the GST's seem to be the most Pro's and the fewest Con's of three, but that's just my opinion after running a fleet of a dozen machines for a couple decades...LOL
Best of luck. ....
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| Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2002-10-18 43975
Murf, your remarks are right on as to the hydro and GST. In a number of different situations like towing those carts up and down hills and several other places like skidding logs and just climbing hills. The newer GST's are a lot tighter shifting than the first editions were. Clutch life is hard to place as we haven't done a GST yet and I've seen the straight gears back in with less hours than on the glides. If there are different drivers the GST seems to be just as good as the Hydro's are for the novices. ....
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