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Shuttle vs Creeper

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wva-dsk
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10 West Virignia
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2006-09-16          135227

Looking at buying my first tractor, and the Jinma models are pretty appealing. But I need to learn some fundamentals first. What are the benefits of Shuttle Shift over a Creeper Gear, and visa verse? Why would you want one verses the other?

Thanks,
WVA-DSK


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greg_g
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1816 Western Kentucky
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2006-09-17          135229

When you get a creeper equipped 200 series, you'll doubled the number of normal gear ratios - but all at maybe half or less the normal speed. With creeper engaged, you've got the tractor's normal six forward (3 high range + 3 low range) and two reverse (1 high + 1 low). Engage creeper and you've now got six more forward (3 creeper high + 3 creeper low) and two more reverse (1 creeper high + 1 creeper low). Total 12 forward/4 reverse. I owned two JM254s, and never found a use for creeper range; too slow for my typical farm tasks. But I guess some folks find it handy for selected ground engagement implements - rototiller being at the top of the list.

So when I got rid of the Jinmas, I specified a shuttle shift in the replacement KAMA. It takes reverse gear off the gear shift lever and puts it on a 2nd lever: Forward/Reverse. You select the gear you want with one lever, then use the 2nd lever to select whether you want to use that ground speed in forward or reverse. So for every forward gear you have, there's a proportionately fast (or slow) reverse gear. The shuttle box makes give my KAMA 8 forward gears (4 high + 4 low) and the equivelent of 8 reverse gears. Owners with front loaders swear by it, and - after my Jinma creeper (non)experience - I simply consider shuttle shift a necessity.

You must come to a complete stop to move either the creeper lever or the shuttle lever.

//greg//
....

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wva-dsk
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10 West Virignia
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2006-09-17          135230

Thanks Greg. The one description I could find about shuttle shift out on the internet was that it was much more convenient in situations with lots of backing and forwarding, such as moving dirt around. I think as long as I can still do very low speed things, like use a roto-tiller or a sub-soiler, with the shuttle shift, then I shouldn't miss the creeper gears. Right?

Thanks,
DSK ....

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greg_g
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1816 Western Kentucky
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2006-09-17          135232

that question is likely to draw responses from all quarters. I'll hedge by saying it has a lot to do with your soil composition. Loamy soil and previously tilled soil almost certainly can be worked without creeper gears. Clay or virgin ground, that's a different story.

Best I can advise is to consider your soil type, then review each tractor ground speed in the various gears. With luck, you should be able to find a shuttle shift tractor that has low enough gearing to still do an acceptable job of tilling

//greg// ....

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wva-dsk
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10 West Virignia
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2006-09-17          135238

Ok, that's a very useful idea. Much of my property is pasture. The soil is typically 6 to 12 inches of loam underlain by a few feet of clay, before hitting limestone bed rock. Any tilling I do will pretty much stay in the loam layer and I doubt I'll get down there and churn the clay too often. I'll probably spend a lot more time hauling logs and loads than I will busting sod, so the shuttle shift may be the better option. But I'll use that advice on looking at the speeds available on the tractors I'm looking at.

Thanks,
WVA-DSK ....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2006-09-18          135240

I think the need of a slow ground speed comes into play with application that also needs high PTO or engine RPMs. My biggest need is with a boom mower. When using that my low gear feels like highway speed as it requires high PTO rpms and constant adjustment of the cutter head for proper clearance wih varying ground and trees being cut.

For subsoiling I don't think you would need that low of speed or I don't as long as you had a subsoiler with a shear bolt or trip. Now a subsoiler with no protection, you may.
....

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wva-dsk
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10 West Virignia
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2006-09-18          135275

That's another area I need to know more about and should probably start a separate thread to discuss. But based on what I'm seeing in some of the forums RPM and horsepower available at the PTO have big implications for the tools you want to use. Guess I'll add that question to my list when I get down to the dealer and start debating between shuttle shift and creeper gears.

WVA-DSK ....

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2006-09-19          135281

wva-dsk,

I was very fortunate with the first tractor salesman I traded with. A real professional. I was about totally green and he would not really talk tractor until I had a frim idea on what I wanted to do with it. Then we talked equipment to do that and worked backwards to the horsepower and tractor needed for the equipment.

I wish you well with your decisons and God Bless.
....

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wva-dsk
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10 West Virignia
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2006-09-19          135298

Thanks KT. ....

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2006-09-22          135385

WVA: Have you looked into another type of transmission called Hydrostatic? To me it's THE best thing since sliced bread. Both my backhoe and New Holland CUT have it. It's so easy to use my 5-year old niece can use it (with me on the machine too). It makes back-and-forth work fun and easy---like loader work or mowing. Basically all you do is pick the range of torque and speed you want from 3 ranges. 1st is high torque/low speed, second is the range I use for decent torque/speed, 3rd is lower torque/high speed (about 17 mph). You set the throttle and the engine stays at a constant, optimal speed---no pressing on the "gas pedal". There's no shifting in-range from reverse to forward---a floor-mounted "go" pedal does it all. And the nice thing about this type of trans is you can set the cruise control button while you are tilling or mowing; don't like the speed? Simply throttle down, or turn off cruise control, put the "go" pedal where you want and set cruise. All things considered hydro is about 2x as fast production-wise compared to a regular manual shift-type trans. It adds about $2000 to the price of the CUT but IMHO well worth it. ....

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wva-dsk
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10 West Virignia
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2006-09-22          135387

Earthwrks,

Yup, I did take a look at the Hydrostatic and liked what I saw. But its not an option on the tractor that I'm considering, unfortunately. The Shuttle and Creeper are however, so that drove my question. But given the choice, I'd probably just go HST if it were available.

WVA-DSK ....

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