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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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kirby337
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 28 minneapolis
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2010-11-08          175013

I recently posted a message asking for comparisions between a JD 870-970-1070 to use with a two bottom plow on ten acres of fairly heavy soil. An additional questions would be if one is looking for a JD tractor about 30-40 hp to use with a 2-14 plow and a nine shank cultivator to work fairly heavy soil would a JD tractor with hydrostatic drive i.e. JD 4410 - 4500 be more appropriate or a gear driven JD tractor say a 970-1070 work better for plowing -cultivating heavy type soils- Thanx again for your posts and info-Peter

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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jdgreen
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 232 Maryland
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2010-11-08          175015

Personally, I like the gear drive models for tillage work. I am sure you will get arguments for hydro also, just my preference. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2010-11-09          175021

I'd go with the gear drive for tillage.
I've used hydro drive IHC farm tractors in the past, they were Ok for a baler, mower, or a forage chopper where the majority of the power went out the PTO shaft.
I'm on my third Deere compact, a 4310, all have been 12/12 power reversers and wouldn't get a hydro if I traded tomorrow.
If you are a farm boy used to the clutch on the left and the brakes on the right, you will feel right at home with a gear drive. I don't do much field work except for bush hogging, the majority of the hours on my 4310 are loader work, the 12/12 works just fine there too. Hydros are a good solid drive system for those who prefer it and likely the newer ones are more efecient than the ones I used in the 60's and 70's. They just lost too much of the useable horsepower to heat, anytime you put anything under pressure heat is a by product. doing field work with those old Farmall hydros the transmission and rear housings got so hot you couldn't touch them.
I had several combines with hydro drives, they are great. Most of the engine power goes to the threshing system and a smaller portion to the drive wheels.
I know we'll be shot down by the hydro lovers, but that's OK, to each their own.
Frank. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2010-11-09          175023

With a "manual," every time you engage power, especially moving from a stop, you wear the clutch. Mine has a version of the hydro concept ("PowerShift") that I use for most routine shifting. When it was split at 3,000 hours for other work I planned to replace all the exposed wear parts. For what it's worth the clutch discs still looked like new, and now after 4,000 hours the pedal freeplay has still not needed adjustment. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2010-11-09          175026

Auer;
Agreed dry plate clutches do wear out quicker than wet plate clutches. I'm not sure if the 1070's have a dry plate system or the "Power Shift Type" wet clutches like the 12/12 reversers my 4310 has. You seldom hear of wet clutch replacement except from real high hours or abuse.
Frank. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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greg_g
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1816 Western Kentucky
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2010-11-09          175032

I missed your original post Kirby. But I thought I'd contribute after the fact. I'm perfectly at home with gear tractors, both mine are 8x8 shuttles. I've got a hydro in my JD500, but that's obviously a light duty machine. Circumstances however, dictate that I trade my Chinese tractors for a compact cab tractor w/loader - and the only one that satisfies all my requirements is the new JD3720. Guess what. eHydro only. No transmission choice whatsoever. So it appears that I'm going to have to bite the bullet whether I want to or not !!

A trusted mechanic tells me that the hydros are excellent workhorses, and you already know they're much more convenient than gears. But what he tells me is the if and when they go bad, it's usually about a $1200 labor bill to replace what's probably a $5 part.

//greg// ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2010-11-11          175079

I've got a bit over 800 hours on my New Holland hydro all of which are very hard hours, prolly more than a homeowner would do in a lifetime. Knock on Frank's noggin'---all those hours have been trouble free. And Frank the book says that for 33hp gross hp there is (only) a one hp drop at the PTO. I like the infinite and instant control a hydro offers as far feathering power to the wheels. A gear can feather power but at the cost of wearing the clutch. And engine RPM stays constant which is the optimal speed for good performance. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2010-11-11          175080

I've got a bit over 800 hours on my New Holland hydro all of which are very hard hours, prolly more than a homeowner would do in a lifetime. Knock on Frank's noggin'---all those hours have been trouble free. And Frank the book says that for 33hp gross hp there is (only) a one hp drop at the PTO. I like the infinite and instant control a hydro offers as far feathering power to the wheels. A gear can feather power but at the cost of wearing the clutch. And engine RPM stays constant which is the optimal speed for good performance. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2010-11-12          175100

For turning the soil would certainly prefer the manual transmission. For cultivating might prefer the hydo for the speed issue mentioned also might be very nice when turning around at ends of rows. But what I don't like a hydo on is a sprayer. To me getting sprayer calibrated is hard enough with a manual transmission where you have the ability to fine tune the travel speed with some engine speed change. For me very hard to do with hydo trans. ....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2010-11-12          175102

KT;
I'd forgotten about spraying with a hydro tractor. You're correct, a gear tractor gives you a known speed at a given RPM, within a range of wheel slip etc. The hydro farm tractors I spoke of that I did spray with were a bear to calabrate a sprayer. You had no known speed, there were no speedometers on them. We finally got an aftermarket speedometer that was a little rubber wheel that ran on the front tire of the tractor with a regular speedometer cable up to where you mounted the speedometer. They worked pretty good till the front tire got a bit of mud on it then it just kinda bent the bracket that held the little wheel, then it didn't work. We gave up on the little aftermarket deal and ran a gear drive tractor along side and put a mark on the hydro lever sector to get it back somewhere near the right speed when you turned on the end or stopped for something.
Hydros have their place, but just not in all day long heavy drawbar work.
Frank. ....

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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2010-11-12          175106

Howdy friends. Long time no see. Glad to see that everyone is doing well.

I agree with most everyone. Gear tractors are far better suited to the open fields. They are much preferred for pulling operations, such as plowing, cultivating, and swathing (pull type).

Hydro tractors are better suited for yard and garden work, where changes in direction and speed are nearly constant. There is simply nothing better for loader work, than a hydrostatic transmission.

The hydro tractor has some limitations to deal with when operating a sprayer. I use the tractor manufacturer's literature to determine the maximum ground speed in Low, Medium, and High speed ranges. Once the ground speed is determined, the sprayer can be set accordingly. Just choose the range you wish to travel in, then put your foot to the floor. You'll be traveling at the maximum speed in the range you chose. Unfortunately, most of us have just two speed ranges to choose from......slow and slower!


Joel

....

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hydrostatic or gear driven Jd tractor

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2010-11-12          175108

Joel, glad you're back.
My memory may be slipping but I'm pretty sure the IHC hydrto farm tractors had only one range. ....

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