Didn’t want to highjack the other thread. I was dead against owning a tractor with a hydrostatic tranny.....until I used one. We use our FEL way more than 3 point attachments and I can work circles around a gear tractor in that application.

If I was row cropping more then gear tractor would be perfect. As a matter of fact I do most of my row crops with an early 60s Fordson Super Dexta. Hell I can rewire that entire tractor in about 15 min 😂😂😂. And it can put HP to the ground with the old iron.

I’ll ALWAYS have a soft spot for old gear tractors (rebuilding a Fordson Dexta this winter) but for our use the hydro is perfect.

using a front end loader a hydro is great but when you're bushogging or discing all day it gets old quick

I've learned for stacking hay in a barn u can't beat a skid steer I can do 4x the stacking vs any tractor hydro or not

Josh know my thoughts. If a man is doing row crops or other stuff that needs constant speed, then he needs a gear tractor. Hydro is better for pretty much everything else in my personal opinion.

Both are good for specific applications.

Mine also has cruise (hand lever) so it’s not a big deal either. But it is real handy bushhogging when I need to slow up a bit for real thick grass. Honestly it’s all in what you get used too. I love our Kubota but spend just as much time on the gear tractor as well.

Mine has cruise too. So far I really like the hydrostsat.

Same here. none issue. I actually like it better bush hogging since you can reverse and swing the bush hog so quickly.

I’ve heard that bushhogging for long periods of time, in this heat, with a hydrostatic can heat up the transmission a little too much. Any experience or knowledge on that. I guess it would be anything run off of the pto.

No brainer, hydro

The hydro tractors do run a little warmer than a gear tractor when doing long heavy cutter work but ive heard of no failures from it on any of the kubota forums.

For the majority of Alabama small plots, it seems like hydrostatic makes the constant turning around much easier. Gear has its place for bigger tractors and fields. It would be great to have 2 tractors, one with each.

I know that hydrostatic is much safer if something crazy were to happen. My bigger gear tractor won't even cut off. It just keeps on going no matter what. It'll climb a pine tree if you let it.

we used a hydro installing pools and bush hogging. They did run hotter. They also had to take the Kubota back due to a transmission issue. It quit pulling dragging a disk when it was a few months old. I don’t know the details it was before I worked there.

I have been working on heavy equipment for more than 40 years. I do not work on many farm tractors, but I would not own a hydrostatic machine.

A stopped up suction screen, too heavy an oil in extreme cold weather, low oil level, burst hose and trying to move machine to a better place to work on it letting air into the system, and a piece of lint, small particle of dirt will stick a piston in the hydro and grind up the hydro before you can stop the machine. Contaminating the whole system. The parts are expensive!
Customer had a John Deer 700 dozier he bought at auction for a good price. It would not back off low boy. I checked pressures and cut open charge filter. I found fine metal in filter. $46,000 later it was all good again.

Hydrostatic machines are nice to run but in my opinion they are to expensive to run for the average owner.

I like a geared tractor for turning dirt. Powershift or TA or similar is nice pulling big implements but most of y'all would never need it.

I like a power shuttle for loader work. That's got the lever that allows you to go from forward to reverse on the move. Shuttle you have to clutch but same concept.

Hydro Stat I do not like as much. I have one and it is really only great for loader work. You can just keep your hand on the loader controls and steering wheel and you foot does everything else. In that regard it is great.

One problem... Y'all seem to be doing a lot of loader work. I don't use my loader nearly as much as I use the machine to bush hog or do something else. I get about 200 yards down the road bush hoggin and I'm thinking the Hydro stat sucks. Of course you can flip the switch and make it maintain it's speed but it just isn't great IMO.

If your running a front bucket then hydrostat is waaay better.

I don't farm, have a small 1 acre or so garden and 40 acres of mostly woods I use my tractor around the house and and for food plots and such at the club, about 75-100 hrs a year. I would not own a tractor with anything but a hydrostatic transmission for my use.

And your situation represents 80% of folks. That's why they're so popular. Most folks aren't faming 640 acre square sections.

Comparing the transmission of a lawn mower to a bull dozer is like comparing a howitzer to a BB gun. Completely different animals.

I like the hydro better