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Hydro vs. Grear drive

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gwsmith

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Messages
77
displayname
glen smith
I have both and prefer my hydro over the gear drive so far, might change when i get a creeper gear, but can't see it changing.....I had a hard time snowblowing with the gear drive, too much shifting/clutching for me....
 
It just depends on the condition of your hydro in my opinion. I love my 123, but it is a piece of garbage after the weights went on. I need to just drop a better transmission in it but I just put up with it for now because it is too envolved since I have school and work.
 
Hydros all the way
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,and don't look back!!!
 
For use with a plow: Gear Drive
For use with the blade, snowthrower, mower: Hydro

If I could pick only one: Gear drive
 
wyatt....would that only be if you also have the creeper.....or gear drive stand alone?
 
Creeper with hydraulic lift, a creeper IMHO makes using a tiller turn out so nice and even. Haven't needed a snowthrower in IA for the past two years otherwise the creeper is nice for a snowthrower.

I used to have a 72 with a K301, ceeper and hyd lift, probably about the best all-around tractor I've owned, but my 169 isn't too bad either!
 
Guess I'm with Wyatt I love my 123-127 but las spring tilling gardens with the 127, I was constantly fightin the hydro. Someday I'll find a nice 12hp gear drive with creeper
 
You MOW with a Hydro and use a gear drive for running around and moving trailers. I haven't done enough plowing to know what is best I suspect a gear drive with enough power, correct weight and tires would be the best as long as your not running up on someone plowing slower than you. As for using a snow thrower you are better off just moving to Arizona so you don't have that problem.
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Richard,

With enough power, the gear drive just throttles back.......BUT the Hyd. lift afforded by many of the later model hydros is a godsend.

I have both, and am building a warm gear drive for plowing, etc....but forced to pick one tractor for EVERYTHING, it would be my 782-dual hyd. or my 149 dual hyd. (woun't force myself into picking one of those 2, because neither one is going anywhere for a long time......they love life in my shed and that's where they will stay!!!)
 
Steve, I hope you intend to let them out once in a while...... :eek:)
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>quote:</font>

...they love life in my shed and that's where they will stay!!!<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
 
I agree with Wyatt. A gear drive with creeper and hydraulic lift is the perfect tilling tractor. When I had my tiller on my repowered 70, it did a fantastic job of tilling. The only problem was that it only hard arm strong lift. I put the tiller on the 129 and that hydraulic lift is great but you are always fighting for the perfect speed. Plowing is a toss up but I like the hydros better. Since a gear drive, especially the higher horsepower ones, do not have the right speeds. 2nd gear is a little slow and unless you put a 14 0r 16 and a beefed up clutch in it, you do not have enough power to go in 3rd. Mowing and throwing snow, give me a hydro any day. I have one gear drive and the other 4 are hydros. The gear drive is the around the yard job tractor like for aerating, fertizer spreading, and so forth. The hydros do the main work like mowing and snow removal. I just wish my homemade 48" blade would go on the 149. Then I would have the best of both units for the snow.
 
Steve B.
I agree the 782 with a M-18 is about as nice a tractor as you can find. Now if I could get a 782D or newer version I would have to give it a good test, but I bet I would like it.
 
I have a pretty good assortment of tractors.
The only job that I use a gear drive for is
spraying weed killer with a pull behind sprayer.
It is better for this since you need to maintain
an exact speed. For everything else I use hydros.
 
TODD - I agree 100% on the spraying. I tried spraying with My 129 one time.... I was spraying around trees & stuff and quickly ran out of hands. I could stop and spray a spot, but I had to stop spraying to steer and move the hydro lever forward. Where as with the gear drive 72 one foot controls stop AND go. Takes half a second and one brain cell to shift from reverse to 1st and back to change directions.... And the constant speed sure makes for even coverage when broadcast spraying.
 
My biggest problem with gear drives comes from my need to mow "square corners". I HATE the "so-so" job a mower (any type) does when corners are "rounded" and not cut square. Square corners make for a LOT of shifting with a gear drive, and using lands wastes a lot of mowing time.

The hydro is QUEEN for this type of work, seconded only by KING ZTR.

Gear drives are also very nice for broadcast spreading, arerating, grass/leaf sweeping, etc. due to their steady speed/part throttle operation.
 
Steve - I agree with you 100%. I used my 106 last spring to aerate, thatch, and spread fertilizer on my lawn. I ran it in 2nd gear about 1/3-1/2 throttle. I ran it for over 5 hours on one tank of fuel that day. Very economical way of getting it done. It is the main use I have for it other than snow removal. That 106 will start when it is -20 outside and sitting in front of the open door on my shed. My 109, 129, and 149 will not start when it gets below 0. The 1650 I have not had a chance to really test it yet below 0.
 
Steve, WES - Must be nice to have a "Square Yard" My yard is kinda sorta triangular, but actually has four sides..... Guess you call it a "Polygon". Just ask Wyatt. So I mow in ever decreasing length lands after about two rounds around the outside. And the direction I mow changes every time I mow. The faster 2nd gear of the 72 is nice for light duty jobs but not great for mowing. The 2nd in the 70 is a real good mowing gear. And I always preferred the Hydro 129 for pulling the sweeper. 2nd on the 72 wasn't fast enough and 3rd was too fast.
I do agree for mowing "Square Corners" a pull, and then push on the hydro with a tug or two on the wheel gets You a nice square corner about as quick as You can imagine, and Your always at the right speed for the conditions....doing the best mowing job.
And I put the snow blower on the 72 just because it fits.... but I sure wish it was on the 129, the Hydro & extra 2 HP would really make a difference.
 
Denny,

Mine is a rectangular acre, but there is so much crap to mow around (house, trees, fence, flower beds, sheds, landscaping......) that it get's pretty wild to try and mow!!!
 
When We bought Our 2.3 acres 12 yrs ago We had something just over 100 trees, shrubs, bushes, plants, etc. We've "Pruned" a little since then with the chainsaw, and tractor & log chain..... What's really sad is two years ago I lost a Mountain Ash right next to the house, a Scotch Pine, and a Varigated Maple all in the same winter. The Maple & Pine were over 25 ft tall! Time to set some more out to replace them this spring....
 
Denny - I know what you are saying about the fast 2nd gear. The 106 has the same gearing and it was too fast to mow in. I was very happy when I had a 48" deck given to me. I put that on it and it worked great. I had just the right power to mow almost any where in 1st and still got done quicker with the wider deck. The surprising thing is that I go almost as fast as 2nd gear while mowing with my 129 and 50" deck. It must be those 16-6.50 in the front that makes the ride smoother over the 4.8 on the 106. I went from taking 3 hours to mow with the 106/42 to 2.25 with the 106/48 to about 1.5 hours with the 129/50. My 1.5 acre yard is also a polygon with some trees, garage, 30x50 shed, garden, u-shaped gravel driveway, and house spread out over it.
 
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