Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the engine's
power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven conical
clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty much
comparable?

cheers

Jules

On Dec 22, 4:05*pm, Jules Richardson
wrote:
Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the engine's
power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven conical
clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? *Or are they pretty much
comparable?

Yes, it does, but hydrostatic drive mowers typically come equipped
with more powerful engines to compensate for the additional load.

I know my hydrostatic drive mower will mow at top speed unless the
grass is really heavy and has lots of clippings from previous mowings
in it.

Jules Richardson wrote:

Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the engine's
power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven conical
clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty much
comparable?

cheers

Jules

I believe a little more of the energy will be dissipated as heat in the
hydraulic fluid, but it's pretty insignificant. The operational
advantages of a hydrostatic drive more than make up for it.

"Jules Richardson" wrote in message
...

Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the engine's
power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven conical
clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty much
comparable?

cheers

Jules

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid about
$500 to replace it.

On 12/22/2011 4:05 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:

Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the engine's
power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven conical
clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty much
comparable?

cheers

Jules


Like others said yes there is some power loss with a hydro but it really
is worth it. I have foot pedal hydro. The further I press the pedal
forward the faster I go, for reverse I use the heel of my foot.

On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
....

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine Green
as opposed to a box store imitation.)

--

dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine Green
as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On 12/22/2011 7:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts of
equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?

TDD

"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
...
On 12/22/2011 7:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts of
equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?

TDD


My unit that lasted only six years was completely sealed. The tractor
manual instructed never to service it myself.

It is very difficult to remove and reinstall, but if removed, there is a
removable cap for the hydro fluid. You have to use a special fluid (per
their instructions, but I think a heavy weight oil will work) and measure
carefully. Only a thin stick will fit in the hole to measure the fluid
level, so I took a wooden chinese food chopstick and marked the graduated
lengths in pen.

My hydro unit is Peerless/Techumseh LTH2000, and after it failed, I
researched it and found this particular model to be notoriously unreliable.
Unfortunately the replacement is the same model. Hopefully the newer one
has reliability fixes in place. We'll see.

It didn't help that I used my lawn tractor for the six years towing behind
an aerator with heavy weights to get the tines to penetrate the soil, and
put a plow blade on the front to plow my driveway. Lessons learned. I now
have a snow blower for the driveway, and when aerating will do so less often
and with much less weight.

On 12/22/2011 8:56 PM, The Daring Dufas wrote:
....

Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts of
equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?
....

Check hydraulic level annually...there is a filter on the return line;
it has been replaced once I believe. Hours are pretty high on the
schedule and as a yard tractor it doesn't get hours like field tractors
do...

--

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:34:40 -0800, dennisgauge wrote:

On Dec 22, 4:05Â*pm, Jules Richardson
wrote:
Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Â*Or are they pretty
much comparable?

Yes, it does, but hydrostatic drive mowers typically come equipped with
more powerful engines to compensate for the additional load.

Aha, OK - thanks, I had a feeling that might be the case.

I've got a line on a Snapper mower with hydro drive; apparently it smokes
and sounds like it's way down on power (but owner says the hydro is
good). As the asking price is getting on for beer money I'm tempted to
take the risk on it - the fault might be something simple (flywheel key,
fouled carb etc.)

If the engine is snafu then one possiblilty was swapping my 11HP B&S
engine in (the one it's got is a 14.5HP) as I think the mount pattern
will be the same, and it shouldn't need a lot of effort to hook up
throttle, fuel etc.

Sounds like that's not an option though - the 11HP with my current
tractor struggles a little with some patches of our lawn as it is, so
dropping it into something with hydro would only make it worse.

cheers

Jules

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:00:23 -0500, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:

"Jules Richardson" wrote in message
...

Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty
much comparable?

cheers

Jules

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

Ouch! See my reply to Dennis; supposedly the hydro on this one I've found
is good, but of course I'd be taking the seller's word for it. I think my
current lawn tractor's about 26 years old; it's rather fun keeping it
running, but it has a few 'quirks' - one with hydro would be nice as then
I could talk my boy into doing the lawns when I was feeling lazy (we've
got a couple of acres, so it takes a while).

cheers

Jules

On 12/23/2011 9:15 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:00:23 -0500, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:

"Jules wrote in message
...

Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty
much comparable?

cheers

Jules

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

Ouch! See my reply to Dennis; supposedly the hydro on this one I've found
is good, but of course I'd be taking the seller's word for it. I think my
current lawn tractor's about 26 years old; it's rather fun keeping it
running, but it has a few 'quirks' - one with hydro would be nice as then
I could talk my boy into doing the lawns when I was feeling lazy (we've
got a couple of acres, so it takes a while).

cheers

Jules



think goats

On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:21:49 -0700, chaniarts wrote:

On 12/23/2011 9:15 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:00:23 -0500, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:

"Jules wrote in
message ...

Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup
(belt-driven conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are
they pretty much comparable?

cheers

Jules

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

Ouch! See my reply to Dennis; supposedly the hydro on this one I've
found is good, but of course I'd be taking the seller's word for it. I
think my current lawn tractor's about 26 years old; it's rather fun
keeping it running, but it has a few 'quirks' - one with hydro would be
nice as then I could talk my boy into doing the lawns when I was
feeling lazy (we've got a couple of acres, so it takes a while).

think goats

Unfortunately snow-cover here is typically 5 months of the year, so
feeding them during that time would be expensive. Not to mention that I'd
have to fence all the land off (people around here just don't really 'do'
property boundaries - we all wander across each others' land when on
walks, and there's a nice shared spot between us and the neighbors to the
east which the kids use to play soccer, baseball etc.)

I keep my eyes peeled for an old tractor and pull-along mower to restore
as that'd take care of it pretty quick, but no luck so far...

cheers

Jules

On 12/22/2011 8:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


My 35+ year old Bolens hydro garden tractor is still running great. I
just gave it a paint job recently.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:56:13 -0500, "Dimitrios Paskoudniakis"
wrote:


"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
...
On 12/22/2011 7:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts of
equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?

TDD


My unit that lasted only six years was completely sealed. The tractor
manual instructed never to service it myself.

It is very difficult to remove and reinstall, but if removed, there is a
removable cap for the hydro fluid. You have to use a special fluid (per
their instructions, but I think a heavy weight oil will work) and measure
carefully. Only a thin stick will fit in the hole to measure the fluid
level, so I took a wooden chinese food chopstick and marked the graduated
lengths in pen.

My hydro unit is Peerless/Techumseh LTH2000, and after it failed, I
researched it and found this particular model to be notoriously unreliable.
Unfortunately the replacement is the same model. Hopefully the newer one
has reliability fixes in place. We'll see.

It didn't help that I used my lawn tractor for the six years towing behind
an aerator with heavy weights to get the tines to penetrate the soil, and
put a plow blade on the front to plow my driveway. Lessons learned. I now
have a snow blower for the driveway, and when aerating will do so less often
and with much less weight.
My unit uses 5W20 synthetic engine oil IIRC - it's a Yamaha

On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:10:07 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:34:40 -0800, dennisgauge wrote:

On Dec 22, 4:05Â*pm, Jules Richardson
wrote:
Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Â*Or are they pretty
much comparable?

Yes, it does, but hydrostatic drive mowers typically come equipped with
more powerful engines to compensate for the additional load.

Aha, OK - thanks, I had a feeling that might be the case.

I've got a line on a Snapper mower with hydro drive; apparently it smokes
and sounds like it's way down on power (but owner says the hydro is
good). As the asking price is getting on for beer money I'm tempted to
take the risk on it - the fault might be something simple (flywheel key,
fouled carb etc.)

If the engine is snafu then one possiblilty was swapping my 11HP B&S
engine in (the one it's got is a 14.5HP) as I think the mount pattern
will be the same, and it shouldn't need a lot of effort to hook up
throttle, fuel etc.

Sounds like that's not an option though - the 11HP with my current
tractor struggles a little with some patches of our lawn as it is, so
dropping it into something with hydro would only make it worse.

cheers

Jules
Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

On 12/23/2011 7:56 AM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:

"The Daring Dufas" wrote in message
...
On 12/22/2011 7:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts
of equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?

TDD


My unit that lasted only six years was completely sealed. The tractor
manual instructed never to service it myself.

It is very difficult to remove and reinstall, but if removed, there is a
removable cap for the hydro fluid. You have to use a special fluid (per
their instructions, but I think a heavy weight oil will work) and
measure carefully. Only a thin stick will fit in the hole to measure the
fluid level, so I took a wooden chinese food chopstick and marked the
graduated lengths in pen.

My hydro unit is Peerless/Techumseh LTH2000, and after it failed, I
researched it and found this particular model to be notoriously
unreliable. Unfortunately the replacement is the same model. Hopefully
the newer one has reliability fixes in place. We'll see.

It didn't help that I used my lawn tractor for the six years towing
behind an aerator with heavy weights to get the tines to penetrate the
soil, and put a plow blade on the front to plow my driveway. Lessons
learned. I now have a snow blower for the driveway, and when aerating
will do so less often and with much less weight.

Sealed hydraulic units that I've serviced were filled with a silicone
oil having a very wide operating temperature range. The units rarely
leaked and the closest replacement for the factory fill I found was
silicone brake fluid from auto parts suppliers.

TDD

On 12/24/2011 12:05 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:10:07 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:34:40 -0800, dennisgauge wrote:

On Dec 22, 4:05 pm, Jules
wrote:
Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty
much comparable?

Yes, it does, but hydrostatic drive mowers typically come equipped with
more powerful engines to compensate for the additional load.

Aha, OK - thanks, I had a feeling that might be the case.

I've got a line on a Snapper mower with hydro drive; apparently it smokes
and sounds like it's way down on power (but owner says the hydro is
good). As the asking price is getting on for beer money I'm tempted to
take the risk on it - the fault might be something simple (flywheel key,
fouled carb etc.)

If the engine is snafu then one possiblilty was swapping my 11HP B&S
engine in (the one it's got is a 14.5HP) as I think the mount pattern
will be the same, and it shouldn't need a lot of effort to hook up
throttle, fuel etc.

Sounds like that's not an option though - the 11HP with my current
tractor struggles a little with some patches of our lawn as it is, so
dropping it into something with hydro would only make it worse.

cheers

Jules
Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
Belts are also power robbers. If the old one had a belt drive used as
a clutch, that will waste some power.

On 12/24/2011 9:07 AM, Tony Miklos wrote:
....

Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
....

They're not suitable for steep inclines, however. Tried one in TN; had
to give it up. It tended to "run away" downhill too badly. Of course,
it was a pretty good incline. Went back to standard transmission for
that application. Other than that, I'd recommend over shifting for any
of any size, also...

--

On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:07:00 -0500, Tony Miklos
wrote:

On 12/24/2011 12:05 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:10:07 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:34:40 -0800, dennisgauge wrote:

On Dec 22, 4:05 pm, Jules
wrote:
Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? Or are they pretty
much comparable?

Yes, it does, but hydrostatic drive mowers typically come equipped with
more powerful engines to compensate for the additional load.

Aha, OK - thanks, I had a feeling that might be the case.

I've got a line on a Snapper mower with hydro drive; apparently it smokes
and sounds like it's way down on power (but owner says the hydro is
good). As the asking price is getting on for beer money I'm tempted to
take the risk on it - the fault might be something simple (flywheel key,
fouled carb etc.)

If the engine is snafu then one possiblilty was swapping my 11HP B&S
engine in (the one it's got is a 14.5HP) as I think the mount pattern
will be the same, and it shouldn't need a lot of effort to hook up
throttle, fuel etc.

Sounds like that's not an option though - the 11HP with my current
tractor struggles a little with some patches of our lawn as it is, so
dropping it into something with hydro would only make it worse.

cheers

Jules
Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
Belts are also power robbers. If the old one had a belt drive used as
a clutch, that will waste some power.
And the darn friction disc variable speed drives slip like a bugger
when they get wet - which is why my new snow blower is a Hydro.

On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:05:02 -0500, clare wrote:
Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

You should be able to do that with the belt-drive ones too so long as you
tickle the clutch in the right way - it's really just a CVT (as once used
by DAF etc. in some cars), apart from the serrated part which locks the
shift lever into certain 'gears'.

But yes, it's probably a lot easier with hydro :-)

On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:39:05 -0600, dpb wrote:
They're not suitable for steep inclines, however.

That's useful info - I do have a culvert out front which I usually mow
(County come along and do it once in a while, but not often enough) and
the sides of that are quite steep (of course I mow it lengthways, but
still go crossways at the ends to turn around)

cheers

Jules

On Dec 24, 8:49*am, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:39:05 -0600, dpb wrote:
They're not suitable for steep inclines, however.

That's useful info - I do have a culvert out front which I usually mow
(County come along and do it once in a while, but not often enough) and
the sides of that are quite steep (of course I mow it lengthways, but
still go crossways at the ends to turn around)

cheers

Jules

It wouldn't be a problem for a short turn.

Harry K

On Dec 24, 8:03*am, wrote:
On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:07:00 -0500, Tony Miklos





wrote:
On 12/24/2011 12:05 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:10:07 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
*wrote:

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:34:40 -0800, dennisgauge wrote:

On Dec 22, 4:05 pm, Jules
wrote:
Does hydraulic drive on a lawn tractor typically sap more of the
engine's power to operate than good a old-fashioned setup (belt-driven
conical clutch and reversing gear in the diff)? *Or are they pretty
much comparable?

Yes, it does, but hydrostatic drive mowers typically come equipped with
more powerful engines to compensate for the additional load.

Aha, OK - thanks, I had a feeling that might be the case.

I've got a line on a Snapper mower with hydro drive; apparently it smokes
and sounds like it's way down on power (but owner says the hydro is
good). As the asking price is getting on for beer money I'm tempted to
take the risk on it - the fault might be something simple (flywheel key,
fouled carb etc.)

If the engine is snafu then one possiblilty was swapping my 11HP B&S
engine in (the one it's got is a 14.5HP) as I think the mount pattern
will be the same, and it shouldn't need a lot of effort to hook up
throttle, fuel etc.

Sounds like that's not an option though - the 11HP with my current
tractor struggles a little with some patches of our lawn as it is, so
dropping it into something with hydro would only make it worse.

cheers

Jules
* Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. *You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
*Belts are also power robbers. *If the old one had a belt drive used as
a clutch, that will waste some power.

*And the darn friction disc variable speed drives slip like a bugger
when they get wet - which is why my new snow blower is a Hydro.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Amen to that. Mine, a few years old, sometimes need a trip up/down
the shifting mechanism befoe I can get it moving. Doing it over it
also would have a hydro.

Harry K

On Dec 24, 8:45*am, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:05:02 -0500, clare wrote:
*Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

You should be able to do that with the belt-drive ones too so long as you
tickle the clutch in the right way - it's really just a CVT (as once used
by DAF etc. in some cars), apart from the serrated part which locks the
shift lever into certain 'gears'.

But yes, it's probably a lot easier with hydro :-)

No "probably" about it. Tickle one pedal with a toe, or use one foot
on clutch, one on gearshift and steer with the other. Yes, I got
quite good at "shift on the go" and was a confimed, dedicated "manual
tranny" guy on all my work equipment...until I got my JD rider with
hydro. No more manuals for me ever.

Harry K

On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:39:05 -0600, dpb wrote:

On 12/24/2011 9:07 AM, Tony Miklos wrote:
...

Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
...

They're not suitable for steep inclines, however. Tried one in TN; had
to give it up. It tended to "run away" downhill too badly. Of course,
it was a pretty good incline. Went back to standard transmission for
that application. Other than that, I'd recommend over shifting for any
of any size, also...
a properly operating hydro will NOT over-run - in fact they brake
very effectively

On 12/24/2011 10:39 AM, dpb wrote:
On 12/24/2011 9:07 AM, Tony Miklos wrote:
...

Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
...

They're not suitable for steep inclines, however. Tried one in TN; had
to give it up. It tended to "run away" downhill too badly. Of course, it
was a pretty good incline. Went back to standard transmission for that
application. Other than that, I'd recommend over shifting for any of any
size, also...

I'm in TN on a very steep incline and the hydro is much better than gear
drive. Then again my 1970's hydro is probably four times the power of
the toys being sold today. As far as how steep my incline is, I should
measure it someday, it's pretty friggen steep!

On 12/24/2011 11:49 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:39:05 -0600, dpb wrote:
They're not suitable for steep inclines, however.

That's useful info - I do have a culvert out front which I usually mow
(County come along and do it once in a while, but not often enough) and
the sides of that are quite steep (of course I mow it lengthways, but
still go crossways at the ends to turn around)

cheers

Jules

If you can mow it lengthways, it's not very steep compared to what I mow
up and downhill with my hydro.

On 12/24/2011 3:55 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:39:05 -0600, wrote:

On 12/24/2011 9:07 AM, Tony Miklos wrote:
...

Except with the hydro you can "gear down" on the run.

Exactly. You can also speed up over some thin parts of the lawn with no
shifting to worry about.
...

They're not suitable for steep inclines, however. Tried one in TN; had
to give it up. It tended to "run away" downhill too badly. Of course,
it was a pretty good incline. Went back to standard transmission for
that application. Other than that, I'd recommend over shifting for any
of any size, also...
a properly operating hydro will NOT over-run - in fact they brake
very effectively

Exactly. Going down my very steep grade if I take my foot off the hydro
pedal, it's about like putting it into low gear. Just push with my heel
a bit and it's stopped.

The Daring Dufas wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 7:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts of
equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?

The B&S engine has no oil filter. The hydro tranny has no filter either
nor does it require oil changes or maintenance since it is sealed.
The only regular maintenance has been replacing the plugs, oil, and air
filter.
It does look like ****, though. Scrapes, dents, cracked plastic body
parts, and a torn seat cover held together with duct tape.
A new seat would cost around $60 (US) but as I have learned, when you
replace a non-essential part just for looks, an expensive essential part
will fail shortly thereafter. :-)


--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On 12/25/2011 11:00 AM, willshak wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 7:02 PM, willshak wrote:
dpb wrote the following:
On 12/22/2011 6:00 PM, Dimitrios Paskoudniakis wrote:
...

FWIW, after six years my hydrostatic drive crapped out. I just paid
about $500 to replace it.

FWIW, after 15 at least, (I forget just when it was purchased) the
hydrostatic drive is just fine here... (It is, of course, Genuine
Green as opposed to a box store imitation.)

My lesser box store (Agway) Murray built 18 hp hydrostatic garden
tractor is still going after 15 or so years too. It also is used year
round. Mowing though the grass growing months and snow-blowing through
the non-grass growing ones.


Maintenance and cleanliness of the lubrication system keeps all sorts
of equipment alive. What sort of maintenance do you perform on your
hydrostatic drive garden tractor? I'm guessing the 18 hp motor has an
oil filter, does the hydraulic system also have a filter?

The B&S engine has no oil filter. The hydro tranny has no filter either
nor does it require oil changes or maintenance since it is sealed.
The only regular maintenance has been replacing the plugs, oil, and air
filter.
It does look like ****, though. Scrapes, dents, cracked plastic body
parts, and a torn seat cover held together with duct tape.
A new seat would cost around $60 (US) but as I have learned, when you
replace a non-essential part just for looks, an expensive essential part
will fail shortly thereafter. :-)


So it was the new paint job my 70's Bolens got that caused the starter
to bite the dust! It looks nice but it doesn't move so well right now.

Got to get the other older (late 60's) gear drive cousin Bolens I call
"Rustbucket" ready with a plow and chains in case we get any snow.