Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire hydrostatic transmission riding mowers

Who has one, what are the pros and cons of them.... Thinking of getting one...

Thanks

Back in 1994 I bought an IH Cub Cadet riding mower. The hydrostatic drive has been great and I have never had a single problem. Very little maintenace too.

I don't think I could recomend a new Cub Cadet since the have been acquired by the MTD junk makers. I bought some deck parts last year, and they aren't half the quality the IH parts were.

I have a Craftsman garden tractor with one. I love it. I also use it for cultivating my garden with a homemade cultivator. I don't think it has the power of a manual as it doesn't have a low range. My tractor has a 26 hp engine. My hunting partner has a 22 hp just like it with the manual. His will out pull mine in heavy stuff. For just mowing, though, I'll take the hydro every time for convenience and ease of use.
Come repair time, though, I suspect he'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

I just got a Husqvarna with the hydrostatic. I haven't had it long enough to offer an opinion on it's durability.

It does make it extremely easy for just about anybody to drive the mower. You just set the throttle on full power and control the speed and forward/reverse with the foot peddle. No shifting, just the peddle.

My only complaint is that it's a little difficult for me to make the transition between my farm tractor and the mower. The right peddle on my tractor is the brake peddle, and the right peddle on the mower is the drive peddle. So I've gotten stop and go mixed up a couple of times on the mower.

I'm pretty sure the Craftsman and the Husky are the same tractor. Most of the parts are interchangable.

I had a sears lawn tractor with hydro. trans. I used it to cut about 2 acres for 10 years without any problems with the trans. Figure I cut the grass 25 times a year (probably more in S. Miss.) That's about 500+ acres of grass.

We've got a JD with hydro, no problems with ours either.

My biggets thing with looking at mowers is things like the bearing carriers for the blades in the deck, front axle & spindle type, that sort of thing.

If you find good heavy cast iron bearing carriers that are greasable in the deck, then you've got a winner.

My JD has cast aluminum housings with sealed non greasable bearings.

(Junk)

Most of the models are pretty close. I got one of the recently discontinued XP models from a Husqvarna dealer. It has the Kawasaki engine, and it's built a bit beefier than the big box store models with comparable hp and cutting width.

Used a couple of John Deere with hydro trans. Traditional lawn tactor types, only complaint is the safety switch you have to push to back up with the pto engaged. Sumer job I had I used a commercial Toro with a 6' mower deck out front, hydro trans, and a suicide knob on the steering wheel. What took close to a week with the old rider I could do in a day with the Toro.

Noduck, you might want to do what I did back in 1994. I visited all the small engine and lawn mower repair shops in the area. Back then almost without exception, they all recomended the John Deere or the Cub Cadet. Some of them had acres of junk lawn mowers from the big box stores. It would be intresting to see what they would recomend today.

My experience is with commercial mowers used in grounds keeping, older Jacobson, or diesel powered Ransome, John Deere, etc. but the hydrostatic drives are best. Hydrostatic transmissions are also used on just about every piece of heavy construction equipment. Keep them serviced by checking the fluid level and adhere to the recommended drain interval and they'll last for years.

If I had an acre or more of turf to mow I'd look at spending the money on a Bob-Cat commercial mower, but that's just me. I bought a three ton diesel truck just to carry my ass around, when a Honda Civic would have done, so don't take me seriously.

I bought a Husky 48", 25 H.P. mower about three years ago. Love the transmission with a lever control, but the mower deck is the poorest excuse I have ever seen. Won't cut anything but dry, dead grass without plugging up every 10 feet.

Myron

I got a 26hp craftsman lawn tractor with 54" deck. the transmission hasn't given me any problems, even with this Bahaia grass that will continue to grow without the slightest hint of rain. I hate having to cut grass in November.

Snow fixes that problem

Don't get too much of that in south Mississippi

Got a Kubota diesel Zturn mower. I have 5 acres and have had no troubles except blades in the 8 years that I have had it. I mow rocks, stumps, logs, bricks, and T post. My wife's Bobcat loader has 2 hydrostats and they were still good when I got through with it with 2600 hrs. on it.
Butch

I have a nine year old Sear's Craftsman rider - the transmission has never caused even the slightest concern - and I mow acres.

Had a John Deere 140 lawn tractor with hydrostatic (built in the early 1970s) and there was no killing it, regardless of the load you'd pull (moving camper trailers, etc.). Great transmission. As others point out, probably better to focus on the mower deck quality and quality of cut. I wouldn't consider a hydrostatic as the weakest link in the system.

Hydrostatic is the way to go they are nearly indestructible. All bobcat skidsteer tractors use them most true heavy equipment uses them. They function differently than a regular trans much tougher design.

I just read a few of the posts. Pardon me if I repeat. You lose a little power with the Hydrostat over the direct transmission. Other than that, I can't see any downside. I've never had any transmission problems with a lawnmower. I've owned an MTD, a Sabre (John Deere) and a John Deere. Both Deere's were hydros and the MTD was shift-on-the-fly. I prefer the Hydro as a transmission, hands-down. Factoring in the cost, I would take an MTD over a Deere. The Cub Cadet line has been much-maligned since MTD took them over, but they are MTD's best and I think MTD themselves build a good machine. The problem is that all the riders have fallen victim to cost-cutting and being cheapened up for profits. A new top-of-the-line John Deere would be far superior to an MTD of any sort, but the expense is tremendous. It's upwards of $8,000 as of several years ago.

Hydro is the way to go though, to answer your question.