Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

FWIW, I bought my 1st 2 stager - Honda unit - without ever demoing a unit that had Hydrostatic Transmission.
Just short of the fact that it's variable infinite speed, can anyone just give me a laymens primer on the benefits of a Hydrostatic Transmission ?


BTW, how often if any do you do a OCI on the hydro transmission.

I was just surprised how much ~harder~ is is to move when not engadged as opposed to ~regular~ geared transmission.
I was at the local orange borg last night and wheeled the Organge buckets around and they wheel so much with ease...

1. The hydrostatic drive has the variable speed forward and reverse like a joystick for one hand control.

2. Hydrostatic has no cable stretch issues and no friction disc to clean or worry about water getting in causing slippage like on the John Deere of 2009 before the new seal kit.

3. Below the unit is a release lever to disengage the transmission to roll around with the engine off. Apparently the person complaing about moving it didn't switch the release.

This high technology cost more but the payback is in ease of use and the elimination of service calls and repairs that everyone is paying on the pressure plate design when your not handy and can't fix or clean it yourself.

PS I saw the comments on Subaru all wheel drive. The A3 transmission is 80% front wheel, 20% rear wheel. The slip correction doesn't occur unless you tap the brake to tell the computer to check the slip differential. The demo on how this works was on a film of a Subaru going up an icy ramp. To make this work in the snow you must take the car out of "D" for over drive and put it in "3" for driving in snow to increase 4 wheel drive ratios and automatic corrections.  The newer models may be different but I know most cars even my Caddy tells you to take it out of "D" and puty  in "3" and there is a special button that looks like a snow flake. From talking to people about this 99% never read the owners manual and always leave the car in drive "D" until after the accident and they read about it or get informed.

 Drive safe, drive smart.

>>>Drive safe, drive smart.

Drive back to New Jersy.

trouts2 wrote:

Or New York   trouts2 wrote:

trouts2 wrote:

+1

Will the real David step forward?

I would say that the biggest advantage of the hydro drives. Is that under any conditions you can match your forward speed to your blower through put capacity.  That fact that you can slow the forward speed down to a little more than a creep under certain conditions.  Is a real plus in my opinion.  I've noticed with my re-powered 1032 Arien.  That I need a little slower forward speed or a little higher through put under maximum snow load conditions.
That would be a full 32" cut with a snow depth to the top of the bucket.  The engine doesn't bog and only drops about 3 to 400 rpm.  But I sometimes have to pause for maybe 2 seconds for the blower to clear part of it's load.
That is the beauty of the hydro trans.  If I had one I could back it down just a little and keep the blower at max through put without over loading it. Matching your forward speed to the snow load is how you achieve maximum snow clearing performance for any blower.  If you move to fast for the load. You lose rpm and everything slows down.  Forward motion and blower through put.
 

jrtrebor wrote:

This may not be relevant but I find that the drive engagement lever in my Toro can be used to creep forward if i just lightly push down on it. I would imagine Ariens would do the same. I only have to use this when I get near the hidden rocks but it does work.

I'd second everything jrtrebor said above in post 33.

As I get more clearing time and familiar with the Honda hydro the more I like it.  Slowing way down in tough going is easy with the hydro compared to friction drive.  With the hydro your hands are free to do a little bucket wiggling or lifting and lowering.  With friction drive and slipping the clutch it's harder to manage the slowed rate while jiggle the machine at the same time.  The rate changes.  That's ok for a short pile or small areas where the going is tough but for a long run of tough going the managing of the drive clutch becomes a hassle.  For a small clearing area it's not so much a big deal but for a big area and constantly haveing to manage the clutch in big snow the hydro makes it easy.  It's easier to the drive rate for a slight plowing of the bucket. Changing speeds is easier.  For many area these advantages are not so great.   The tough areas are not so many and the number of times of big snows few.  The number of wet snows is also a factor. 

The hydro seem very robust and like it could take quite a bit of hard yearly use.  I've talked with a few owners, Honda dealers and service mechanics and they all have the same report that the hydro is well made and stands up over the years.  That also may not be much of a factor for many.  Friction disk last a long time when used right.   I've picked up several of the hydro tracks and a few very beat up from always using bucket forward.  The buckets were ground off a full half in all around the bottom section of the bucket with metal in the back pealed.  Big abuse but hydro fine and also the track components seem unworn. 

The hydro would seem to be a nice feature and worth the extra cost for bigger areas and commercial use.  For a smaller area and with someone who is no so concerned about the price compared to a decent friction drive machine a hydro would be ok.  

Yes you can do the same on an Ariens as on a Toro.  Just feather or lightly engage the drive to move a little slower.  But that is actually allowing the drive plate to slip on the friction wheel a bit. Which if done for to long will heat up the rubber on the wheel. Taken to the extreme you could flat spot the fiction wheel if this was done under an extreme snow load. Which is when the slower speed is sometimes needed the most.  But having said all that feathering the drive is alright as long as the wheels are continuing  to spin while feathering.  That tells a person that the fiction wheel is spinning and not being held in one place and burning.

But as trout said being able to just adjust and set the Hydro speed and forget it, makes things simpler a lot easier. While you sometimes wrestle with the blower itself.