Power shift, syncro, CVT, or non synchronized transmission

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Never had a CVT, at least not yet, they seem to
becoming the trend. While I have had powershift
and syncro/powershift tractors. Tractors with
synchronized transmission, and old tractors with a
great bow never built to shift on the go. All the
tractors I have owned, with their different
transmissions work well enough in the field. It?s
when you need to haul a load down the road the
difference starts to really show up. Farms get farther
apart, and loads get bigger and heavier, so harder
to get them rolling and keep them rolling on hills.
Which style of transmission works best for you? I
am not a huge fan of straight powershift, really liked
the combination of synchronized gears and
powershift my old 5140CaseIH tractor had. Just get
feed up with trying to road travel with a old tractor
like my IH 966 , fine in the field with its TA, but just a
drag to haul down the road. What?s your experience
been?
 
Tractor of choice for on road use in the Shenandoah Valley of VA seems to be the Fendt tractors with the CVT those things fly on the road,met 3 coming across Swift Run Gap on US 33 on the Blue Ridge Mountains this week,They had been on my side spreading manure.Group of Mennonites that do custom work own most of them.
 
Driven several makes of tractors with a synchronized trans.....with a bit of practice you can shift smoother than a lot of power shift transmissions. Field or road, that would be my preference. In the long run, likely less expensive to maintain and some are easier on fuel than their power shift counterparts.
Ben
 
(quoted from post at 04:12:39 11/21/18) Tractor of choice for on road use in the Shenandoah Valley of VA seems to be the Fendt tractors with the CVT those things fly on the road,met 3 coming across Swift Run Gap on US 33 on the Blue Ridge Mountains this week,They had been on my side spreading manure.Group of Mennonites that do custom work own most of them.

Traditional, which side are you on?
 
I used to shift both my D21 and 7045 Allis tractors the same way I shift my semi. Bump the throttle and shift. Worked well pulling 16 big round bales down a sand road.
 
They were in my area last week. Farmer told me yesterday they spread a million gallons of liquid manure in 2 days. We are close to 150 miles from where these guys live and they drive the tractors on the highway and pull their spreaders,pump and pickup truck behind them. This is an awesome operation.
 
When I got a 4020D power shift and found I could start a full load from a dead stop and move right up to full road speed without hesitation, I was amazed. I suppose the limitation is number of speeds. They addressed that long enough ago. Also, with a clutch pedal and gas pedal, I could smooth out the shifts as necessary. NO grinding of gears. No dry clutch to be replacing.

Then the CaseIH 7240. I can't imagine I'll ever have a tractor I like better than this one. There may be one out there, but I can't afford/justify it!

I have a CaseIH 5230. I bought it based on the performance of the 7240. It's OK, but it's had plenty of problems.
 
I forgot to add that I have a Jeep Patriot with what is, I guess, a CVT trans? I wonder how they will be holding up decades from now with heavy tractor use? Or will it not matter as the tractors will be immobilized by electrical issues?
 
For a loader, mowing, baling, general livestock chore tractor the CVT is hard to beat. Infinite speed control, most have forward reverse shuttle. Some you don't need to use the clutch (inching) pedal at all.
Being newer, most have decent road speed. Also economy PTOs are common so you can run less rpm and still have your ground speed.

Downside is, we are still waiting to find out what the longevity will be.
 
We have had all except a CVT tractor as well although have a hydrostatic 50 hp too. We owned a CVT car a 1990 or so Subaru Justy. It was very interesting to drive.

I'd give a CVT tractor a go, my biggest complaint of power shifts on the road is the banging of the load and tractor when shifting in models that are aggressive. I know some like the NH8160 I use at times are soft but they are eating clutch discs during the shift. Our Kubota M120 and Allis 7010 ps are aggressive/firm shifters.

I do know I won't buy another straight synchro with only a gear split ps, it will be a 3 or 4 step minimum. Wish our MF 5455 was a Dyna 4 rather than a speed shift model.
 
I personally like a 15-19 Speed Power shift transmission. The newer ones the boys have the IVT. It is nice but not some thing you want an inexperienced hired man in. Where I like the straight power shift is why I only personally own 60 series and older JD tractors. Easy to tell anyone the number of gear you want them to be using.
 
Bruce the three cvt s I have sold are getting high marks. So far the owners love them. Kubota must think it is the coming thing because they bought into it in a big way.
 
My neighbour has a Deere CVT, around 120 hp, about 10yrs old. Sorry, don't know the model. Last yr the transmission went out. Some pump inside it. Deere would not repair, just replace the trans. Over $10,000. Somewhere, somehow, he came upon a NH or ?, but not Deere, but another brandname dealership that would fix it. Same pump, not sure if same tranny too, in one of theirs. Part had to come from Germany and a long wait. $6000.00 and 2 months later it was back at work. Other than that he loves the CVT, not so much Deere. That's his newest and last (he says) of 3 Deeres. They also have a big older, bigger Ford and Steiger.
cvphoto3229.jpg
 
I am not impressed with the CVT's in cars so I sure wouldn't want one in a tractor. Ford had a terrible time with them. Still fighting lawsuits. Nissan is having the same problem. Had to extend the warranty on the early ones because of failure. Figured they had it dialed in by now but they don't. Best friend has a 16 Altima back from the dealer last week. 56,000 miles and the cvt exploded. At that rate it will need four or five transmission's in it's lifetime. No thanks!
 
It's not just the early Nissans that have issue. My secretary had a 2014 Sentra with CVT. It started to shudder at times - almost like it was shifting. Brought it to the Nissan dealer (20K miles) and they noticed the same thing. She asked them when she could bring it in to get it fixed and the mechanic told her they didn't fix it. The transmission had to fail before they would touch it. I helped her look it up and it appeared most of these with the issue hers had would fail around 50 to 70 thousand miles. Warranty runs out at 60K. She traded it later that week for Hyundai Elantra with a 100K warranty.
 
One thing people need to keep in mind is that a CVT in a car works entirely different than a CVT in a tractor - the two have nothing in common except for the ability to provide infinitely variable ratios. The automotive ones are basically a belt drive between variable diameter sheaves. However, a tractor CVT works by combining parallel-path mechanical and hydrostatic drives together with the drive ratio being determined by how fast the hydro portion is rotating. Being that the bulk of the power is till being transferred through the mechanical system the efficiency is on par with a powershift which is much greater than what a pure hydro would provide. The overall system is actually much less complex than a powershift transmission with fewer components.
 
Ran an AGCO with cvt at the dairy you?d love it . 0 to 30 mph with and just as smooth as when you drive a new car and push on the gas . And as has been said they are not like a cvt in an automobile at all they are a planatery gear set with hydraulic motors driving the sun gear to give it a Infinitely variable speed where there?s a gap in between the gears the pump takes over and gives you that? in between speed
 
I have used an Agco RT180 cvt and really liked it. It was smooth and real easy to run. We just did not have the need for the cvt and the extra cost so it went back to the dealer.

I really like the auto 6 transmissions in the agco?s now callled dyna 6 in massey red. There is a 4 speed version in the smaller ones. It has 4 ranges that have to be clutched but 4 or 6 power shifts in each range. It allows you more flexibility than a straight power shift.
 
That?s what I do with my IH 886. I know where the RPM needs to be to fall into the next gear. I do love the 19 speed transmission in the 7800 Deere for baling and things. It?s so nice to move up and down several gears. I think the old IH crash box is more reliable but maybe that?s just me being a fuddy duddy.
 
I've got the old junk, from straight-cut gears to quad-range and synchro. Of those I probably like the synchro best- wish my reverser was in the loader tractor.

The units I run for my buddy: 7520 is CVT with reverser, it's okay, not a huge fan of using the reverser lever for park. The 8300 has the CVT that I really can get good with pulling wagons down the road. The 8530 has the CVT with the little thumb wheel on the shift lever to scroll up or down inside the two ranges. That is really easy to say "run at 4-5.5mph" and with the Auto MFWD, it will just stay right where you set it regardless of terrain or conditions. With the GPS steering and the easy shifting, you almost forget you are working, until you see the acres you are eating.
 
I ran a Agco ivt, about 10 years ago,mowing roadsides and cutting brush, with a midmount 20 ft reach boom. Took a while to get the hang of, but the mower not the tractor. It would go faster or slower with either hand. But for a loader tractor a foot operated hydro is my pick. We have a 126GX Kubota 8 power shifted gears in 3 sycro ranges. Enough overlap can start a load in 1st high. But if you don't let it get full speed in every gear it is a rough shifter.
 
Been running ivt deeres for bout 7 years now and as far as smooth and ease of operation go . ivt is the best if you properly train a person.
 

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