This tractor is a little bit different than most in that it uses Kubota glide shift transmission. We don't see a whole lot of this transmission anymore and we happen to have one in stock, so we thought, while it was here, we do a quick explanation on exactly how this works. Typically, on most of Kubota's tractors, they're usually sold with hydrostatic transmissions. When you look at most machines under about 60 horsepower or so, hydrostatics are probably 95% of what's out there. There are two other options, though, that you will see in some of the L Series machines that are a little bit more uncommon.
One of those they would refer to as a DT model code, which is a clutched gear type transmission, and the other one is glide shift, a GST. A glide shift is basically a gear transmission that operates in a clutchless manner, a little bit like a power shift would in a big agricultural tractor. There is some intricacies to exactly how this transmission works. Come along here with me and I'll show you exactly how one operates and maybe you'll far that this might be something worth considering for your task.
This tractor has a large mower attached to the back of it, and that's because the customer that's buying this machine is going to almost exclusively mow with it, that's really all they're going to do. The tractor that they're replacing is another Kubota model that has over 10,000 hours on it and still running strong. Literally, these guys are going out for 40 hours a week, kicking this thing into gear, and going and cutting grass with it. It is all that they're doing.
And because they're working under that situation where they're basically at a constant speed all the time, a hydrostatic transmission isn't really the best choice for them. A hydrostatic is constantly pumping fluid through orifices, it generates heat and wear, and in this case, a gear drives transmission can really serve them better because they're going to kick the thing into gear and drive at a constant speed for another 10,000 hours. They've chosen to go with a glide shift tractor for that reason.
Most people who are doing loader work in a variety of applications are best served by a hydro. That's really the best transmission for those cases, but there are applications where this glide shift can be a little bit better.
The operator station is very similar to all of the other Grand L series tractors with some differences here on the shuttle and over here on my left-hand side. On the dash, I have a forward and reverse shuttle, just like any gear drive transmission you would see, is simply lift the shuttle up and move it forward or reverse to change directions. The shuttle is a clutchless shuttle. When you want to change directions, you simply lift the lever and pull to the direction that you want to go and the tractor will clutch and change directions for you. You don't need to be on and off the clutch all the time.
Over here on my left-hand side is a gear selector. You can hear that click as it moves back and forth. There are 12 gears for forward and eight gears for reverse. One of the things that you do need to be aware of on this transmission is when you go through this gear change and the tractor does that clutching for you, it's not doing it under power. There is a slight delay when you pop between these two gears while the tractor clutches and changes gears. That delay can be a little bit problematic if you're operating on hillsides. You can actually feel that there is a moment where the transmission is not engaged and the tractor will slow down.
If you're on a hill slide, you'll slow down, you'll lose speed while the tractor changes gears or if you're in a draft application, say pulling a plow, during that time that you're not under power, the tractor will stop and it'll re-engage and go again. Great applications for loader work, and mowing work, and those kinds of things, but something you need to be aware of it's when the tractor is under load and you make that gear change. There is a short period of time when it's not under power that would differ from say an agricultural tractor with a power shift transmission that is constantly under power and doesn't have that issue.
There are two things on this tractor that make it a step above an old school clutching gears transmission. That's the direction selector up here on the dash and the gear selector down here on my left hand side. When I go between forward and reverse, all I need to do is lift this lever up and push it forward to move the tractor forward. You notice, I did not have to push the clutch pedal down here and change directions. When I want to go backwards I could just pull back to neutral and then pull it into reverse, and I go in reverse. If I even shove it straight forward to rapidly in the other direction, I just simply change directions, and that's all done without grinding of gears or any of that.
The tractor is smart enough to shift the gears and change direction when things are in alignment. The glide shift really makes that directional changing a step easier than a non synchronized direction changing transmission. A hydraulic shuttle and some of the M Series tractors feels are very, very similar to this. This one just mechanically is a little bit different than what an HD transmission is in the M Series machine. The other piece to the puzzle over here is over on my left-hand side, it's this gear selector over on my left. When I'm going in reverse, I have eight reverse gears and 12 forward gears, and when I want to switch those gears, I just simply push this lever and it pops from one to the next.
When I go to forward, I can do the same thing in the forward direction. I can stay on the throttle and just click from one gear to the next. Let me go to a constant throttle speed here. I can go from forth, fifth, to sixth, to seventh, to eighty, to ninety all without touching the clutch. You notice with my gear selector down here, there's a point where the shifter has a little bump to the left of the right. That's there to denote that when you're changing between those gears, the tractor is actually making a range change. Again, this is a glide shift transmission, so you're not clutching or stopping to make that range change like you would on a hydrostatic tractor, it's able to do it for you.
When I'm going forward, and I'm increasing through my gears, I'm sitting here right about 30% throttle. When I go from seventh to eighth, there's a moment there were it just sits and takes a little bit longer to change gears and that's because the tractor is changing ranges at that point. It might be hard to pick up one video, but when I'm sitting here, it takes maybe a half a second to change gears as opposed to a quarter second to change gears. There is a small mechanical difference there that you can notice as you're shifting through the gears.
We go back to the application here for this particular customer. This guy's going to go out, he's going to bring his revs up to 540 for his mower. I'm going to kick the thing into forward and do most of his traveling in one constant speed the entire time. All with gear driven transmissions being more efficient and wearing better over those thousands and thousands of hours than what a hydrostatic is going to. All that said, not to speak badly of hydrostatics, they are 98% of what sold anymore. It's a very very popular transmission but there are applications where this glide shift is still a viable option for particular applications, and that's why Kubota has kept it in the product line.
For us, it's not a tractor to that we would ever stop. We just simply don't see the demand for glide shifts anymore. But if you have an application where you could use something like this, it's certainly a tractor that we can special order for you. If you have a need for machines like this give us a call at Messick's. We're available at 800-222-3373 or online at messicks.com.
