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Gear Drives - Tell Me About Them


leeave96

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While my Agco Allis 918H is in hybernation waiting for warm weather to re-kindle the "get it running" effort with my Boys, I have a question regarding gear drive Simplicity tractors.

From time to time I will see a gear drive "Sovereign" style tractor come up for sale. Don't read a lot of posts on these, mostly hydro.

Question is - were these gear drive tractors heavy duty ground engaging machines capable of pulling a moldboard plow like their hydro brethren?

How many gears were they, did they have a high/low range? Separate clutch and brake?

I assume they used the same ground supporting deck as the hydro tractors? Manual lift or electric?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Bill

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quote:Originally posted by leeave96

While my Agco Allis 918H is in hybernation waiting for warm weather to re-kindle the "get it running" effort with my Boys, I have a question regarding gear drive Simplicity tractors.From time to time I will see a gear drive "Sovereign" style tractor come up for sale. Don't read a lot of posts on these, mostly hydro.Question is - were these gear drive tractors heavy duty ground engaging machines capable of pulling a moldboard plow like their hydro brethren?How many gears were they, did they have a high/low range? Separate clutch and brake?I assume they used the same ground supporting deck as the hydro tractors? Manual lift or electric?Any info would be appreciated.Thanks!Bill


id="quote">
id="quote">The gear drive tractors will actually put more power to the ground than a hydro. Hydraulic transfer of power typically loses 15-20% of the power to heat (caused by oil shear, leakage, bypassing, etc). The gear drive Simplicity tractors may lose a slight bit of power due to friction on the pulleys and belts (compared to a direct drive system like the horizontal shaft Cub Cadets have), but they are much more efficient than than hydrostats. That's why garden tractor pullers almost always use gear-drive machines -- and why Cub Cadets are the biggest competition, (in addition to their easily "hot-rodded" Kohler engine instead of a Briggs).There are actually five different variants of the gear drive transmission, based upon the specific model of the tractor. 1. Straight 3 speed, plus reverse -- the original, and basic transmission.2. #1 above, but with a 2-speed pulley on the transmission shaft. This gave two speed ranges, and a choice of 6 forward speeds and 2 reverse speeds.3. A variable speed, using sheave-pulley setups on both the drive and transmission pulley. These gave seven notched settings that slightly changed the pulley ratio, for each of the standard gears. Theoretically 21 different forward speed settings and 7 in reverse.4. A belt-driven High/Low system that was similar to #2, above, but used two different pulleys on each of the drive and transmission shafts, rather than a 2-speed pulley.5. The shuttle shift mechanism, that used a reverser, and changed the normal reverse to also be a 4th gear ratio. This gave you 4 forward speeds and 4 reverse speeds - you moved the control to change direction from forward to reverse in any of the four gears.Hope this helps...
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Also setting plow up and a polished share will ease the HP burden under plowing exsisting fields, gardens and what have you. As to parasitic losses it depends hard the work is. There will be increased fuel consumption.

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