Power Shift or Shuttle Shift on 3020 JD

What would you all prefer?

I use loaders on my tractors and do alot of short trips,small jobs,and running around getting on and off hooking up chains lifting things and moving them around. Snow removal too. NO field work. I do not like the power loss and drag of the power shift if you ran one long enough at one time to warm it up it should be fine. The biggest DISLIKE is the park setup it does not work good on hills. Sometimes they won't latch in tight going one direction as the park pawl is tapered and the force pushes it out.You also have a very hard time getting them out of park too. The syncro range has a very good park as I think a collar locks the shafts up tight both ways and getting it out of park on a hill is a breeze as the linkage is spring loaded so you can put it in low 1st or rev and ease the pressure off the gears and the park will pop right out for you. So if you require getting on and off the tractor parked on slopes or hills get a syncro range.

Or do people with a PS just hit the dump pedal as they approach where they"re stopping and coast the last bit of the way? Then shift to reverse and let out the pedal (all the while running the throttle with the foot throttle)? Maybe that works best. I"m not sure.

I"m curious to hear other"s impressions. I"ve been wondering about this myself.

Yes changing from 5th to fourth is a stop, change ranges, then go again. Something to do when plowing gets to damp ground.

That can be one advantage to the 4020 SR. Only those familiar with it can get it into gear to run away with it. Everyone else can't figure the gear shifter out.

Gerald J.

I can spare a few ponies for some convenience!!!

Power shift is a planetary transmission hydraulically shifted. I has a "clutch" pedal for inching, but that's just a valve to the hydraulics. It has a hand lever to disconnect the engine from the transmission. Its a tough transmission, hard to break but very expensive to fix. Its picky about clean and cool oil. It and the brakes are picky about the oil meeting Deere specifications.

SynchroRange has the effect of a 2 speed plus reverse synchronized transmission behind a 4 speed gear slider transmission. Though its all done on three parallel shafts. Its also a tough transmission. Learning to shift it takes a couple minutes, some never figure it out, but it works for me on my 4020.

Either transmission is rapidly destroyed by towing the tractor without shifting the transmission to the tow position or using the towing disconnect lever. Its easy to get the top shaft spinning thousands of RPM without running the pump to keep it oiled and gears tend to weld to the shaft under those conditions.

If either transmission isn't too noisy and doesn't slip out of gear (SR, often caused by worn external linkage), it will run years with an occasional dose of fresh oil. Both are good transmissions, the PS is a little easier to use.

My neighbor farmed here 30 years with Deere PS tractors. Never had to have a transmission worked on. Many days, I'd hear him leave the field at lunch time with a cultivator on the back. He'd set the throttle for full speed and work his way up the gears on the PS. If I went out and looked at his tracks, there'd be a divot in the gravel of his tracks where he made each shift. So maybe the shifts weren't perfectly smooth, but it made them all the years he wanted them made. He did have several tractors in that time, all green, all with PS.

Gerald J.