Hydrostatic to gears?

Are you good with a welder? anything is possible!

an early Cub Cadet 3 speed with creeper would be about the easiest swap because everything is inline... but a peerless 2300 4 speed would be my choice... thats what was in the manual shift tractors similar to your 1650 but it wont just bolt in because the rear section of the frame is differant than your hydro frame.

but really the simplest option would be to find an MTD 860 or 960 to fix up.

kklowell said:

Just tossing some weird ideas around in my head and wondering if there is a gear transaxle that I could replace the hydrostatic in my White GT-1650 with that would work and not break the bank. Anyone have any idea how, or if, that might be possible?

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I don't know the "How" for your tractor, but I'm real curious as to "Why" you might want to.

Is it just the pump that failed or the transmission itself??... I think the some of the Jacobsens and Snappers used the same setup if you want to look for a replacement... I wouldnt worry about reliability.. dont hear of them failing very often and that would be alot easier than swapping over to a gearbox... altho the gearbox definately does pull better

I haven't noted many Eaton 11 hydros that needed rebuilding over the years that I've been on MTF. They seem to be quite durable.

Options:

- Find out why the hydro isn't working right, then fix or rebuild as necessary. The rebuild manual should be in the MTF library, and if it isn't there, there's one in the stickies of the Hydraulics forum. It would be wise to peruse the manual before making any decisions.

- Several brands of GTs use the Eaton 11 hydro in one rotation direction version or the other. Later models of the MF 1450 and 1650, and all models of the Snapper GTs of the same series use the Eaton.

- A Sundstrand Series 15 inline type hydro will mate to the Peerless 2-speed final drive. The drive gear may need to be replaced, and the hydro drive control may need some mods to work right. This hydro is in the early built models of the MF 1450 and 1650, all MF1655 and 1855 GTs, the JD400, and several other brands of heavy GTs.

- The Sundstrand Type U hydro is also well represented among the various brands and it will also mate to the final drive, but may be too tall for your application.

A gear drive is better for steady state heavy pulling, but only the big hydros will get a heavy load moving from a standing start and haul it to top speed. The torque for starting a load moving is only limited by the traction available with a hydro combined with a 2-speed final drive. With a gear drive, the clutch is a concern for multiple heavy load starts when you need some speed after it's in motion.

For the purposes that I used my GT for (mostly FEL work), I wouldn't even consider changing to a manual transmission, too many gear changes and not enough speed control.

I sold some really nece tractors simply bc I hated manual shift so much. one allis even had posi! I had a cub hydro but reverse was too slow and the foot pedals bothered my bad knee. So I settled on an ariens GT over10 years ago and I ain't ever going back. Even if I were going to pull and I'm not. :Orange_tr

To answer your question...save yourself the trouble and just get a different tractor with a manual gearbox.