Are hydrostatics good for offroading?

is a hydrostatick drive any good for off roading? i never see people use em

The problem with hydros is that you cant pulley swap them and you cant lock the rear axle. Well you could but its not worth the time or money. My buddy has a hydro craftsman lt4000 and it does pretty well in the mud stock! You can mud them and stuff but they just arnt moddable.

ok thanks:) so what do you think would happen if i where to do a pully swap on one?

It would either work for a bit and blow or it wont even work at all, or it wil be the same speed. Ive never tried pulley swaping one. Hydro trans run by having a small pump that uses pressure to give you that variable speed. I think a hydro trans would be great for a rock crawling tractor cause you can get a very low speed and be able to selectivly use speed too travel around rocks and shit and not need too drive fast cause your rock crawling.

You wouldnt need to swap pullies on a hydro trans- theyre already 3-4" large. They arent good for speed applications, possibly could work in light mud/water , trail riding and crawling as suggested.

arild365 wrote:

It would either work for a bit and blow or it wont even work at all, or it wil be the same speed. Ive never tried pulley swaping one. Hydro trans run by having a small pump that uses pressure to give you that variable speed. I think a hydro trans would be great for a rock crawling tractor cause you can get a very low speed and be able to selectivly use speed too travel around rocks and shit and not need too drive fast cause your rock crawling.

My craftsman lt-2000 hydro with Vtread tires on it makes a great crawler, but that's all it's good for.
Go with a regular manual transaxle for modding.

Trcustoms, are your tires larger than stock? I've wondered about the load on a hydro trans also. Say you swap to 22-25 inch tires. It would speed the tractor up but how would the trans like it? I only have one hydro and use it to mow, so this is just thinking out loud for me. I like to know how things work.

Larger tires will make it faster- for the old home science test - try it with 2 different ( one large- one small ) bottles, mark them both in one place and rotate them each till the mark comes back around - the larger one goes further.

Putting them on the drive wheels means itll change your gearing . Probably why my murray was fast as hell , i ran a larger rear tire.


I know for a fact hydros hate heat - its possible the excess weight of the larger wheels could hurt the trans over time.

Jamus wrote:

Trcustoms, are your tires larger than stock? I've wondered about the load on a hydro trans also. Say you swap to 22-25 inch tires. It would speed the tractor up but how would the trans like it? I only have one hydro and use it to mow, so this is just thinking out loud for me. I like to know how things work.

Nah..., i think there 20's.
I do know the thing don't pull worth a crap.

You wouldnt need to swap pullies on a hydro trans- theyre already 3-4" large. They arent good for speed applications, possibly could work in light mud/water , trail riding and crawling as suggested.

My craftsman is a hydro, and i ditched the 18"s and went with 22"s. It was a great trail rider, until the engine started puking oil. lol I have videos of it on here..