Now. It’s very much that time of year when we start to dust off all our equipment, see if it still works, possibly buy replacements and spend an awful lot of time looking at garden machinery websites, catalogues and casting longing looks at our neighbour’s Westwood, whilst wondering if we could get away with buying one ourselves and claiming it as a tax expense… or is that just me?
The urge to buy a new lawn tractor is very strong at this time of year and while there are so many amazing deals (free trailer anyone? ) it almost seems madness not to. I’m sure like me, you all have fond fantasies of sitting atop your lovely new red tractor, piece of (clean) straw firmly clenched between your teeth, smiling at the goodly peasants, bare-footed, grubby faced children laughing happily and waving, feather-tailed farm dogs barking and chasing your trail and ducks quacking as they scatter to let you past as you turn effortlessly into your two acre paddock, set your jaw, rev up the engine and turn the wild couch grass and ten-foot high weeds into a perfect cricket pitch ready for the evening match against Much-Wazzocking-On-The-Marsh. Ah.
But then, just as you finish, to the applause of all the many admiring glances over the hedge, and you leap from your tractor, and the Farmer’s lovely wife is striding across the field towards you, looking a little like a West-Country Kelly McGillis in Witness, (Ooh arr John Book, coming ‘ere with your gun-of-the-hand) her flowing chestnut hair floating in the wind (attached of course), apple cheeks glowing softly, diaphanous dungarees rustling gently as she sways, her strangely out of place Durndell, crisp, starched and stiff as Ann Widdecombe on Strictly, her racing green Hunter wellies clean and boot-polished, clutching a gingham covered basket full of farm baked made pastries and cider…suddenly the bubble bursts and you come to, scratching your head, sighing and wondering why your rusty old ride-on is not working.
So it is to be a new beast after all. But, and here’s the rub, what about the transmission? What drive system do you choose for your new warhorse? When you bought your old machine, a hundred years ago, all anyone thought about was gears, now you got Automatic, Transmatic, Hydrostatic… it’s like the beginning of Greased Lightning!
All of which ramblings lead me to my point. (is that a sigh of relief I hear?) If you, like me, are confused about transmissions, read on for I have been away, read, learned, digested and regurgitated what I know, shaping it into a very rough guide to Ride-on transmission systems. I thank you.
Manual Drive Systems: As the name suggests, the manual drive is a traditional style gear lever (or stick-shift) system. This will provide a number of gears, usually including a reverse, that offer you a range of speeds, depending on the number of gears provided.
Automatic Drive Systems: These are belt and pulley variable drive systems which, like hydrostatic drives, eliminate the need for manual gear changes. The operator only uses the drive pedal to accelerate and needs to use a separate brake pedal to slow down and stop.
Transmatic Drive Systems: These systems use drive-belts and tensioners to control the power and therefore the speed, and transfer it to a transaxle. An operator presses the clutch and manually shifts into the chosen speed and then releases the pedal. The difference from manual gears is that the operator does not need to accelerate through the gears as if in a car. He/she would simply choose the speed and then work at that speed. This type of drive system is often known as ‘shift-on-the-go’
Hydrostatic Drive Systems: A gear-free system that uses hydraulic pumps to control the velocity and direction of the ride-on. Easy to use, the operator simply presses the pedal and the further down, or harder, it is pressed, the faster the ride-on or tractor moves. This makes it very easy to manage with infinite and detailed speed control and a full stop if the foot is taken off.
So. I hope that is clear. And now I’m going to have a lie-down in a darkened room and dream of home-made pies and scrumpy. Enjoy your garden.
Drew Hardy
