/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Why can't you shift while moving/under power with a hydrostatic (or really any agricultural/farm equipment) transmission?

My family got an engine powered wagon recently (basically a wagon with a lawnmower hydrostatic transmission). City boy so it's my first time seeing such a transmission, but why do you have to stop completely to shift? Obviously going from forward to reverse would probably blow the relief valve, but I would think that one of the advantages of a swash plate is continuously variable ratios. Coming from an aut/o/mobile mindset, it was pretty awkward to stop to shift every time I got to a hill and wanted more torque, or got to a flat road and wanted more speed.