I learned to drive on a 8N tractor. You could start from a stop in any of the 4 forward or 1 reverse gear. It didn't matter to the transmission.

I drove a '66K20 truck in high school when the Mini was broken. The Chevy was normally started from a stop in 2nd gear because 1st didn't really get you anywhere and 3rd was too tall for the engine. Again, the transmission didn't mind. I still have that truck and actually drove it yesterday to move a round bale of hay. The SM420 does just fine 20 some odd years later.

I always started the M715 with the stock drivetrain from 2nd when on the road for the same reasons as posted above.

3 years ago I put the 396/NV4500 in the M715. I found with the 9.00-16 NDT tires it would start from a stop just fine in 3rd. I posted a comment about that here on the Zone and got told to never do that with the NV4500. I was told it was bad for it. I didn't understand, but stopped doing it. When I put the 11.00-16 tires on, my not as smooth as I would like clutch made it hard to do 3rd gear starts from a stop.

I replaced my clutch last week and it is not only really smooth, but light as a feather on my leg. I tried a 3rd gear start from a stop and it eased away with no throttle given like it was meant to be drive this way. I drove to and from practice the other night that way and it made going through stop signs a lot easier.

Does anybody on here now know of a reason I should not be doing this?


I think what might have caused some of the "don't do it" responses then was that I also figured out I could start in 3rd and then shift to 5th skipping 4th. I didn't do it that much and haven't even thought about it until I was writting this thread. But, I still can't figure out why that would be bad either.


Oh, I know on my M35 that I have to start in 1st everytime. but, that is because of the sprag t-case and has nothing to do with the 3053.