The 544e has a torque converter setup with 4 speed transmission which I am familiar with. I have a JCB 1550B with same basic setup. Press gas pedal to go and you can stop with brake without having to return to neutral. However, I see the 444E has a two speed hydrostat type transmission. Does it act the same way as the torque converter transmission that's in the 544E? Why the two different transmissions? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each. Thanks.
I wish I could answer your questions for you!! I've only been on a 544E. But a theory I can come up with for the reason behind the different transmissions is for what applications each loader is in and what motor is in front of them. I would say deere likes to keep all their loaders to run somewhat in line with the rest. As far as they should run pretty similar.
The only advantage of hydrostatic that I can think of is being more in control if it was used with forks or a tool carrier. Maybe the hydrostatic was cheaper also? I'm sure there are other advantages to hydrostatic, but for most loader work it's hard to beat the simplicity and function of a torque converter. I don't know the loaders but the deere backhoes had some interesting differences like gear pumps on some and closed center radial piston pumps on the bigger ones. I think the early ones had clutches, then more shuttle/torque converter, and the 710's had an 8sp power shift trans similar to the old farm tractors. The ONLY advantage I can think of for the powershift is more gears and better efficiency in "road gear", I imagine the powershift is quite a bit more expensive than the torque converter/shuttle.
Hitachi built the 344E and 444E for deere with deere motors and deere made the 544E that's why they have different. Some say better fuel economy with hydrostatic