The tractor has a HST (Hydrostatic Transmission), it’s good in light applications. I had one conflicting thought.
Is a HST a manual or automatic? In certain aspects it’s both. The HST acts as a gearbox to transmit power from the prime mover to the load. Most HSTs use a variable-displacement pump, motor, or both so that speed, torque, or power can be regulated.
In my case it has high & low range, so kinda like a 2spd. You can’t change between ratios while moving, but you can at any set RPM. Like old tractors you set the gear while stopped. So I think that is the manual part of my argument.
Where it’s automatic it does not have clutch pedal, I always say it needs a clutch pedal to be manual. The HST has infinite ratios, like a CVT. There is no reverse gear(no forward gear), the what pedal you push determines the flow of the fluid. If it where automatic it could change between low & high range while moving, or is it like the lighting rod case where it blurs the line.