I’m not the most experienced operator and way far from the most expert operator, but I’ve operated enough equipment with controls in such a wide variety of places and types it’s kind of hard to imagine a treadle or twin pedals being a deal breaker on buying a piece of equipment, but I guess it is for some percentage of buyers.
My L was my first experience with a treadle. Awkward at first. About 4 hours into the first grading job I did with it, I’d forgotten about the treadle interaction with my foot. The tractor was going the direction and speed I wanted like it was an extension of me. Couldn’t really expect better than that. (The loader took a little longer.
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Whatever clueless engineer and feckless approving manager put the treadle and brakes on the same side clearly never operated a small tractor. That’s a deal breaker for me. Brake steering is a necessary part of operating a small tractor if there’s any sort of incline involved, even if it’s just mowing a ditch. I vaguely recall seeing a couple models set up that way when I bought my L and commenting to the salesman that was one of the dumbest things I’d ever seen on a piece of equipment, particularly an alleged top tier piece of equipment. On mine, brakes are on left, treadle on right. If all Kubotas had brakes and treadle clustered together on one side, I wouldn’t have bought a Kubota.