Keep the loader low if at all possible. Some new operators will run with the loader high to increase visibility. While that does increase visibility, it also greatly raises the center of gravity of the overall machine making it much more susceptible to rollover. The loader on mine goes up something like 9’. Can’t recall ever having it that high except once on flat ground just to see how high it actually goes. That’s a LONG way up. Scares the crap out of me to have it fully raised.
At least until you have enough hours on various terrain performing whatever tasks, take it slow. I can’t count how many times one end of the tractor or the other started to come off the ground or something else started to get ugly, but because I was aware it was a dicey situation and I was going slow, I was able to correct the issue before any harm was done. So long as it’s stable where it is, if it’s getting weird, sometimes you just need to pause and ponder the best way to get out of the mess you’re getting into.
Along the lines of going slow, grant yourself a large dose of patience. Don’t expect to be a highly competent operator immediately or even after a few hours in the seat.
If on any sort of slope, keep the ROPS up and wear the seatbelt.
Use 4WD if using the loader. You have rear brakes, no front brakes. If going downhill with a load in the loader and the back end gets light while in 2WD, you have no brakes so you’re either along for a wild ride or drop the loader and tear up the ground. If in 4WD, the front wheels are tied to the transmission and the rear wheels so you get both engine braking and wheel braking in the front.
For me, thousands of hours seat time doesn’t translate to immediate high competence with a new implement. When I got the L, I had probably at least 5000 hours on old school tractors running 3 point ag implements and pulling trailers off road, but very little loader experience, 0 grapple experience, forklift experience only with an actual forklift, and backblade experience but no boxblade experience, no experience with HST or Tier4 diesel. Yes, some of my prior experience was very helpful, but it took me a while to get good with the boxblade, loader, and grapple. Love the forks, but I still have so few hours using them I’m still quite slow and I’m sure quite painful to watch trying to use them efficiently. Don’t get frustrated with yourself.
One story about going slow: Shortly after getting the Kubota I was cleaning out and widening a creek crossing. Had a load of mud in the bucket, front wheels in the creek, back end above front due to slope. Right front wheel broke through the crust of solid dirt into a milkshake thick slurry of sediment so it was stuck. Right rear was spinning, left rear wasn’t. Engaged diff lock and tried again. Right rear broke through into the same sloppy mess and the tractor listed off to the right, but no way to roll over because right rear wheel was jammed in the dirt bank to the right. The more I messed with it, the deeper it sunk. So before it got all the way to the frame, I stopped, throttled down, and just spent a few minutes thinking how to get out of this mess. Didn’t really want to dump the mud back in the creek but no choice. Dumped the load of mud to lighten the front end, curled the bucket down, and raised the front of the tractor with the loader. Curled up while backing slowly with the diff lock engaged and the loader pushed the tractor back about a foot. Repeated the process a couple more times and freed the tractor. Then walked into the creek to see how bad it really was and sank over my knees. Thankfully had enough sense to have a hold on a chain on the back of the tractor so I was able to pull myself out without having to call 911 for rescue. Left the whole mess as it was and waited until about 3 weeks later when the whole mess had dried quite a bit, then finished the job. Point being, yes it was a bad situation but never really dangerous and spending a few minutes to make a plan rather than panicking into making a bad situation much worse got me and the L out of a literal hole.
