No not split between two levers. The left lever works the dipper and the right works the boom which is just opposite the Kubota setup but it is the way I learned. The previous owner said it is set up to operate like a Case backhoe. I have never operated any backhoes before this one, so once I figured out what worked what it became a natural thing to do without really thinking about it. So when the mechanics screwed everything around, nothing would move in the direction that I wanted it to. Even when I got it in position to dig, if I pulled both levers like normal, it wouldnt dig, it would jump up (boom up too high, dipper too low etc, just wasnt coordinated in the movements like it should be.
With it the other way, I couldnt make it work to save my life. NOW, It still works the same way, push to extend the hoe and pull to bring it back but now it works correctly when digging in that after it is set in position, I pull both levers full back and the hoe comes back evenly with no erratic movements causing me to have to adjust boom up or down, kinda like the poster who asked about float position which it doesnt have by the way.
I dont know if it makes reading sense, but basically with it set up now, say that you are digging a ditch and want it 2 feet deep and you are attempting to take it down in 3" increments. Now I insert the hoe 3" below the grade, pull back on both levers full stop and the bucket stays at the predetermined hight, I just have to adjust the bucket level so it stays flat, as it comes closer to me it tends to curl up which is ok for digging in the beginning as you want the concave bottom contour. When you get to the depth that you want, you have to pull both levers back full and kind of bump the bucket control a bit as you come in toward the tractor so it stays flat and keeps the ditch bottom level.
It all depends on how you learned and the auto-response command our brains send, it is similar to driving a British car on a British road when you have always driven in America. You can relearn it but you have to relearn the whole schematic, shift with the left rather than the right, drive on the left rather than the right etc. Much of what you do when operating machinery, after you are familiar with it and with several hours under your belt, is automatic responses. You dont think about it consciously to turn the wheel to stay on your side of the road, it is autoresponse, so I just couldnt break the auto response impulse to pull one lever when my brain was telling me that the other one actually moved the darn boom or stick or whatever.
