Funny you should mention taking care when backing into the garage...
Had my little NH TC-18 parked in the driveway (lookin' pretty) while I was working around the house. One project was to get the 3-pt tiller out of the garage and store it behind the shed where I wouldn't keep tripping over it. Easiest way I could see to get it over there was pick it up with the fel. So I jumped on, fired her up and proceeded to gingerly drive over the asphalt curbing, located underneath the garage doors, that keeps the rain water out. The tiller was up against the back wall so I drove all the way in, dropped the fel, and manually horsed it into the bucket. I jumped back on and proceeded to back out. That's when I experienced a loud grinding noise that was accompanied by a shudder. Immediately I thought 'What the heck did I just ruin on my tractor?' Funny how thoughts of damaging the house or property never entered my mind.
I was told by many people to always put the b/h bucket on the ground when you park, and I do that religiously. This time however I forgot to raise it up. The end result was the bucket simply wiped out the curbing! Plowed through and broke it down the middle like it was made of styrofoam! Now normally I back into the garage because having the backhoe up against the back wall is just easier from a storage and human ergonomics standpoint. So I'm always watching the b/h as I back into the bay. I never bothered to look at it this time. And I don't understand why I didn't feel the bucket hit when I drove in. But I guess what amazed me the most about this is how even a simple oversight on a small tractor can do some extensive (though thankfully not expensive) damage.
So like the man said, be careful....
