AxleHub
Elite Member
Greetings,
About this time of year there are a lot of rookies just getting started - rookies for NFL training camps, double and triple A call ups to Major league baseball, and new 1st time Scut and Smaller Compact tractor buyers/owners.
I'll just talk about the tractor rookies and hopefully others will have suggestions or questions too. Lets focus on the point that this is geared to users who are not prior tractor operators and will or have invested in a SCUT (Small Compact Utility Tractor) or the very smallest of units in the Compact Tractor category.
If you've run skid steers and lawn tractors - but never actual tractors with front end loaders - you'll be surprised to find that operating a tractor is very pleasant but much different than you expected.
Many of us on TBN have learned some of the things I'll list, through the school of hard knocks - and it would benefit new users to avoid that as much as possible to save money on repairs or save your health and keep your tractor new. I certainly don't know all the answers - not even close - but between many existing TBNer's we'd sure know a great many of them for that SCUT category new operator during their 1st day to their 1st year.
Below are just a few starting points to get the thread going. I'll add some more later - but literally there are many dozens of things you can learn before you make a rookie mistake - if this thread develops well. I hope many veteran operators will offer their thoughts - particularly relating to SCUT or the very lowest models of Compacts (26 hp small frames or less).
1. Most SCUT (small compact utility tractors) differ in many ways from the lawn tractors of our kid chore days. A very important one is most SCUTs are 4 wheel drive - but they only have brakes on the rear wheels - not the front wheels. In addition most SCUTs are hydro-static driven which means engine/transmission braking does much to slow or stop a tractor by no longer pressing on the floor mounted pedals. But there is a big and scaring issue that happens if you are in 2 wheel drive, gong down a slope or hill - and your rear wheels "get light" because of weigh shift. Guess what - if the rear wheels aren't firmly on the ground - your brake pedal is useless, And if you are in 2wd instead of 4 wd - your front wheels are free rolling so you have no hydro-static braking. What does that mean ? "Lady Gravity" takes you on a scary ride down that slope or hill. My personal learning activity was a steep slope that went into a smooth culvert area. Had it been a ledge or cliff or drop off - it would not have been good.
2. Another learning episode again comes when going down a slope and you are carrying something in the FEL bucket or set of forks. Maybe you'll think as a rookie that the bucket or forks can be set down to the ground to help keep you from tipping forward. Sure sounds reasonable. However if the bucket is tipped down just a little or the forks are tipped down just a little - the first thing they want to do - if you start sliding forward - is to suddenly "dig in". Again - does that sound like extra safety ? Maybe. But it can also cause the tractor to pivot on that front edge and start to pole vault - driver and tractor forward. The scut tractors certainly have some weight to them - but that also means they have some momentum to them if your speed is not controlled - and momentum wants to "take you somewhere" and you don't want your rear tires to leave the ground and start trying to catch your front tires
3. When getting on a Scut or a small sized compact tractor - you mount it differently than you do a lawn or garden tractor because you can't swing your leg over the seat, and its typically a slight step upward because of physical unit height (lawn/garden tractors are quite low to the ground). And often you see someone grab the steering wheel like you would the saddle horn for a horse mount. Except the saddle horn on a saddle is designed for that purpose - and a steering wheel is not. So what's the big deal - after all this is a tractor right ?? Well Scuts and smaller sized compact tractors typically don't have steps like big tractors do - so your putting your foot on the floor of the tractor - and that when you grab the steering wheel - you have a great deal of leveraged weight pulling on that steering wheel from the side. And steering wheels have bearings in them - and numbers of TBNers have discovered over time - that their steering wheel bearing develops a problem and must be replaced - and its more than you might think it would be in cost. So what are you to do? Easy - grab your ROPS bar with one hand and the steering wheel (for balance) with the other hand - then step on the top of the back tire with one foot and put the other foot on the floor. That actually accomplishes two things at once. It is easy to get up on the tractor and in your seat without undue side strain or weight on the steering wheel . . . and the second thing it does - if you have slippery floor mat surfaces (wet shoes, icey or snowy floor mats, etc.. - it keeps you upright and not sliding your foot out from under you.
4. Operating a 450 or 550 pound lawn tractor is much different in certain ways than operating a 2000+ pound SCUT with a front end loader on it. Hit a the side of a landscape block with your garden tractor and the garden tractor will skip sideways - hit the same side glance on a landscape block with a Scut - and the block will break or shift the wall. Your new Scut tractor has considerably greater traction and considerably more torque/power - even if the gas engine garden tractor is the same hp as your Scut tractor.
Now why am I hoping to have others add to this thread and new users read it ? Because such a thread didn't exist when I first bought my tractor 3 years ago - and there is already enough things to learn over your next year if you are new - that you'll be quite surprised. Scut and the small frame models of Compact tractors can be a pleasant thing to use and operate - but the goal is - - - - - to have new users and operators, get a chance to learn new skills without hurting your shiny new tractor or yourself. My point is - if you've driven atv's or skid steers or lawn/garden tractors - this is not the same - and that isn't the experience you will actually need. If you can learn from mistakes instead of making some of them yourselves - you as a new operator comes out way ahead.
About this time of year there are a lot of rookies just getting started - rookies for NFL training camps, double and triple A call ups to Major league baseball, and new 1st time Scut and Smaller Compact tractor buyers/owners.
I'll just talk about the tractor rookies and hopefully others will have suggestions or questions too. Lets focus on the point that this is geared to users who are not prior tractor operators and will or have invested in a SCUT (Small Compact Utility Tractor) or the very smallest of units in the Compact Tractor category.
If you've run skid steers and lawn tractors - but never actual tractors with front end loaders - you'll be surprised to find that operating a tractor is very pleasant but much different than you expected.
Many of us on TBN have learned some of the things I'll list, through the school of hard knocks - and it would benefit new users to avoid that as much as possible to save money on repairs or save your health and keep your tractor new. I certainly don't know all the answers - not even close - but between many existing TBNer's we'd sure know a great many of them for that SCUT category new operator during their 1st day to their 1st year.
Below are just a few starting points to get the thread going. I'll add some more later - but literally there are many dozens of things you can learn before you make a rookie mistake - if this thread develops well. I hope many veteran operators will offer their thoughts - particularly relating to SCUT or the very lowest models of Compacts (26 hp small frames or less).
1. Most SCUT (small compact utility tractors) differ in many ways from the lawn tractors of our kid chore days. A very important one is most SCUTs are 4 wheel drive - but they only have brakes on the rear wheels - not the front wheels. In addition most SCUTs are hydro-static driven which means engine/transmission braking does much to slow or stop a tractor by no longer pressing on the floor mounted pedals. But there is a big and scaring issue that happens if you are in 2 wheel drive, gong down a slope or hill - and your rear wheels "get light" because of weigh shift. Guess what - if the rear wheels aren't firmly on the ground - your brake pedal is useless, And if you are in 2wd instead of 4 wd - your front wheels are free rolling so you have no hydro-static braking. What does that mean ? "Lady Gravity" takes you on a scary ride down that slope or hill. My personal learning activity was a steep slope that went into a smooth culvert area. Had it been a ledge or cliff or drop off - it would not have been good.
2. Another learning episode again comes when going down a slope and you are carrying something in the FEL bucket or set of forks. Maybe you'll think as a rookie that the bucket or forks can be set down to the ground to help keep you from tipping forward. Sure sounds reasonable. However if the bucket is tipped down just a little or the forks are tipped down just a little - the first thing they want to do - if you start sliding forward - is to suddenly "dig in". Again - does that sound like extra safety ? Maybe. But it can also cause the tractor to pivot on that front edge and start to pole vault - driver and tractor forward. The scut tractors certainly have some weight to them - but that also means they have some momentum to them if your speed is not controlled - and momentum wants to "take you somewhere" and you don't want your rear tires to leave the ground and start trying to catch your front tires
3. When getting on a Scut or a small sized compact tractor - you mount it differently than you do a lawn or garden tractor because you can't swing your leg over the seat, and its typically a slight step upward because of physical unit height (lawn/garden tractors are quite low to the ground). And often you see someone grab the steering wheel like you would the saddle horn for a horse mount. Except the saddle horn on a saddle is designed for that purpose - and a steering wheel is not. So what's the big deal - after all this is a tractor right ?? Well Scuts and smaller sized compact tractors typically don't have steps like big tractors do - so your putting your foot on the floor of the tractor - and that when you grab the steering wheel - you have a great deal of leveraged weight pulling on that steering wheel from the side. And steering wheels have bearings in them - and numbers of TBNers have discovered over time - that their steering wheel bearing develops a problem and must be replaced - and its more than you might think it would be in cost. So what are you to do? Easy - grab your ROPS bar with one hand and the steering wheel (for balance) with the other hand - then step on the top of the back tire with one foot and put the other foot on the floor. That actually accomplishes two things at once. It is easy to get up on the tractor and in your seat without undue side strain or weight on the steering wheel . . . and the second thing it does - if you have slippery floor mat surfaces (wet shoes, icey or snowy floor mats, etc.. - it keeps you upright and not sliding your foot out from under you.
4. Operating a 450 or 550 pound lawn tractor is much different in certain ways than operating a 2000+ pound SCUT with a front end loader on it. Hit a the side of a landscape block with your garden tractor and the garden tractor will skip sideways - hit the same side glance on a landscape block with a Scut - and the block will break or shift the wall. Your new Scut tractor has considerably greater traction and considerably more torque/power - even if the gas engine garden tractor is the same hp as your Scut tractor.
Now why am I hoping to have others add to this thread and new users read it ? Because such a thread didn't exist when I first bought my tractor 3 years ago - and there is already enough things to learn over your next year if you are new - that you'll be quite surprised. Scut and the small frame models of Compact tractors can be a pleasant thing to use and operate - but the goal is - - - - - to have new users and operators, get a chance to learn new skills without hurting your shiny new tractor or yourself. My point is - if you've driven atv's or skid steers or lawn/garden tractors - this is not the same - and that isn't the experience you will actually need. If you can learn from mistakes instead of making some of them yourselves - you as a new operator comes out way ahead.
