Toe Lift Epiphany ~ Duhhhhh

[Denwa]

It came to me as if a bolt of lightening. Can't believe it took me about a years time with the tractor (Kubota B20) to sort this.

I was shuffling some gravel along side my pole barn to keep the drip from eroding the back fill further. I was needing to back up quite a bit and carefully. Would hate to take a chunk out of my siding with the bucket.

As with most HST units there is a pedal for forward or reverse. There is a nice inviting rubber pad at each end of it for the toe or heal or whatever one wishes to push with. Prior to my epiphany I had been using my heel or moving my foot back to use my toe. Neither input method was particularly comfortable and neither gave particularly good control.

What finally occurred to me , which is likely so logical that most of you have always done it and will think "well yahhhhh dummy", but perhaps not. This likely falls under the "really new guy tips" deptartment.

Anyhow, I finally figured out that putting my toe under the forward part of the pedal and LIFTING I got very good backing speed control and a lot more naturally than having to push on the back part of the pedal. I also found that reversing this helps keep me from stepping on the forward pedal like a brake pedal to stop backwards movement. I don't intentionally use the forward pedal as a brake, but the location of said pedal and car driving habits make it all to easy to make that error.

There it is FWIW, which is small, but for me very helpful

Regards,
Dennis (WA)

 

[Jay4200]

Anyhow, I finally figured out that putting my toe under the forward part of the pedal and LIFTING

Evidently you don't ride a motorcycle.

JayC

 

[troutsqueezer]

It's a good observation. I'll try it out the next time I'm on my B21.

 

[shane]

Evidently you don't ride a motorcycle.

JayC

I was thinking about the shifter on my four wheeler as I read this.


(And also my side by side Hydro pedals on my JD. :laughing: )


But Dennis, I do appreciate your willingness to share.

 

[TripleR]

I was thinking about the shifter on my four wheeler as I read this.


(And also my side by side Hydro pedals on my JD. :laughing: )


But Dennis, I do appreciate your willingness to share.

Surprised it took so long for someone to bring that up.

 

[Denwa]

Evidently you don't ride a motorcycle.

JayC

Jay,
Ah, but I do. The bottom line of my sig line lists some of them. I have even been a MSF instructor.

That being said, lifting on a MC shifter does not change the direction of travel on said bike. There are however some of the larger bikes that do have a reverse. Never ridden any. Also the MC shift is on the opposite side. Don't have an ATV.

However, the toe lifting concept, to affect direction change must have played some part in my trying what I did.

As a relative newbie to tractoring I have picked up lots of little pointers from the pages of this list, thank you posters, particularly in the realm of safety. I know what I wrote is not likely a revelation to the old timers, but if I had read about it before I "discovered" it, that would have smoothed my ops out sooner.

It might be helpful to begin the subject of such mundane info with a header of "Newbie Hints" or "Basic Operational Concepts", or some such.

Regards,
Dennis (WA)

 

[xtn]

Not sure I know what I'm talking about, but before buying my tractor I sat in the seat of a Kubota with HST and thought the pedal arrangement was awkward. I imagined myself not using the pedal pads at all, but instead putting my foot on top of the metal beam that connects the forward and reverse pedals and rocking back and forth over the pivot point like a treadle.

Never tried driving it though so I don't really know. Would it work more intuitively like that?

xtn

 

[TripleR]

Not sure I know what I'm talking about, but before buying my tractor I sat in the seat of a Kubota with HST and thought the pedal arrangement was awkward. I imagined myself not using the pedal pads at all, but instead putting my foot on top of the metal beam that connects the forward and reverse pedals and rocking back and forth over the pivot point like a treadle.

Never tried driving it though so I don't really know. Would it work more intuitively like that?

xtn

I don't know as I have personally found the Kubota pedal/treadle very easy to use, but don't have a problem with the side by side either.

 

[k0ua]

I seem to be in the minority, but I really like my Kubota Treadle-Pedal setup. I prefer it over the single independent forward/reverse pedals. I put my foot on the top of the treadle and rock my ankle for instant forward/reverse changes. and when traveling long distances put my heel on the floor and toe on the "overhang" of the pedal. my 2 cents.

James K0UA

 

[xtn]

I put my foot on the top of the treadle and rock my ankle for instant forward/reverse changes.

James K0UA

That's what I was asking about. So it works good like that?