New to front end loaders

Well I have been on a tractor for bout 50 years now, but never one with loader. Any tips, tricks, warnings on using it and not breaking it or something else?.

Do not lift anything above tractor hood level without extreme caution. If the object rolls backwards, it can kill the operator.

Take it easy until you get the hang of it.

They're made for pushing, not pulling. Don't lift from the corners. You'll knock down a few saplings and take bark off of several trees before you get cat whiskers to know where the edge of your bucket is when you're going through the woods.

Great advice here!
I’d also keep a rotary cutter ( bush hog) hooked up on the back for a counter weight when picking up anything with the FEL. Be careful

I try my best to be careful.The older I get the more adverse I become to risk. Finally figured out I am not really bulletproof and it , whatever it is, could happen to me.I have had two very scary tractor incidents and would like to have no more.

All of this plus you'll rattle your jaw on a more solid tree if you get just a little complacent. (thats what a friend told me anyway)

All the above. Also when your not even using it be mindful of the controlls. It is possible to not paying atention while your pulling something and hit the stick and put the bucket into the ground possibly throwing you out of the seat. Another thing is most of them have Self Leveling buckets. This done by pushing it down and holding it, You should feel it enguage. Works good for back draging dirt/gravel ect. For pushing larger sapplings raise the bucket 3-4' off the ground and push with the lip of the bucket and as the tree folds flip the front of the bucket down being careful not to let the tractor come down on top of the bottom of the tree and bend stuff. Keep it greased as well.

Be VERY careful on a side hill with a load, keep it low as possible . Going straight up and down a hill is not too bad but side hilling can make yer butt pucker when wheels start coming off the ground.

Think when he’s saying “self leveling” he’s referring to “float” position that is engaged by pushing control lever forward as quoted. This is good function for back dragging gravel or smoothing fill material. Most loaders also have a true self-leveling function that is valuable as a return to load function. This is engaged by pulling control lever quickly to the left and releasing control lever. This function levels the bucket and makes it ready to grade or load material. If the loader is not equipped with self leveling valve it will have a sight gauge on right side of loader arm to determine bucket position. I’ve watched people who have operated loaders for years and didn’t know these functions were available. They always look at me with amazement when I saw them how easy it is to use once you understand how to use these two simple functions

Hope I explained that as it is the foundation to running any loader from a small farm tractor to a monster 992 Cat in a rock quarry. If you don’t understand ask someone familiar with loaders. You will save yourself much misery and love you new loader

Be super mind full of kids sitting on or climbing on the tractor! This in a couple ways. Clearly if there is a problem or accident you don't want a kid getting hurt, obvious right? Less obvious is if they accidentally drop that bucket on you, the dog or another kid if the tractor is off or evencrush themselves in bucket arm.. It's easy to get complacent when the tractor is off but part of my shut down process is lowering the bucket and whatever I am using for ballast on the back. Remember the hydraulics break loose easily even when the tractor is off. Tractor ain't a Jungle Gym.

Plenty of rear weight including water in tires will help make it safer

It is easier to level dirt/ gravel, etc. by back dragging. You can turn your bucket straight down and have it a couple of inches above the ground to rough out what you just dumped but backdragging will pack and level a lot better. If you get a big tree on the ground be careful (VERY CAREFUL) with limbs recoiling and possibly coming over the hood and hit you or break a cab window. If you get them in a bind and have pressure on them they will recoil like a bow going off. Learn to push over 3” trees first by getting the bucket a couple of feet up and push them over until you can see the root ball starting to come out of the ground. Back up and get your bucket under the root ball and then pick up and go forward. Privet hedge is a good starter because they tend to have shallower root balls. Like they said above, first thing is to figure out how to tell if your bucket is level without having to look out and around.

The things I use my bucket for would probably make a lot of people have a heart attack.

Lots of good advice here. At some point you will compress a debris pile or push over some trees. Don't let the branches or debris get between the bucket and the tractor. You can easily jack up your hydraulic lines especially if you have steel lines.

They ride better when empty bucket is about 2-3ft off ground with bucket curled out just flat.

Make sure when bucket is full, ground is solid under front tires.

Dont back drag with the heal of bucket, it doesnt work as good and might get dirt in pins.

Dont use float position ever. You. An do a better back drag job manually if you have skills.

When on a hill sideways especially, keep bucket low. That bucket can stop you from turning over.

If turning over, just lower bucket to help stop. Use bucket for brakes if needed.

And yes, when raising loaded bucket, curl it out as you raise it up so u dont spill any in your lap

I suspect that's true for me as well. Honestly, the main use I have for mine is as a dozer blade. I don't often have anything to load, but I have to push stuff nearly every time I get on the tractor.

I question the statement that "most" loaders have a self levelling function. My JD doesn't have it, and my little Koyker doesn't have it. I think that JD makes a loader similar to mine that has the function, but I can't remember ever seeing one. Maybe I am just ignorant, but isn't this a feature you would normally find on a bigger tractor? Doesn't it require an extra line? I'm not arguing; just asking.

My Koyker doesn't even have a float function. I know that at least some that they make have it but the model I have does not utilize it. It could be that my tractor has a flow rate too low to operate it. It isn't something I worry about because I seldom use the feature anyway. Like Jake said, I'd rather control the bucket myself. The manuals say not to back drag with the bucket extended more than half the stroke. I try to follow that unless I'm trying to smooth a very small amount of dirt that would put little pressure on it.

I think you see the self-leveling function mostly on larger or commercial loaders. It's a rarity on 5000 series and under Deere

Before you start doing any real work with it, install a "bolt on cutting edge" on the bucket while it is still new and the bucket is "true". It will pay for itself again and again and keep you from bending your bucket up when you are working it. Once it is bent, it's bent. Cutting edge is the best money you will ever spend to protect your investment if you are going to really work it. Like some said, keep a disk or bushhog on the back as a counterbalance when working it.

You'll be shocked at what you can accomplish with it once you get used to working it and figure out all the tricks to using it. With the cutting edge on it, you can angle the bucket correctly and just pop off 3-4" pines and sweet gums like they were cut with a saw. We use ours like a mini bulldozer to clear shooting lanes, back drag roads, etc. I'll never own another small tractor (55 hp or less) for woods work that is not 4wd with a FEL.

You talking about a tooth bar?

Nope. It is 5" wide flat bar that runs the entire length of the bucket edge, tempered steel with a 45 degree angle smooth edge on both sides. It is reversible so if it does get too worn, just unbolt it and flip it around. It bolts directly onto the bottom of the leading edge of the bucket. With it installed, it extends out in front of the bucket about an inch and the cutting edge takes all the abuse instead of leading edge of your bucket. It can be unbolted and replaced but we've had ours on it for 5 years now and it has been worked to heck and back and still looks basically unused. Popping the trees off with it is a combination of hitting the tree about 8-10" from the base at the right angle and speed and then dropping the bucket about a quarter of a second after contact. It's a timing thing but once you figure it out, it's a piece of cake. If we are clearing volunteer pines, I dont even bring a saw any more. Just clip them off with the bucket, push them out of the way, then run over the cut stump with the bushhog and fray the top of it up so that it doesnt puncture a tire at a later date. I've gotten pretty good at it but my FIL used to work heavy equipment for a living and he is an absolute master at it. He's the one that showed me how to do it.