So, you did it. You bought the loader. The days of the lowly wheelbarrow are behind you. You are now the captain of a pint-sized earth-mover, and your property is a blank slate. Before you go out there and try to dig a swimming pool, let's have a little chat. A loader is an amazing tool, but it is also a fantastic way to find your tractor's (and your own) limits in the most expensive and painful ways possible. Your new machine is a tool of leverage, and that leverage works in all directions. Companies like LGM USA build these powerful tools, but they cannot build the common-sense to go with them. That part is on you.

Rule number one: Respect the ballast. You just bolted a 150-pound loader to the front of your tractor, and now you are about to lift 300 pounds of wet soil. This makes your tractor fantastically front-heavy. Without a counter-weight on the back, your rear-wheels will lift off the ground, and you will become a very sad, very stationary see-saw. This is not a suggestion. You must add ballast. This can be in the form of suitcase weights on the back, liquid-filled tires, or a heavy-duty weight bracket. Without it, you are not just inefficient; you are unsafe.

Rule number two: You are not a bulldozer. Your garden tractor's transmission is designed to mow grass, not to slam into a 10-ton pile of compacted gravel. Do not, ever, use your tractor's speed to "ram" the pile. You will destroy your hydrostatic transmission, and that is a multi-thousand-dollar mistake. The correct way to scoop is to ease the bucket into the pile slowly, and then use the loader's "curl" function to do the work. Let the loader's arms, not your tractor's drivetrain, fill the bucket. Be patient. You are not paid by the hour.

Rule number three: Keep it low. This is the golden rule of loaders. Lift, move, and carry your load with the bucket as low to the ground as possible, just high enough to clear obstructions. Driving around with a full bucket held high in the air is the fastest way to find every single off-camber molehill on your lawn and tip your entire machine over. A high center of gravity is your enemy. You only lift the bucket to its full height when you are at a dead-stop and ready to dump it.

Rule number four: A garden tractor loader is not a prying tool. Do not try to dig up tree-stumps. Do not try to pry up old concrete. You are not a crowbar. A loader is designed to lift up, not to pry out. All you will do is bend your loader arms or, worse, find the structural weak-point in your tractor's frame. This is a quick way to turn your $4,000 tractor into a $400 scrap-metal heap.

A loader will save you from a lifetime of hard labor, but it demands respect. It is a powerful tool that requires you to use your brain just as much as your engine. Be smart, be patient, keep it low, and you will have a long, productive, and non-destructive relationship with your new best friend.

To learn more about smart, modern, and efficiently-designed equipment, visit the folks who are building it. LGMUSA has a deep resource of information.