Hi All. I was the original poster. Concerning ballast, I used the loader for 12 hours the first weekend I got it. I bought a Frontier 72" box blade at the same time and had it on the 3pt the whole time. Even though it only weighs about 350 lbs it was stable with a full load of loose dirt. I was pretty cautious, though, as Deere recommends a whopping 1300 lbs (yikes!) of ballast. I assume if you start loading some heavier material in the bucket you could get into trouble.
Since this is my first FEL I did some poking around in the safety forum trying to learn what got others in trouble. I really would like to keep my tractor's "shiny side up" if you know what I mean. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif From what I read, most problems occurred when:
1. The owner consistently used his FEL with some sort of ballast, but took the ballast off, forgot about it, and started working. Deere hydraulics are *strong* and won't bog down with a heavy load -- the result is the back of the tractor will raise up pretty easily.
2. Driving with the loader raised and hitting a hole or a bump. This one is much scarier as a roll-over can be the result.
I nearly did the second one even though I was very aware of it. I was working on a slight incline (10 degrees according to my tilt-o-meter) and dislodged a big rock. My "uphill" rear tire went over the rock at the same time my "downhill" rear tire went into the hole the rock left. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Instantly the tractor went to 25 degrees -- the max my tilt-o-meter reads!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Luckliy I had my seatbelt on and the loader was low and I was able to crawl out of the hole.
Man, I had to change my underwear after that one! I'm pretty particular about safety -- doing research on what got other into trouble, wearing my seatbelt, installing a tilt-o-meter, etc and it STILL happened. Sheesh... I don't even like thinking about it.
Ron
