The front end wheel loader is widely used for the loading of materials in mining and construction fields. It has repetitive digging, loading and dumping procedures. The bucket is subjected to large resistance force from the soil during scooping. We considered the soil reaction force characteristics from scooping procedure, the protection by overload and automatic scooping mode algorithm. The main topic of this paper is the analysis of the soil reaction force characteristics. The analysis of soil mechanics is carried out and the developed soil model is verified by experimental results from the simplified experimental equipment. A simplified model of the soil shape and bucket trajectory is used to determine the scooping direction based on an estimation of the resistance force applied on the bucket during the scooping motion. In the future, this model will be used for the generation of an appropriate path for the wheel loader automation.