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QUESTION:I may soon be in the market for a skid-steer. I'm a rancher in South
Texas and will mainly be using it for minor bucket work, but mostly for
brush and tree clearing. I'm looking at various shears and the like.
I've operated several "bobcat" types, but I hadn't considered purchase
and therefore hadn't looked too closely at the machines or the motors or
hydraulics etc.
I'm looking for used and cheap, but at the same time not too difficult
to maintain by me.
Any suggestions? Pointers? Experiences?
ANSWER: We have a Case 1835 (I think, might be the wrong number). It is diesel. I
don't know all the technical stuff, but I'd rather have a tractor and loader
over a skid-steer any day. The skid-steer is great if you need to get into
small places and that's why we have it, but I really don't like it.
It's tippy. I have rocked that thing back so it bounces back from the
engine casing many times. That's scary because I go slow, keep the bucket
as low as possible and still....any little bump, hill or hole and it wants
to flip. Scares the crap outta me. They don't put those cages on it for
nothing. It's fine on concrete, or really nice flat, even places, but my
barn isn't even flat enough to keep from getting tippy.
My husband and his son have the same problem with it, so I don't think it's
just me. The son flat out flipped the last one. He was just driving and
the wheels on one side went in a hole...over he went.
I've been dissappointed with the power. I use it mostly to clean out barns
and the feed bunk. It just doesn't push as much as I would like. We had a
gas powered one before and the diesel does have more power, but just not as
much as the tractors have.
Keep in mind, the tractor we have with a loader is a JD7410. I might just
be spoiled by that big tractor and be expecting too much. I have never used
a small tractor and loader so maybe for the money a skid steer is better.
It just seems to me, if you can, you're better off getting something that
doesn't try to kill you everytime you get in it. You might be safe in the
cage, but the heart attack is still there!
As far as reliability....it always starts right up, works as it should
(after the hydraulics warm up) and has not been a problem.
I'd rent one and use it in the way you want. See how it goes on that
terrain, doing those jobs, before you buy. I've seen bigger ones that don't
seem like they'd be so prone to tipping.
I have a JD 4020 tractor. I'm not gonna be using the loader part of the
skid steer too much, I'm interested in brush and tree control with a
tree shear. While you CAN mount one on a 3 point hitch, you end up
twisted around in the chair all day looking over your shoulder at what
you are working on, that SUCKS. Tractors are for going forward, looking
over your shoulder occasionally is o.k. but not endlessly.
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