I m transitioning from mill work to active retirement. I want to stay busy and over the years I've taken on many small logging/firewood jobs that the guys with processors don't want. Ive used a tractor with a loader and while it kinda works, its not getting the job done and with no overhead protection I'm bound to run out of luck
The snow blowing side, while new to me, is where I'll make some money. Have a place on a lake in U.P., and we generally are socked in come mid December. Forrest roads are plowed but none of the long 2 tracks in are and folks are left to snowmobile or snow shoe in
Several years back I rented a loader to open our rd, as things are too narrow to just plow. I had a ton of request to open up other camps and it was lucrative as it was a big snow yr. A blower is the way to go here as i have to get rid of the snow.
Ive been on a unit with tracks on dirt and loved it, but never on snow. A few of you have made the comment that tracks on the snow are not ideal, is there a compromise other than full chain?
Thanks for the insights, and so far, of the dealers Ive visited, Cat is looking best for what I believe are my needs, but I have to get on a few more units
Ok, I know I sounded like a fan boy in my last response, so let me explain a little.
Although I have never owned anything but Cat, I have operated Bobcat, Geil, Case and Takeuchi. Out of those, I would only ever consider a Takeuchi.
I currently own a wheeled and a track machine, (both Cat). A 252B and a 289D.
If I were going to do snow and dirt work I would probably lean toward a wheeled machine. Once the snow is packed, a tracked machine isn't your best bet. If you can get to the snow when it is fresh and you are using a snow thrower or you are scraping down to the surface, tracks may be ok. However, with a wheeled machine, you can put Grouser tracks over the wheels for dirt and tire chains on in the winter for snow. Grouser tracks could get you hurt in the snow. I run Grousers on my wheeled machine all the time and it goes like a tank. The steel tracks stabilize it some too.
Around here the good dealers will do a tow and show for you. My salesman has brought me a machine and let me play with it for a half a day. I could also drive to more than one dealer and play in a pile of dirt that they have. Cat and Bobcat both offer that, not sure about the others. To me the Cat salesmen were educators, which I liked. Bobcat and the rest were salesmen, which I hate. I have never had a Cat salesman bash another brand, but the Bobcat guy never stopped. His promotion of his machine was based on making others look bad or trying to.
As others have said, dealer support is key and Cat is on top around here. My last 2 salesmen have always been very accessible, evenings and weekends too and I am small potatoes for them.
If you are serious about buying, a good dealer should let you demo one too.
Take your time and pick what YOU are comfortable with. They are machines, they all require maintenance and they can all break.....they can make you a lot of money too.
Good luck.
