Ok gents,

Here's my dilemma. Come fall, I'm going to be buying a piece of equipment. Was all set to get a 50ish horse tractor, but after renting a skid steer for a weekend to move a schidt ton of snow I've reconsidered and do believe a skid steer better fits my needs. Basically, I need to be able to move round bales and stack them 2 high, haul bucket loads of gravel, and move snow. Those are the bare bones requirements. In order to have enough ass to lift a round bale with the bucket it'll need to be around 50 horse minimum. It'd be 4wd as well. I'm well versed in 2wd tractors, ran a lot of them, and in fact I have an old Case with a home made bucket that just ain't cutting it anymore. After putting 11-12 hours on that skid steer it really showed me how much quicker it is, and just damned handy for moving snow on my drive way (short wheel base lets be work sideways instead of working angles). Of course there's a 101 other things it'll get used for around here, but the main things are moving snow, moving bales, and moving gravel/top soil.

I've run skid steers some, more than some, far less than many and while I'm handy enough driving them, I don't know jack about what brand, size, option, etc are better or worse than others. And maintenance, which brands are cheaper to work on than others?

Any input would be appreciated. Damned sure going to be a used piece of equipment, as I'm only looking to spend 20-25k at most.

Jason

They've got a lot going for them not the least of which is the drive train in tight spots being able to turn around on the length of the machine has big advantages. I've used one to feed a little saw mill I had and I have a skid steer mower it takes a little getting used to but after that you can make the things talk.

Problem with a skid steer though is you need fairly hard ground, if there's any mud or soft ground on your place you'll be wishing you had a tractor pretty quick. But if the grounds OK you can do lots with that bucket and fast as you say. There's a dizzying array of attachments for the things too, hammers, packers, grinders you name it. I'd say if you don't need to plow a field or mow with it and the ground is firm give a skid steer a hard look. I'm no expert but it seems to me the guys that make a living with them run the original, the Bobcat about 3/4 of the time. From what I've heard the hydrostatic drive is about bomb proof in them. Not to say some of the newbies aren't good just what I see and have only run Bobcat myself.

The concrete outfit I used to work for had 3-4 1845 Case skid steers.

They were tough little machines.


I'd love to get one that wasn't all tore to hell.

I use a wheeled Bobcat at work and also have access to a tracked Bobcat. A lot more traction with the tracked one, plus a smoother ride. They'll increase the price by 5-10 thousand though. I'm talking used, haven't even priced the new ones.

The feedlot that we deliver feed to just burned up their 2nd Cat brand skidsteer. Crap builds up around the engine and catches fire. After the first one, he had Cat do all the maintenance on it and it still caught fire. They came out that night with a new one so they do have good service.

There are a lot of attachments for skidsteers now, it's just a matter of how much you want to spend.

I just bought a 1994 753 Bobcat with only 1425 hours on it. It looks pert near new. A one owner. I had to buy it before the end of the year to save a little on my taxes. Really lucked into it.

Good point on the soft ground Salty, I've only used them in soft ground where there was a base not too far down. Nice being able to use the bucket to un stick yourself, have run some tractors that had enough down pressure to do that too. Most of what I'm going to be using it in does have a good base, but most of my place is bottomless swamp in spring. Though to be fair, you can stick a tractor easy enough in that crap too.

At my price point sammo, beat to hell might be all I get. And after fugking with an old tractor, and old plow truck I'm done repairing, and messing with schidt that I either can't fix or is constantly needing fixed. I'll buy a 3rd world new tractor rather than an old U.S. made fixer upper.

yeah, packrat seems if you can dream it up they make it as far as attachments. Mine'll get a fair bit of use, but honestly couple hundred hours a year is about it.

I own a John Deere 320 with hand and foot controls. I really like it and the price I paid was really good since it only had 468 hours on it. I’ve been on Gehl , New Holland, Case, Kubota, Cat, and Bobcat. The older Gehl 5640 and 6640 are really good. The 3 I have run had Perkins engines and would pickup a pallet of sack Crete with ease. new Holland’s are junk in my opinion. Work on it for 3 days to use it 1. Cat is awesome but you pay the Cat price and parts aren’t cheap either. I’d rate the ones I’ve run and used Cat, Case, John Deere, Gehl, Kubota, Bobcat, and New Holland. The top six are really close. They make different controls and to me that was the hardest to learn going from pilot controls to hand foot controls to t handles.

Our 753 Bobcat is a little hinky on snow (particularly packed).
But tractors ain't all that great, either.
The auctions around here seem to run around 14K for almost any skid-steer.

Oh solid rubber tires are great on pavement or concrete but not so much on anything remotely soft. Steel tracks are great if you can afford them and wear earplugs.

I've used Cat, Gehl, and Bobcat and they are all decent machines. You can get a tracked machine or one can run tracks around the rubber tires. There's much less cost and maintenance on an rubber tire vehicle compared to an track only vehicle.

Any way you slice it the amount of attachments available for the skid steer is mind boggling. That is the beauty of these machines.

Personally I have an small 4wd hobby tractor with back scrapper and blade and front bucket. It's alright, but I would much rather have a skid steer.

Just bought a new Holland ls190. 2-speed, 85HP, lifts 3000 lbs, weighs 8700lbs so still easy to haul with a gasser. Easy loads my dump truck with 4' sides on it, probably 7' ish tall. If going new with wheels I'd go new Holland or gehl.
General purpose, I'd do wheels. Excavating/digging most of the time I'd go tracks.
Takeuchi and Kubota both makes an awesome track machine. Gehl/new Holland has really good lift capacity to weight ratios. Bobcat has broad dealer support. Case are tough as nails. I didn't like the cat's I've ran. Never operated a deere.

As long as you don't need to run a plow or disc, the skid steer will do just about anything the tractor will and do it faster. I'm renting a Deere 326e right now, with a Vail X brush cutter on the front. I use it for initial clearing of rough areas, so I don't have to beat the hell out of my tractor. It's nice being able to cut stuff without having to run over it first. Using the bucket on a skid steer is WAY faster than my tractor, too. You can actually see what you're doing with the skid steer, rather than dealing with the obstructed view of the tractor. Think about whether you'll have a need for high flow hydraulics or not. Some of the mulchers/brush cutters require them.

The skid steer WILL tear the heck out of your yard if you get in soft areas or don't take care to turn slowly. They are also hard to near impossible to operate in soft or wet ground. If you're working in soft areas a lot, you really need to consider a tracked machine.

Definitely look at getting a closed cab if you're gonna use a brush cutter or mulcher. Also will be much better in dusty work or cold/hot weather.

Wish I could give you more info. I've run older Case's, and newer Bobcats and Deere's. I wouldn't mess with anything old with the foot controls, unless I was getting a heck of a deal. The price's seem to be pretty high, even for used ones, anymore. I see very few decent modern machines for less than $20k, anymore. $30k plus certainly seems the norm for NICE used machines these days.

Don't own one but a friend has one of the larger Bobcats - and have used it for a wide variety of tasks. It is nimble and quick, handles heavy loads, raises stuff way up and runs attachments that do good things (forks, buckets, auger, cement mixer, etc.) and we have moved a good bit of road/driveway snow quickly. But, have never used it on a mushy/sinking surface - although my tractors can get stuck in that stuff.

Take a close look at high the bucket goes up. On NH or similar designs, the bucket when all the way up remains extended out past the skid steer. Avoid ones where the bucket comes back over the skid steer when raising it. Most skid steers pivot lifting arms on their rear. NH design pivots them on center of skid steer.

Come North with your $$$$ and get 25% more bang for your buck.

We have a backhoe attachment and an auger attachment for ours - the down pressure is really nice when drilling. It's nice not having to pull, or dig out a buried auger, that broke a shear pin.
12 and 18 inch buckets for the backhoe handle most of what we do.
Once, I even saw a grader attachment for a Bobcat. That would be nice to have.

You can get a pretty decent machine for the money you want to spend. A skid steer will run circles around a 50hp tractor unless you want to pull an attachment or have a race to the next farm.
The little tractor will likely have about the same size front tire as a SS so same difference for flotation while loaded.
Find one with 12" wide rubber, that makes a huge difference. Steel tracks are fairly cheap but they tear the crap out of your lawn. 1750# lift capacity or a bit larger for what you want to do. Much bigger and you can't haul them behind a pick-up on a car trailer.
If you don't need A/C, electronic controls, keyless start and all that other BS, stay away. Way cheaper to buy and maintain.
Every brand/model/series had their good and bad days. I won't work on older Bobcats or newer Cats unless I'm getting dealer wages. The LX series New Hollands are pretty bulletproof as are the Gehl and Mustang machines. Plain, simple working units. Don't let a dealer talk you into a bunch of options you won't use in your 2-300 hours a year as they will cost you money even sitting still. Two-speed is nice if you travel more than across the yard. High-flow is only needed for a snowblower or other high hp attachments.
Under 1000hrs will be a nice tight machine. 4000hrs is getting up there on a SS. They are still working but expect to start replacing lots of components if they haven't been already.

I saw a video of one with a firewood attachment, I forget exactly how it worked but basically you put a log on a cradle and the thing pulled the log bucked and split it and puked firewood out the other end. Crazy.

Timely topic as I have been shopping around for another skid steer. This Gehl 4625 SX was bought used in 1999 and has been low maintenance and a strong runner.



I have operated other brands and recently tested some used ones. I am going to stick with a Gehl and ready to pull the trigger on a 2008 5240 with 1400 hours on it.

Get ahold of sales for some demos.

Bobcat track loaders for me. And nope they ain’t cheap.

I have a 753 Bobcat and it has 2500 hours on it. It has been very reliable and starts if I keep in plugged in in cold weather and put that anti-gel in the fuel. While I like the Bobcat a lot the hand controls on the Gehl are a lot better IMHO for running a skid steer than foot controls.

A few thoughts... The track machines generally have a higher lift rating than the wheeled machines. Reason is the small diameter sprocket in the front moves the pivot point further forward versus a full size tire and wheel. However, the wheeled machines are cheaper. And you can always put grouser tracks over the wheels to improve traction. The grouser tracks can generally be had, used, for about $1k. Regardless of wheeled or tracked, get one with the third hydraulic circuit. AS noted above, there are a bunch of attachments for skid steers. But the majority of cool attachments require the third hydraulic circuit. If the third circuit is "high flow" (30+ gpm ?) so much the better. Strongly recommend buying one that has local sales and service. You WILL eventually be buying parts. Better a short trip vs running all over creation.

Finally, If you get a wheeled unit that does not already have solid rubber tires, just bite the bullet, go ahead and get 4 new solid rubber tires on it, or, 4 new pneumatic tires and then have them foam filled before mounting on the unit. I went the route of 4 pneumatic tires, plus foam fill, plus grouser tracks. The extra weight from foam fill and grouser tracks also work as counter weight. They will increase your "tip weight" by up to 500 pounds.

I'm on my 5th machine. 2 Bobcats the tiny ones, completely worn out, 2 Gehls, and now a Bobcat 753. I bought this 753 with just 176 hours on it 7 years ago for $12K. Stole it.

If I was buying a machine today, I would plan to have it for the rest of my life. Once you buy a jacked up used machine with high hours on it you'll realize how much work they'll do and you'll wish you'd spent the extra for a good low hours machine. All mine have been wheel machines, but with the slimy mud we have here, I might buy a tracked machine. The excavator I got last fall gets around pretty good with tracks in the slime. Steel tracks would work but are hard to manhandle on and off the machine. Tire chains probably won't help a lot, I haven't tried them. Flotation isn't good due to weight w/o tracks.

You can't imagine how useful you will find a skidsteer once you own one. So much more useful and faster than a tractor, and far safer. I believe you'll need a bigger machine than my 753 for the round bails.

Since I bought mine 10 years old with very low hours, it was essentially new. I'm at 1050 hours now and have replaced one busted hose, last year. I change the oil every 50 hours and write it on the inside of the back door with a permanent marker. Almost zero maintenance/repair in 1000 hours run time. it needs to go in now for a clunking inside. Probably a loose chain.

My Son in Law has two Case units. He runs the hell out of them, and intends to purchase another Case in the near future. So he must be satisfied with the brand.

He has a tandem axle goose neck dump trailer which hauls the skid steer quite nicely.

He has said that Case has a huge discount on new skid steer units sold to farm entities.

We ran bobcat almost exclusively...had one on rent every job....one time we rented a JD as a second machine...it was smaller than the bobcat but with the good JD hydronic system it would outwork the bobcat....we almost never had any breakdowns with bobcats and they got severely abused....

Track…......

I've rented a Case and a Terex w/ tracks. The T-rex almost made me get a SS instead of a tractor. Almost.
on my wet and/or soft ground tracks are the way to go, IMO.

For moving round bales, the clam shell attachment is the shizzle.

I have a Cat 259D with a breaker, broom, forks and bucket. It is one helluva machine and with the joy stick controls I could have a six year old running it with 30 of minutes training.

Here on the ranch we have 2 Bobcat skid steers, use them for hours every day. One of the Bobcats is a 105hp machine and with the factory rear weights, it will pick up 2 one ton bales. We find the Bobcats so versatile that we no longer have tractors with loaders on them. What really makes the machines are the attachments. Between my Dad and I, we have over 20 attachments. The only attachment that we gave up on was the backhoe. Fine for digging a hole but a royal pain to dig a ditch with it.

We've had both the tracked and wheeled versions of Bobcat skid steers. The tracked would go places the wheeled version wouldn't have a ghost of a chance getting through. While a set grousers work ok, it was our experience they weren't worth the hassle. There's no comparison in ride comfort between tracked and wheeled, our tracked Bobcat had ZERO suspension. Going across frozen ground was sheer torture whereas the wheeled Bobcats have the tires to provide some cushion.

Other than running a few other brands, ie Deere, Kubota, for a few hours on a rental job, we don't have any experience with brands other than Bobcat. We have local dealers which plays a role in selecting a brand.

One feature I've seen a few new skid steers that deserves a second glance is the one arm machines. This allows the operator door to be on the left side of the machine rather than in the front. Sometimes it's a pain to lower the arms all the way down before getting off the skid steer. Additionally, some attachments make it difficult to get on the machine when you have to climb on from the front.

We've had a couple of Gehl skid steers on the farm. We put on a few hours everyday, basically use it to do everything you listed. They have been pretty solid machines for us. When comparing prices Gehl parts tend to be cheaper than other brands.

Id look for a machine with less than 1500 hours, can lift around 2000lbs, and t-bar/joystick controls, and has two speeds.

Be careful not to get a machine that is too big. If you don't need the lifting capacity, you don't need the weight. A larger machine will dig itself into the mud faster, and be tougher to get out. When your plowing snow, it'll be heavier, so you'll do more damage when you slide into chit.etc. plus they are larger machines, so they don't fit into tight spaces as easily (which is kind of point of a.skid steer)

Id look for one with t bars or joy stick controls. They are easy to use, easy to be precise, etc. Also it's easy to learn to operate, so you can teach the kids/wife how to use it and they'll do a.good job.

Skid steers are slow if they don't have a second speed. Moving hay out of the field, or putting gravel down, or even just moving down the driveway it's nice to be able to speed up.

Ten years ago I bought a Case 1840 (1845 without the turbo). I have a bucket, forks and inverted log splitter for it.

I don't use it every day, but it has been amazingly useful around my place, as well as some trips to my friends and relatives.

It is great for snow, dirt and log splitting.

One thing that I will mention is that the dealer that I bought it from, cautioned me not to buy a used one that had been used on a dairy farm. The reason is that cow schit and urine will adversely effect the lower working parts of the machine.

I have nothing bad to say about the little Case.

donsm70

PS. I also have a 40 HP Case tractor, but unless it is really muddy, I prefer the skid steer.

High flow with 3rd hydraulic hookups, AC/Heated Cab, with tracks......that’s if I’m spending your money.....If I was spending my money it would probably be a high flow machine because a lot of accessories require it, the cab not important unless it was a good deal on a used machine, and NO tracks...... I’ve heard anywhere from 8-15k for a full rebuild on the under carriage.

This might be a good idea, probably find something good.

Thanks a heap you guys, you've given me plenty to consider.

Yeah, I'd planned on the high flow hydraulics even if for no other reason than eventually I'd like to get a snowblower for it. As far as AC/Heated cab, I'd take it if the right used one had it, but I'm not concerned enough to pay for it extra.
I'd heard that if you peel of a track, or have issues that they are very spendy compared to the wheels? I've never driven one with tracks that I can remember, but I can damned sure see how it'd go more places.

The Gehl I rented had no foot controls aside from the throttle. Was all in the levers. At first I was not a fan, I liked moving the machine with my hands and the bucket with my feet. But after 2-3 hours I kinda came to like it. Especially when the cab down at my feet was full of packed snow lol. Showed my son how to use it, 5 minutes later he's moving snow full throttle like he'd been doing it his whole life.

There was a used Bobcat that was cheap enough I almost bought it (ahead of schedule) but when I looked up the specs it would have been running on the ragged edge of what it's rated at for me to do what I want it to. And I am not going that that road. I'm not worried about tearing up the ground with the tires/tracks, I just need the thing to start, run, and right now MOVE SNOW. Damn we got hammered yesterday and last night.

I hadn't even thought of Canadia, I should start looking there too. Buddy just married one of them to boot.

You'll wonder why tractors even sell at all after owning a skid steer.