I am looking to buy my first skid steer and I have been having trouble deciding how big of a machine I need. Im a landscaper so I would use it mostly for scraping foundations for cobble stone walkways, moving mulch and dirt around, and piling up sticks and branches on land clearing jobs. The heaviest thing I would use it for would be lifting hay (800lb round bales). I would also like to get a set of forks and use it to move materials around, mostly concrete pavers and that sort of thing. I found an older Bobcat 453 on craigslist that is in my price range but it looks a lot smaller than any skid steer Ive ever run. I dont want to buy something that is just a glorified wheel barrow, but my budget is only around 3000 dollars. That seems to limit me to a decent small machine or a totally used up medium sized machine. What do you guys think? Would it be worth it to have around to handle small or mid size jobs or am I better off waiting untill I can afford a bigger machine?
Although the rated lift is 800#, trying to lift a hay bale that heavy would probably tip you forward because the forks will put the load farther forward that just a bucked loaded with dirt. The majority of the mini bobcats I'v seen are in use for inside building demolition. As for scraping dirt, there is very weight on the edge of the bucket, you'd probably need a tooth bucket to scrape anything but sand efficiently. If it was me, I'd save a little more $ for a larger machine.
I got a deal on a small skid years ago and used it for 2 years. We tried to unload big bales with the forks but just tipped the machine. We would tip the bales off the trailer to unload and stack with another tractor. For the size of the machine it had very good power. Most landscapers here prefer the walk behide units because they dont have to get in and out of the cab all the time. Your budget is the big determining factor; can you put up with the little machine untill the money starts coming in or do you spend the money now. For bales I wouldnt go below a 1500lb class machine. I move bales all the time and when they are very green they can weigh close to a ton. I would say go bigger or go for a walk behind dedicated for landscaping.
It sounds like I would be a lot better off to save another couple thousand and get a bigger machine. I dont have any other loaders to stack the bales with and i want to be able to store them two or three high. If i come accross a crazy good deal on a mini walk behind I might pick up one of those in the mean time.
Landscaper? Ever unload pallets of rock, or pallets of grass sod? Not sure about rock, but sod pallets go about a ton... more if its wet. A T190 handles a pallet of sod easily, but its 6' wide... Good luck with your search.
If you want to move hay bales or use forks on it you will need a bigger machine and a counterweight on it. Baleage is especially heavy and will make it tip quick.
Digger the new thread you started won't let me post Thanks .
Digger 242j .I can't post on the new thread with the fuse problem. The computer is prohibiting me from posting,but it lets me post on other threads. Help please. Thanks
That makes absolutely no sense. :bash By that I mean, there's no reason I know of that you shouldn't be able to post in any open thread that you can see, and now that you've passed probationary status, you should also be able to start threads of your own. (I checked your settings, and they're all the same as everybody else's.) :beatsme What message do you get when you try to post?
Hey, Americanland Mgt. I did the same thing you are looking to do last year, i ended up getting a Bobcat 642 (gas) i though i was just going to use it for a little cleanup and backfilling behind the backhoe. Well now a days i use the Bobcat more than the backhoe i am getting a lot of small day jobs that the backhoe is just to big for so i use the Bobcat all the time now. I wish i would have gotten a bigger machine but i have what i have, and the 642 is a little too small for what i am doing but it gets the job done sooner or later, so what i am trying to say is don't get the smallest machine you will be looking for a bigger machine within a year.