G'day fella's & fellettes, Been reading a bit on this forum, looks like there might be a bit of knowledge out there between you all! I hope that I'll be able to tap into a bit of it. I've just thrown my nuts on the block, bought a skid steer ('04 Komatsu SK 818-5, 1400 hours), bought a truck ('89 Hino 5t flat bed). Quit my job and now it's either going to fix me or xxxx me..........We'll find out soon enough I guess! I'll be working along side a mate with a 3t digger, so between us both we hope to be able to muster enough work to keep the wolves away! So my first question to you all, is there an opinion on the Komatsu SK's? I know that Komatsu's are fine machines, and mine seems great so far, there doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot of them around! Anything I need to look out for on it, common problems?? Another question, a job we've got lined up for next week requires a rake bucket (which I don't have). So any clues on what size & type ie covered back or all rake bucket. My sand (only) bucket just covers the wheel tracks, so I was thinking getting the rake bucket so that the sand bucket would fit inside. As opposed to having it smaller than the sand bucket & risking tyre damage????? All & any input most welcome :drinkup
Ok, I've done a bit more reading around the site, can't seem to find any info on rake buckets, i guess there not so common on East of the Pacific! I've ordered one now anyway, pick it up in the morning, ready to go to work the day after. I gave the old girl a bit of love today, the paint was just begging for a buff, came up like new, a couple more hours & she'll be ready for action for our first job on Wednesday!
By rake bucket do you mean a rock rake? Post a picture of it. I am curious. As far as Komatsu skid steers, I demoed one some years back. Some things I liked and others I did not, but it was not incompetent. For whatever the reason, they have not got much penetration into the market with that machine.
Yamaman; Congratulations on your skid steer! Good Luck and hope you keep busy! I purchased a Cat, but did demo the komatsu. I actually liked it better than the cat, but the komatsu dealer would not budge on price - wanted more than the cat dealer. Not really the same comparable models, but the Cat 252b versus the SK 818-5. I felt the komatsu (815) was more stable on slopes. The smaller komatsu had just as much power as the larger caterpillar - if not more - the komatsu lifted 4000 pounds, but tipped over - were the cat, would not lift the 4000 pounds more than just a few inches (I know I exceeded the load cap - but was testing both machines power). I mainly just tested the gp bucket and forks on each machine and would have purchased the komatsu except thought the price was too high. You should be real happy with that machine! Good Luck!
Thanks very much for the kind words, just got home with the new rake bucket & I'll post a pic as soon as I take one...... Yeah, the Komatsu seems very stable with it's long wheel base, of cousre there will be a trade off with that......... Cheers
so i joined the forum about a month ago and still to this date can not post a new thread, any help?
Think you need more that 2 post to do that. muzy
Well, here's my brand new rake bucket & my 2 T/A's
hows it going for you mate? been nearly a year since you went out on your own.