Main purpose will be plowing/pushing snow. Using a Pickup truck now, with 8.5 ft V-blade and need something quicker. I need to get close to bldgs. So I run the truck down the drivers side next to the bldg (so i can get closer - im also going a lot slower as im literally a couple inches away from the bldg) sometimes backing up to make a another pass. Then I need to either drive around or jack the truck around multiple times to get the truck lined up with the bldg next to it, and do the same thing to get close to the bldg. But then im left with a bunch of snow in the center drive of both bldgs (approx 30ft drive between) Think of it this way... Run the truck along the north side of the south bldg, then maneuver the truck to get it lined up to do the south side of the north bldg. Then im pushing the snow out either end, and sometimes depending on how much snow there is, dividing it up and pushing it out either end. which means more turning/backing up. Im also using the 'scoop' mode quite a bit when doing this. Which means i dont get a full 8.5ft blade in scoop mode. So I need to get up close to bldgs and get the snow away. Im wasting alot of time backing up, and turning the truck to get rid of the snow. So im looking at either a skid or a wheel loader hoping it will be better than using a pickup ?? Skid 242/262 Cat (73hp) vs a Wacker Neuson WL30 (30hp?) Haven't owned either one and just trying to figure out what is going to be best in the long run and what you guys think would be best for me. Comments on the pros and cons of the WL30 vs the skid would be nice. WL30 looks like it would be more comfortable for long day/night use and easier to see whats going on around you. Other than a bucket or snow pusher, not sure what else you could do with the WL30. Im guessing that there is more useable attachments for the Skid. other than that....??
Pavement? I need to chain up (SS) for heavy snows. Haven't tried the narrow snow tires or studs, but the chains are going to "leave a mark" Visibility & maneuverability are outstanding, the blade is on the ground, working 95% of the time. I'd try to rent, borrow or steal a skid steer with a pusher box to try before you invest. I'd also consider "off season" uses for either a SS or a W/L. Also, a v blade (wings) will not operate like on your truck. Depending on what machine you get, it will involve a combination of buttons & switches. IMHO not ideal.
Majority of it is stone drive, Id say 92%. Combo of rail stone / crushed stone. Rest is asphalt. I rented one (SS) last season for a whopping week. Its all I could get it for. It was hard finding anything to rent last winter around here and I was lucky to get it for a week. I was only able to put about 10-12 hrs on it before we had to return it. Had a 8ft pusher box. But no blade. Visibility was good as was the maneuverability but not sure how that compares to the WL30 nor how it compares to pushing snow with a WL. Would differently get a push box / but thinking I may need a blade also. or maybe even a 84" bucket. The blade I have now for the truck has like 8 buttons on the controller to run it. Would the lift capacity of a 242D, 2150#s, be enough for a 8ft or 10 ft push box or blade, 84" bucket.?
Cat hydraulics are second to none, you'll put the machine on its nose before the hydraulics give up. You should be able to handle the box with no trouble, might need to add some weights to the ass end. I'll also second the need for chains on the skid, I have trouble pushing with the 6' material bucket on my Cat. I don't have any experience on a wheel loader in snow, sorry
Ok I got to reading HeavyEquipmentForums So how does a Wacker Neuson WL30 (48 hp) compare then to my Compact Tractor rated at 35 horse. It doesnt really have that much HP vs my compact tractor. Will it really push more snow than my compact tractor? and why, cause the hp is about the same. Weight? Other than it has a articulating front end. What else is gonna make the WL30 push snow faster than my Compact Tractor. If im going to consider a wheel loader then, I certainly don't want to at the expense of already having something close that already does the same thing and at the same rate of speed/time. thanks
Check out Kage Innovation they have a blade that has a pusher box that attaches to it. Never used one but looks awesome.
I ran a WL 50 last Fall for about a month or so (no snow, just dirt). It was around 75 hp, doesn't sound like much since my skid and CTL are 90 hp, but the WL is much more efficient at putting the power to the ground, comfort and visibility are excellent, and it seemed to practically run on air, especially compared to my skid and CTL. I believe the WL36 is available with high flow, so you could run a blower on it (as many do) if you wanted. I have never spent much time in a compact tractor, but the WL would seem to be more agile and faster, how much faster would likely depend on what type of tranny you have in your tractor. I think you would really need to arrange for a demo machine (now) and run a WL 30-36 and see what you think. There are several guys that push snow here with 60-70 hp compact tractors, but its an ag heavy area here so, that may be some of the reason. WN sells a lot of these compact wheel loaders to snow guys, there must be some advantages to the WL that are not available with a compact tractor, since the WL's are certainly more expensive.
Well I got to see and run a WL30. Maybe a half hour at the most, of course there isnt any snow so hard to compare to the skid which I got to run when we had snow. Its non turbocharged. There was only 2 vents for heat flow and that was on the right hand side of the steering column. Which I found odd. Add on unit maybe? Didnt seem like just those two vents could keep the whole cab warm and windows thawed out. Visibility compared to a skid is Excellent, you sit up higher obviously, no loader arms to block your vision. Rear window sight is excellent. Which concerned me a bit with a cat skid as the 'rear deck' is higher and seems like it might load up full of snow in the winter months blocking the rear window even more. Of course you get the big lift arms and cylinder right in center of the front window. So side view of your bucket/box is better with the WL but if you were going to use a post hole digger for example I would think the skid steer would have better sight to that attachment. The cat "d' series controls/switches and cab seems better laid out. Im not sure about using it for a 10 hour day, but the WL would probably be more comfortable then the skid.. Tried the WL with a bucket and it just seemed more flimsy to me for some reason. Too the point, it had me thinking when we left if the bucket was even attached correctly. But it never fell off and I used it to dig and dump dirt. Which leads me to dumping.. the skid steer is faster dumping, it took foooorevver for the loader arms to go up and the bucket to dump. Slower than my tractor in fact. I asked the sales guy twice if there was any adjustment on the unit for that and was told 'no'. Im not so sure, theres one on my tractor, just seems odd there wasnt any on the WL. Turn radius is great compared to a pickup truck, but cant match the zero turn of a skid steer. Im torn, while I like the 'view' of the WL and some of its features, (drive it down the road /vs not with a skid,etc) Its hard to compare it to a skid while plowing snow since there is none. The Skid seemed faster for some reason. Cost wise, quite a bit more than a skid. But suppose to use less fuel compared to the skid.
Couple of things to note about the lift speed on the WL. Many people initially complain about WL cycle times but forget that unlike the Skids, it does not have a manual throttle. You need to use the throttle and inch brake together. When you have the throttle down and apply the inch brake, the hydraulic power is directed to the lift arms and bucket. This not only gives you significant power but fast cycle times. If you do not do this, it is the equivalent of trying to operate the Skid Steer lift arms in idle mode. Once you use it for a few minutes engaging a load, you quickly realize how much more efficient it is. I grew up on Skids and it was a quick adjustment for me. This also leads to the fuel consumption story. Because many people use the SSL's with the manual throttle wide open all the time, you are burning a lot of fuel when it is not needed. With the WL's, you use the throttle when you need it (like a car). Tires also do not wear out nearly as fast as the Skids. They just put out this video about their snow removal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lIKcH0IcJM&list=UUwccmWTyz-fdBWVLOouYfgw I heard from my dealer that the WL30 will have a turbo, high flow option for T4F later this year.
Good point about the inch pedal and throttle. The WN guys explained that to me and it took a little while to get on to it, but it makes a big difference. I would also consider the 36 sized machine.
Wish I would have known about the inch brake at the time I went and looked at it. Better yet, why didnt the sales guy tell me about, after I asked him 3 separate times if there was any way to make the loader arm move faster. In regards to skid steers, which works better for plowing, tires or tracks? Are there any other WL brands you guys would recommend or avoid? Im still trying to get my head wrapped around whether to go for a WL or Skid for snow plowing. The skid would probably have more uses available to it when the warm months hit vs the WL wouldnt it?
Actually since most of the WL's have skid steer plates, they are just as good in the summer as they are in the winter. The wheeled machines will be better since it is likely a hard surface that you are dealing with. Also, wheeled machines are usually about 4mph faster than tracked machines. I think WN probably has the broadest line of compact WL's so there is a lot to choose from (sidewalk machines up to 1.5 yd loaders). They also come with high flow and there are a couple of different steering options as well. The only issue is that their dealer network is not as large as some of the other brands so they may be a little further away. Other brands such as Volvo, JD and CAT have good machines as well but they tend to be larger machines. It all depends on how much area you are looking to maintain and what the constraints are for the job (sidewalks, etc.)
I have moved snow with every piece of equipment on the planet including the kitchen sink. I currently use 3 CAT 928g wheel loaders with just the buckets. I also have a 10' pusher for my CAT 277c. The tracked MTL's with a pusher will run circles around any truck, tractor or wheeled loader compact or full size around. There is one particular apartment complex that would take us 8 hours to plow a 4" snow with two 928's and one truck. That time was "almost" cut in half replacing one of the wheel loaders with the skid. If you are working by the hour that's one thing, if you are working by the push that's another. Just my opinion but I wouldn't trade my skid and pusher for ANYTHING plowing snow. And as far as the wheeled vs track thing.....personally from what I have seen the tracked machines are 10x better especially if you have ANY kind of ice base underneath.
I would say the MTL has advantages in the snow that other tracked machines do not. The Kevlar tracks with the suspended undercarriage and tread design work well in snow. It is the one environment that does not seem to destroy the undercarriage of an MTL. Since the tracks were made by Camoplast which got its start in snowmobile tracks, that makes sense. The cost per hour in the WL will be less than an MTL. A typical CTL is not a good snow option in my opinion even though the Polar tracks are better, they still are not as good as an MTL or a WL. It might be harder to keep a WL busy in the Summer,depending on what you do. However like already mentioned the mounting plates are the same, so many tasks that are typically done with SSL could be done with the WL. Maybe the thing to do would be to put the WL on an RTO, push snow with it for a season and see what you think, if you like it, keep it and if not turn it back and pay the rent.
Dumb question of the day, whats the diff between a MTL and CTL?
MTL= multi terrain loader.....bogie wheel suspension/undercarriage, better on dirt, snow and turf. Can be expensive to operate if not used properly in these conditions and these conditions only. CTL =compact track loader......baby bulldozer...sprocket driven tracks, better on aggregate or dry pavement . A very rugged undercarriage with a lower operating cost but comfort and ride is compromised. Snow tracks are available but are a compromise and still won't offer the traction of a MTl
Ok so looking at track section of either a MTL or CTL how can one tell the diff between the two.?
MTL's have a series of rubber bogie wheels and the drive wheel for the track has what's called a squirrel cage to rotate the assembly, it has metal rollers that drive the cogs on the track. A CTL has steel rollers at the bottom of the track and has openings in the center of the track where the drive sprocket teeth engage the track to drive it.
A WL will have a advantage if you have to power turn but a ss is by far the best bang. My setup with a custom built 9' 2 cyd struck bucket. I have enough traction to almost stall the engine without chains!
The suspension. The MTL has a suspension that contours better to the ground - less bumpy ride, less ground disturbance. It's a good machine for high end landscaping and snow, bottom maintenance is high. The CTL has a more robust dozer type undercarriage but has a less forgiving suspension but the bottom also lasts a lot longer. You need to swap tracks to a snow type if you plan on using it for snow removal.
I've done snow removal in just about every situation possible, including an up armored HMMVe with a snow plow at a forward operation base airfield in Afghanistan. With the exception of specialized airfield high speed plows and blowers my first pick would always be a large compact loader with a Kage snow containment system. Can't be beat. I hate snow plowing but - you can either sleep or you can make money, I choose to make money, sleep is overrated.
SS and Compact WLs cost about the same. It all depends on what you plan on doing with it during the construction season. If you need chains you are probably using the wrong type of equipment, technique or it's the 1970's. Machine momentum and in situations where a snow storm turned into an ice storm - snow melting material and equipment is all you need. Most of my snow removal now is done in a heavy urban environment or an airport, where the big money is.
Im not sure if either one of these would be cost effective for me. Im not using it to make a living. Not sure the extra expense/maintenance would be worth the extra $. DoyleX. Are those wolfpaws you have on that set up? If so do you know how much taller they are then the stock 12x16.5 tires?
The back window area will not gather with snow if the engine is running, because the heat from the engine keeps it melted. Thats how it is on our 247B anyways. I will agree with the MTL vs everything else for plowing, nothing can beat a MTL, I have plowed with a wheeled skid loader and a Takeuchi CTL (headache after that one haha) and even the wheeled machine (7,500 lbs) didn't compare. With the MTL style tracks you have a lot more rubber on the ground vs. 4 tiny patches of rubber that a wheel machine does. A plow with trip springs is also better for plowing than a bucket, the first time you hit a un-even spot in the pavement you will wish you had the cushion of the springs when your head hits the front door haha What do you do the rest of the year?
I may want to use a western Vplow with the Cat. Can the machine do it and what should I get on the machine so that it will work. I know I need the electric hook up, up front, but other than that any else special that I would need. Would the buttons on the joysticks be able to run the plow, I know some joysticks have more buttons on them than others. (Maybe part of a package or something). Thanks
In regards to a snow bucket or a snow pusher would any of these two come in handy in the operation of snow removal. Dual self level Return to dig My thoughts are that at the end of a run, and after you push / dump into a pile that the bucket/pusher would return to ground and level out with the least amount of action using the controls from the user. The loader arms would come down and bucket/pusher would return back to a level position and float activated to be ready for your next run. Dual Self Level.. I understand is the bucket/forks staying level (up/down)with the ground so no interaction from the user, however been told that loader arms dont fully return to ground. Return to Dig.. I understand is that the bucket comes back down at the predetermined level, but if you happen to be in a slightly lower area then where it was set, then you will begin to 'dig' in where you happen to be. Float... any way to engage float automatically so that it stays on all the time until you decide to flip a switch or something.
Dual self leveling certainly would not have a place in snow removal. Return to dig in my view would not either, since Eh requires such small input from the operator anyway, but I have not run a D with that feature so I could not be totally certain.
I started plowing Shopping centers, Office blg's, Driveways, exc. With rubber & track loaders, graders, dozers, skid loaders and trucks in 1972 at age 9. The last 16 years I've been @ O'hare airport operating rubber tire loaders with up to 30' wide push blades. If your getting your plowing done in 3 hrs, I think the pickup is the simplest way to go. To plow faster I would suggest a 2 yd bucket rubber tire loader size with a quick attach for a 12' articulating plow (not push blade). You can pull into corners of lot, back drag away if needed and clean up into a pile away from building. If pile gets to big you have the bucket to move it to lawn areas or load out. Put a phone number on the tractor and in big snow storms you can work for weeks after the snowfall.
Ok thanks, on another note what about Work Tool Positioner. - "Allows angle of the work tool to be preset then automatically recalled if machine is repositioned" Its taking me an average of 6 hrs with a pickup by itself / average winter. Last winter when I had a skid steer at my disposal for a few days it took us close to 11hrs with both the truck and the skid, just for one storm. If I had just used the truck then I would have been pushing quite a bit longer than the 11 hrs.
The work tool positioner function has some applications, snow removal is not likely one of them. Good example of a use for the tool positioner would be using a trencher attachment. If you want a certain angle on the trencher to maximize its bite and not over work the attachment. You set the desired angle so that you can achieve the exact same bite every time.
So how would (or wouldnt) the work tool positioner come into play using a bucket. Cat literature says that you can set the bucket to be preset automatically and recalled. Just trying to get my head around all this.. dual level, return to dig and work tool positioner thing. To me it almost seems as the return to dig is the same as work tool positioner.
It takes nothing to push the bucket down to the asphalt, you don't need an auto repositioning system to do that. As far as tilt position, sometimes you have to change the bucket cut angle depending on the amount of snow/ice build up on the driveway. Auto repositioning is not going to help that. All that cool electronic stuff can have a place, but I don't see it being needed for snow removal.
We saved a decent amount of fuel when we switched to machines with pilot/EH controls and foot throttles versus hand/foot controls running wide open all day. Plus we don't have to listen to machines driving around wide open all the time either. I have a hard time running the EH controls wide open, I tend to run the controls at the max and vary my speed with the foot throttle. Tires can last longer on a loader, but people are also way to cheap when it comes to buying skid steer tires. For whatever reason nobody takes a few minutes to look into what is actually out there, whats good, and what it will cost you per hour. With some research you would find you can buy Michelin Bibsteel AT radials for less money than a Firestone Duraforce right now. The Bibsteel will outlast the Duraforce at least 3 times over. Not to mention better traction and nicer ride, both very important for snow removal. Honestly, if you compare the costs per hour of a good skid steer tire with decent wheel loader tire, they can get pretty close to each other. Much closer than some anticipate. The loader tires still go for more hours, but they cost more. The one company in that video is a local one. Went to a customer appreciation thing with the owner, great guy, pretty blunt to the point about everything. Builds some amazing water features in the summer and moves snow in the winter. I know he loves that little Wacker. Actually he would probably be a good guy to ask about the topic of this thread since he has both the WL30 and a Cat 277C2. I'd argue just how good a wheel loader really is in snow, at least the larger ones are like a fat chick on ice in flip flops. Lol, but its similar to a skid steer with crap tires I guess too. Look at the model number. With Cat, the "2" means its an SSL/CTL/MTL, the next number is the size (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9), the next number is the style (2=Vertical SSL, 6=Radial SSL, 7=MTL, 9=CTL). The last numbers/letters are the series (B,B2,B3,C,C2,D). It's also easy to tell by looking at them. MTL undercarraige is all black and very open, CTL will have the big yellow metal components and often a D block style track as well. MTL CTL Cat CTL still has torsion suspension which some love and some hate. Only track loaders I have ran are a Gehl CTL75 and 289D Cat. Can't really offer much advice on whether the suspension is good or not. Seemed to ride nice but the CTL75 wasn't as fast to begin with. Didn't spend a ton of time grading dirt with either to know how the suspension affected the grade work, but many have said it can be a pain for precise work. 242 would be enough to run that stuff although some heavy snow in a big bucket may get it a little tippy. 262 would be a lot more stable, same power, more money and longer if you need to fit into tighter spaces. You can get some systems that convert from Box to blade and also allow angle. Kage makes one, and HLA has some as well. It does not take much to heat those small cabs. You will be cooking in no time. The Cat rear vis is good except for the fact you mentioned, the height of the rear end which makes it harder to see the ground close up. I would recommend getting one with the backup camera if you do go that route. It takes some getting used to, but the camera will give you better vis than any stock skid. The snow will not sit up there, the machine pulls the air in through the rear door and blows it out the top so there will always be hot air from the coolers keeping everything melted. IMO the D series is very comfortable to sit in for a long day, but thats just my experience. Having the proper options really makes the day go by easier too. Ride control, high back cloth air ride seat, cab/heat/air, radio with bluetooth and iPod hookup, backup camera all make life a lot easier inside one of them. I've never ran the WL30 but with similar options I suspect it would be similar comfort wise. Honestly compared to our Volvo L60E, our D series Cat is just as comfortable surprisingly and that is with the Tweels, not the Bibsteels. Bibsteels would make the ride even softer, Tweels are still soft just nowhere near as soft as the Bibsteels. The one thing that sucks with the D series and many skid steers is the lighting. I added lights to shine out to the side of our 262D because I hate not being able to see over there. Case has side lights on their new machines as well, but they can be blocked by the boom it appears. I also am working on building a light box for the front of the machine that I will mount under the step on the cab. This will have two more flush mount lights in it that will provide ground illumination that is needed when the boom is raised since it blocks the working lights on the cab.
Theres a few other tires people like for plowing that I can't remember the name of. A lot of guys will put 11r22.5 truck tires on them to drive between jobs faster. Gains a lot of ground clearance too so you don't get stuck as much. You can get a lot of recaps with a nice soft tread for snow work. Getting them siped will help even more. Some will put Light truck snow tires on them as well, like Firestone Winterforce LT's. We do a lot of other stuff with our skids so I leave the regular tires on, but do run the Winterforce LT and Bridgestone Blizzak on our trucks in the winter and they are amazing. I'm a tire snob and can't stress the importance of good tires for anything. They can make your job a lot nicer and they are a big expense at the end of the day. Don't just walk in and say I want the cheapest SSL tire, and don't let them sell you on everything, do your own research. You should be able to get a machine with the work tool electrical package that will allow you to control the vee plow functions. Many plows have the solenoids built into the pump and such. If you can use the original solenoid block and plumb it to your SSL auxillaries that would be great. Otherwise just take the whole thing off, set it aside and start over. You can always put it back on when you sell the plow to someone for a truck. You will need to buy a solenoid manifold then plumb your hoses for the plow functions into it, and plumb your SSL hydraulics to feed the block. Then wire it up to a connector for the work tool electric hookup. It'll be nice to run if this is what you want to do. x2 on a plow with a trip. Preferably one with a trip edge. Return to dig would have a place with a snow pusher IMO. Since you need a certain angle on the pusher every time, it would be nice to reset to that same position every time. You could argue that you are not changing the angle of the pusher often anyways, unless stacking over a curb or something. It could be useful with a plow or bucket to in order to have the same position every time. It's just as useful for plowing as it is for loading dirt IMO, but not as important because you are not as worried about digging a hole like you are loading dirt out of a pile. Its just to make repetitive work a bit easier. The controls in a wheel loader take no effort either, but the return to dig is very nice to use. Its a few seconds less your hand spends on that control every cycle, which adds up at the end of the day. Is it a 1st world problem? You bet lol. The dual leveling may have its place I don't know, you don't get an option on the D's. If you get self leveling, its dual leveling. Being used to only having it when lifting, its taking me a long time to get used to it going down. Return to dig does require less effort, even though its not a lot to begin with. You just start lowering the boom and rolling the bucket, then click the trigger and it drops the boom and returns bucket to the position you have set. Some like it, some dont. The bucket position is set by you whenever you feel like changing it, it is not something the dealer programs and you are stuck with it. The book explains how to set the position, its very easy and very fast to do. The boom should come all the way to the ground with self leveling on, I've never had it not at least, not sure why it wouldn't. There isn't a way to keep float on, there is no way to do that in any sort of machine. If it stayed in float you would not be able to lift the boom. I do wish you could just click a button for float instead of having to slam the stick forward then hit the trigger. Once you engage float it will stay engaged until you move the stick for the boom function. Dual leveling is nothing special really. Most SSL's just level going up, dual leveling does it in both directions. Wheel loaders and such have done this for years. Return to dig is for loading out of a pile and repetitive work, it drops the boom and positions the button. Work tool positioner just sets the position of the tool and does not move the boom IIRC.
I personally don't see where it would be useful for normal dirt moving or grading?
The same way it's useful on wheel loaders
I haven't ran a newer wheel loader with work tool positioning, but how much effort does it take to drop the loader arms and curl the bucket at the same time? I can see where it would be useful on a wheel loader, say a gravel pit where you are scooping off the same pile at the same angle all day, but for a skid loader there are so many different spots and places that you work in, it just seems like extra stuff that you don't need. :beatsme
Wheel loaders get used for repetitive loading. That's where the advantage is. Skid steer do not as much, but it's still nice to have when you do those types of tasks. We load a lot of manure out of pile with ours. It doesn't seem like much effort, but some people like it.
Are the 'Return to Dig' and 'Work Tool Positioner' options software enabled? I know that the self level is standard but as far as the other two is it something that I can have enabled at a later date, or something that has to come from the factory pre-installed. The backup camera is it a IR camera? looks like it works pretty descent at night, other than the shadow from the skid steer. I assume the light is coming from another source other than the rear work lights on the skid.? Is the Stall-Limiting system on the Cat an issue? Tossing around the idea of the on-demand fan over the standard fan. Thinking that in the winter I really don't need the fan running all the time if it doesn't need to, its already cold out so if the fan doesn't need to run, why should it? Maybe would help some in regards to heating the cab, since it wouldn't be running all the time.? Will it save on fuel usage? Ok the HLA SnowWing looks interesting. But 1420 #'s. Is that weight gonna be a issue for a 242D? Anybody know how much they run. Thinking it could take care of needing a box and a blade. Whats a 'Conversion Arrangement' package? And that's the part Im looking at, when it comes to the Return to Dig, Work tool Positioner or the the Self Leveling. Which one, if any, is gonna make the difference at the end of the day. I don't see myself loading trucks all day so the self leveling feature may not be something i really need.. unless, it helps with plowing snow and pushing, dumping, into a snow bank then return the loader arms to the ground for another run. Which option(s) if any are the best for snow removal from the standpoint of reducing feedback from the user? The other thing that concerns me is how do you keep stuff in your bucket from falling out if you have self-leveling???
Sometimes self leveling is not an advantage. I use on flat ground sometimes, but when loading on uneven ground you can either dump material over the back of the bucket and onto the machine or all over the truck if you don't manually adjust the bucket. I don't know if CAT charges for the RTD but I would seriously demo one and mimic snow removal operations and see if it is worth the money. I realize it automates the task of positioning the bucket, but since it requires zero finess to put the bucket or snow pusher on the ground, I really fail to see what advantage this feature would be. If it does not cost any extra than its a mute point.
Yes they are software enabled features AFAIK. I could be wrong though, there could be an additional sensor they have to add for one of them. Not sure if it runs off the sensors for the leveling or needs an extra one. Camera is not IR. Picture I took was near a yard light, it works well with skid steer work lights. The stall limiting had some glitches on the 242D and 259D models that has since been fixed. I would get the demand fan, all of ours have it. Nice not listening to it all day and its not plugging radiator up as fast. Don't remember what the snowwing runs, that weight will not be an issue for a 242. Where are you seeing conversion arrangement? As for the R2D, WTP, Self Level, it all depends on the operator. Some will think they are worth gold others will not. Try it and decide for yourself. If you think you like them, get them, you can always turn them off. The purpose of self leveling is to keep stuff from falling out of the bucket because the geometry changes as the boom goes up. If you roll the bucket all the way back and lift the boom all the way up it will dump stuff on the cab.
Saw it on some machine descriptions on machinerytrader and it was also on a price quote that I got from a dealer.