Does anyone know if any other make of skid steer used a variable speed belt drive besides Bobcat? Asking for a friend. Thanks in advance
Case did years ago. Probably made by Bobcat.....?? See below. https://partstore.casece.com/us/parts-search.html#epc::mr54964ar292904
Snowmobiles used 'em, too. Likely that's where the idea came from...
A friend has an old, early 70's I think, Owatonna skid steer and it has the vari speed drive. Mike
That is interesting, the Bobcats of that vintage we had in the company had Wisconsin engine but those had the drive pulley right on the end of crankshaft, not on a separate right angle drive. Might not have been a good design as I recall a couple broken cranks we felt were the result of the side load from that variable speed drive pulley!
Well the snowmobile guys probably stole the idea from Vespa as that is how they were built and right up to today still are built. Wife has one I'm going to be replacing the belt on in the next couple days. I don't know about the other skids, but the Bobcats we had the variable speed was hydraulically adjusted. Where the snow machines and Vespas are operated by weight and automatically adjust for engine RPMs. Actually I believe wife's car has a similar design but using a steel belt (chain) in place of the rubber belt.
Owatonna, made in Owatonna, MN made small skid steers like that for Case, JD, themselves, and a half a dozen other manufacturers. My cousin tested the machine when they came off the assembly line for many years. He is still a little dizzy from spinning. The rubber buildup was over a inch deep on the test pad from the tires.