I am contemplating looking into a skid steer. I have larger equipment Dozer,backhoe& track hoe. I run a tri axle truck and often need equipment there to spread gravel & topsoil. Sometimes just 1 load or so, kinda unhandy to move Dozer just for that & expensive. I have run several skid steers in the past, 15+ years ago & am out of the loop on later machines. Would like one with tracks & able to knock down 19 ton load fairly easy. Opinions & suggestions on size & make appreciated.
Bigger is better for pushing. Doing heavy dirt work, I would lean towards a Takeuchi TL12 (or TL250 or Tl150 used, all the same basic machine). Here's my Mustang MTL325(Tak 250). That job had a 2k yard cut, 8k yard fill, spread 1k of the cut and load out the other k. I replaced it with a Kubota SVL90-2, but a TL12 would have been fine as well. Went with Kubota because the dealer offered me $1300 less than I paid for the MTL new. Time wise, spreading a 15 yard load took 3-5 minutes. Depending on terrain and layout, loading 15 yards from a pile takes 8 minutes or so. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XvrbRacTEQw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-TkoPN9uglM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_upokbkhQHA
You have to keep in mind also if space is tight a big old skid steer is a pita i have an s650 and s175 working right now the one who get the most use is the s175 becuase its short light and when im grading a pad for a house and all theplumbing and crap is in the way best believe the s175 is the one i use but when i have to move pallets of sod load my truck or grade around a property i try to use the large skid steer since it gets it done faster and easier
John Deere would be a good fit for you as they have a few models that will fit your needs. Head to head better than the Kubota and Doosan, er, I mean "BobCat" and much more reasonably priced than the CAT machines. The Deere will also hold it's resale value better and you won't have to wait on a "slow boat from China" for parts. http://www.deere.com/en_US/products/equipment/compact_track_loaders/329e/329e.page
Reasonably priced depends on the area. Deere is still 5-10k higher than Cat here on the E series that I've priced, even with deeres incentives. Deere will hold resale better than Bobcat or Cat? We talking construction or farm equipment? Resale is still dependent on area and dealers. If they have an annoying one like you it's probably not worth much. Boat from China? So what, every machine has Chinese parts in it, Deere included. Deere, Bobcat, Cat, CNH and others are built in US if that really matters to anyone so what's the big deal. As long as the parts are on shore that's what matters. All of them do a pretty good job of that. Time to go back to sales school at Deere. Surprised you didn't mention how much more they lift, or that you can see so great out of them and have all of that engine access, those are topics they cover there right?
Regions will vary Typically price isn't an issue when we face up against CAT but that is the kind of information we give to corp to help build better incentives.
I would probably go with the TL12, then a Cat 299D and a Bobcat T770 in that order.
Deere recently switched from the reputable Berco undercarriage rollers and Bridgestone tracks to Korean made DRB rollers and tracks. The reports and feedback I've gotten on track and roller life haven't been too positive.
Thanks for the info guys. Is there any info or advice on ASV's. I saw some for sale but know anything about them good,bad or indifferent.
MTL's like ASVs are really good for wet areas and rough/finish grading, but other than that the undercarriage costs too much to run in rocky areas/concrete. We have a RC-100, it can knock down a tandem load of dirt in about 4 or 5 passes with a 80" bucket on it, it has really good traction and lifting capacity. We re-powered ours with a 5.9 Cummins, so that might have helped a bit Most guys around here run Takeuchi's for rough grading and concrete work, we had one for a while, they are built darn near indestructible.