m700 good first skid steer?

[otisd85]

i have been dreaming about getting a skid steer for quite some time now and i am going to take a look at one this weekend its a older unit, bobcat m700. i am mechanically inclined and work on all my own stuff, but i am not familiar with skid steers. this is just going to be used around the farm moving dirt, rocks, and pallets. not for construction or commercial use.

my questions are what should i look out for with the m700, or any skid loader in general? whats a m700 worth, they are asking 3500 for this one? how difficult and expensive is maintaince on these older units? and are they reasonably reliable or is this something thats going to nickle and dime me to death?

thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[flyerdan]

I've got a M700 for home use and I think it's just fine. They don't have any of the computer interlocks that drive you crazy when they quit working due to a period of inactivity, the air cooled gas engine is pretty simple to work on and reliable. Parts are still available, and as long as it's not going to be subjected to ham-handed employees using it commercially you should expect a long and happy time with it, provided it's in fairly good shape to start with. I got mine surplus from work before it was going to the auction; the pivots for the bobtach are worn badly and the tires are almost smooth, but for what I do around here it suits me fine.

Things to check for: slop in the pins for all the cylinders and tilt points, should be evidence of grease there. Also seepage at the glands of the cylinders, evidence of hydraulic oil leaking around the Vickers pump, that would be the most problematic area. Check that the machine doesn't creep when in the neutral position, and that the drive is the same, no tendency for one side to go faster than the other, both forward and backward. Push against an immovable object, the tires should spin and the machine shouldn't stall. Lift the front tires with the bucket and check for chain slop, there shouldn't be more than an inch or so of travel in the tire, and you shouldn't here a chain slapping inside. Wheel bearings should be tight, no in or out or side to side play. Check for evidence of leakage at the axle seals as well.
There are several members of the skid-steer forum here as well, they'll chime in with anything I've missed.

 

[djw250]

Well, my experience with an M700 has not been so positive. It seemed to work well when I bought it, but I just tried it out for a few minutes. I got it home, and after a few minutes of use, it quit moving! I checked out a lot of stuff, and still have some things to check, but I am worried that the vane pump or the main pump is worn out. My advice is to work it for as long as you can before you buy it to make sure it is OK or you could end up with a $3000 yard ornament like I did.

 

[sparc]

Your M700 is slightly larger than the M610 I recently bought.

For reference my 610 (judging from the two small photos you provided) is in much better condition and had four brand new tires on it when I bought it. It needs going over to fix some minor stuff but has no leaks in the hydraulics, no damaged or missing parts, motor runs great (rebuild with ~700 hours on it), has auxiliary light front and back. and the paint is in great shape with very little rust anywhere on the machine. I was told it was kept inside most of its life, and it looks it for a machine built in 1980. For this I paid roughly what you did, only big difference I see between the two is capacity (1000# vs 1200# for the 700), and machine weight (3810# vs 4230#).

Bobcat Historical Specifications - Bobcat Company

 

[svtyone]

Hello there,
we have had a 68'm700 since new. my granpa bought it or on the job work and used it a lot. then he rolled it over and broke his collar bone. causing him to park it. then about 12 years later we moved into a house in the country and my dad took over the controls. we used it to take down a granite rock the size o a house along with some jack hammers and elbow grease. and moved a lot of dirt. then about 6 years later my uncle needed to borrow it so we let him use it for about two years and then he parked it cause he bought his own kabota. so it sat here or probely about three years. then a week ago i decided to get it running and do some driveway repairs. the rain can cause some ruts. so i cleaned the points checked the carb and plugs. all were good so put in a new battery and fired her off. she didnt even miss a beat . with no primimg on the second turnover. so it ran good for a few days and then started sputtering. so i took off the cap and found the points had eroded lol they were old. so i went to carquest and did a look thru on there books. found a set that was almost identical. but apparently not identical enough lol. so i was searching and ound the original clark points number and cross referenced to a borg werner a81 points set avail at any oreilly auto parts. and away we are going again. the only other problem we had was the gas tank did eventually get rusted and lost pick up from it. so we mounted a 5 gallon buggy tank on the back with electric pump to the mechanical one and she has done great ever since. my point being is that this machine has been used abused treated nicely then abused again parked for several years on end and not maintained during those periods and its still runs like a striped ape to this day so i would have to say they are a great and reliable machine for years and are a great for newbies to skid steer tractors.