Skid steer purchase?

[BeeBop]

Radman, If you like the idea of tracks I'd go w/something along the lines of a CAT 257 or a BobCat T-190 as both of these machines have vertical lift. I went w/the CAT 257 and absolutely love it. I don't know if you Landscape or not but it takes one hell of a man to lift a full, wet pallet of sod. I have seen many of skidsteers run away w/their tails tucked. Hand controls are the only way to go as it doesn't wear on you so badly but even so you're still tired after a full day.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Go to http://www.bliquid.com/oswelcome.stm, this is a good site! It has tons of machines. Some with and without pictures.


Blake

WA

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I am new to this forum but thought this would be a good place to chime in. We do landscaping/excavation and purchase at least 1 new machine (skid steer) a year sometimes two depending on the year. We have had the best performance from Case skid steers. I would have to differ with NH being the king of lift. That title is shared by Gehl/Mustang and Case at 3650 pounds of lift at max. operating capacity. The Bobcat is popular but I feel is more hype then performance. This year I Demo'd a T190 and a S185 for several days each. I also spent a short period of time with the A300. The S185 was more difficult to steer, made more noise, and went over relief easier then the machines were familiar with. The T190 suffered from similiar problems and wasn't near as nimble. That said last month I had to rent that machine to get in and out of a foundation that I dug. The soil conditions would not allow a wheeled skid steer to crawl out. The tracks have advantages but the costs of purchase and maintaining them are also much more. The 864 was not Bobcats greatest machine. I would look at the later models first T200 or T190. The A300 is a revoultionary machine I will give it that. I am interested to see if they sell enough to make the venture worth while. We currently run a 70XT and a 95XT. The 70 XT has a lift of 2000 pounds and the 95 XT without the counter weight is 3150 pounds. The 95XT is truely an animal. We use them hard from breaking concrete to digging crawl spaces for manufactured homes. We see about 700-1500 hours on each machine a year. I would demo several different brands before buying. There are plenty of machines out there to chose from. Good luck.