Man I wished I had one during the snow storm I would be rich now! They were clearing lots, side walks and even streets with them. Those skid loaders are really versatile with all the attachments and fill a niche the bigger machines can't. I haven't ran one in awhile but tried a mini excavator a few weeks ago and was surprised how smooth the controls were.
Bought a skid loader
- Thread starter GTPpower
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On to the next one. Brought home a 2012 T770. This one has a radio and a cupholder, which were must-haves. It also has a foot throttle, which I really wanted. New z-bar tracks which do great on snow, ice, mud, etc. The tracks have roller suspension, which makes for a nice smooth ride, but I'm unsure how much extra maintenance they will be. The main thing I don't like about it, it has dpf. I'll probably just delete it if I have a problem with it.
My wife wanted a bigger garden so I pulled off the sod. This thing is a beast.
The soil here isn't that great. Lots of sand. I am planning to remove about 1' over the whole thing, and bring in soil from the farm. We had some creeks dug out, so I'm going to bring that here. It should be super rich in nutrition.
The soil here isn't that great. Lots of sand. I am planning to remove about 1' over the whole thing, and bring in soil from the farm. We had some creeks dug out, so I'm going to bring that here. It should be super rich in nutrition.
Yes, 2 joysticks and the foot throttle. Sticks can either be run in H-pattern or ISO. I like ISO much better so I can drink my beer and drive at the same time.
Hauled some hay with it today. This thing is so much more stable than the 773 was.
Hauled some hay with it today. This thing is so much more stable than the 773 was.
Excavated 1- 1.5' out of the garden and brought in good dirt.... it's supposed to rain tonight, so we will see how much it settles. I didn't pack it in, so I'm guessing a lot. But man, this is a whole new learning experience. From what I can tell, if it spins, I'm putting too much pressure down on the bucket, lifting the front end. Letting up a bit so all of the track bites, it's pretty much unstoppable. I hauled 3 very large loads of dirt out, and brought 5 back in.
I really want to get one of these.
Economy Grade Control Systems for Your Compact Track Loader
The human eye is a magical thing, but when it comes to leveling dirt for an athletic field or a basement subgrade, eyeballing loses much of its magic. For
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justbob
Just a grandpa car with a vacuum leak.
Nice skiddy!
We still have one wheeled Bobcat for shop use but we’ve upgraded our entire fleet to fully optioned out tracked units as they are the only way to go! Less chance of getting stuck equals less down time of moving an excavator to assist and work continues smoothly without interruption.
If an excavator needs to assist then that’s two men, two machines, PLUS the two laborers that the excavator was digging for not making money. Since we basically work by the minute that’s a potential loss of $100 in just 15 minutes in only labor cost, much more if you look at it as profit lose. Now how many times a day X’s five different crews/job sites this really adds up. Now also factor in minutes loss in just slipping and sliding all day versus traction or hell just the wear and tear of spinning 8-12 hours in slop. Less accidents.. Not too mention resale is much much higher!
I do highly suggest a GPS tracker like previously mentioned though. We’ve had TWO units (one only a couple of months old $72,000 IIRC) stolen in just the last few months and both were recovered same day! I don’t know the specifics on how ours were stolen but they can either bypass the code or simply drag them up a trailer and worry about it once it’s a couple of towns away sitting in a rented storage locker.. it’s been a rough year for theft for us. Other items not on GPS like our $8,000 sewer camera, new generator, and countless small items literally stolen off job sites only feet away from our crews were not recovered and only raises insurance rates if we go that route so usually it’s out of our pockets. Thieves have balls that clank.
We still have one wheeled Bobcat for shop use but we’ve upgraded our entire fleet to fully optioned out tracked units as they are the only way to go! Less chance of getting stuck equals less down time of moving an excavator to assist and work continues smoothly without interruption.
If an excavator needs to assist then that’s two men, two machines, PLUS the two laborers that the excavator was digging for not making money. Since we basically work by the minute that’s a potential loss of $100 in just 15 minutes in only labor cost, much more if you look at it as profit lose. Now how many times a day X’s five different crews/job sites this really adds up. Now also factor in minutes loss in just slipping and sliding all day versus traction or hell just the wear and tear of spinning 8-12 hours in slop. Less accidents.. Not too mention resale is much much higher!
I do highly suggest a GPS tracker like previously mentioned though. We’ve had TWO units (one only a couple of months old $72,000 IIRC) stolen in just the last few months and both were recovered same day! I don’t know the specifics on how ours were stolen but they can either bypass the code or simply drag them up a trailer and worry about it once it’s a couple of towns away sitting in a rented storage locker.. it’s been a rough year for theft for us. Other items not on GPS like our $8,000 sewer camera, new generator, and countless small items literally stolen off job sites only feet away from our crews were not recovered and only raises insurance rates if we go that route so usually it’s out of our pockets. Thieves have balls that clank.
We had this creek dug out last winter. They ripped our culvert out because it was full of mud. So after tons of looking we finally found a used one for cheap. Dad used the 4020 and i used the skid loader to put it in. Nice team project. Worked out pretty well and will give the cows a nice place to cross. We'll put more dirt around it later so we can cross with the tractor.
Time for some maintenance. It started flashing a code at me for water in the fuel. It was also due for engine oil change, and the hydraulic oil looked dirty as well. I have a big job coming up with it, so I figured let's get this all done with.
It was about $450 for all the filters and fluids, but I guess that's part of it. About a 1/4 cup of water came out of the oil/water separator.
One of the lift cylinders has a small leak and needs a seal kit put in it, but otherwise it's ready to go.
It was about $450 for all the filters and fluids, but I guess that's part of it. About a 1/4 cup of water came out of the oil/water separator.
One of the lift cylinders has a small leak and needs a seal kit put in it, but otherwise it's ready to go.
If you haven't done it already. I highly recommend getting the fuel tank pick up tube kit.
At least keep it on the machine until it fails.
The draw straw breaks off and no more fuel.. You just push the rest of it into the tank and install new straw
We have a field that has maybe 2 acres at the bottom that has been unfarmable for the last few years because it's too wet. It grew up in cattails. It's really dry here now, so I was hopeful that we could farm it this year. Some small trees have grown there in spots, so I went in there with the skid loader to pop them out. Got most of them out, but just about had to walk back home to get a tractor. After 5 minutes of struggling, I was finally able to push myself out with the bucket. There is now water sitting in my tracks.
Note to self, don't do that again. Tracks really to clean out. I did some of it with a shovel, and the rest with a power washer.
Note to self, don't do that again. Tracks really to clean out. I did some of it with a shovel, and the rest with a power washer.
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