Skidsteer VS Mini Excavator

[Bubba]

I all depends on the amount of money you want to spend. If you got plenty of it then get both because you can certainly use them depending on what you got to do. But if you are limited on the funds and want to best of two world I would go with the skid steer vs the excavator. With the skid steer you can dig a ditch, or a hole and do it quicker. I only have a skid steer (Bobcat T200) and if I need to lay pipe I just rent a mini X.

[Jim Dandy]

My vote is if only one go with a 35 size mini with a hydraulic thumb. That combo is on every job I do and racks up the hours. I have been taking down trees and using the Mini to help push the trees certain ways and feed the chipper. Even used the Mini this winter clearing sidewalks ( I had a flat cutting edge welded to old teeth to dig footings to get ice off of the sidewalks in an apt complex). Was laying 8" ductile iron pipe and used the mini where we were crossing other utilities and to bring the pipe and valves to the large trackhoe and to backfill and level for the trench compactor. To me it is the swiss army knife of excavating.

[Bigjake3887]

I'd say I'd have to agree with coastal. I have both too, and most of the time I'll use my mini x, but the skidsteer is no doubt a vital support unit.

[Allgood]

I know this is an older post, but I too would say I use my mini X more than my compact track loader. If you have a tractor with a FEL, I would definitely say go with the mini-x and later, if you can, pick up a skid steer. For digging and moving dirt where I can't get a dump truck, using my mini-x and 100 hp tractor with a 1 yard FEL bucket on it makes for pretty quick work.

[jonmor]

Buy a JCB 1CX, or I think its a JCB 208 in the US. It is about 2,8 tonnes with a loader bucket on the front and a back hoe on the rear and it is a skid steer. I have one a great machine if you can get it cheap. And you only need to tow on machine.

[Allgood]

Yup, different machines on different sides of the pond. Keeps it confusing.

[DrJim]

I have been around skid steers since 1972, and never even saw a 4-in-1 combination bucket on a skid-steer on any job site. For site clean-up--rocks, broken blocks, dirt clods, bushes, etc., it was most common to have to push against something to pick these up, have a laborer or two pick up and toss that stuff in to the skid-steer bucket, or worse, jump on and off the machine to do that yourself. My Bobcat dealer loaned me ("demo'd") a combo bucket to me, and after about 3 minutes I knew I had to have one-- $ 2,800 or whatever it was suddenly seemed cheap. I can slick a work site up without ever leaving the seat. As a pure grapple, a small 4-in-1 is not a substitute for a true grapple bucket. I have one of those, too. The 4-in-1 will grab and pull up fence posts, bushes, and small trees. I have ripped out hundreds of feet of farm fence in what seems like a few minutes with the combo--open, grab, pull, and continue down the line. Never get off the machine.

Like the guys say, it depends on what you are doing. For small construction site lift-and-carry, you need a skid steer--you can't lift and carry with a mini-ex. Get a standard tooth bucket for digging and a smooth-edge 4-in-1. If you are around tree limbs and brush piles, get a grapple bucket, too. With the proper technique, you can grab and carry huge piles of tree limbs in a single swipe. The grapple bucket allows my Bobcat 773 to drag huge trees around, in minutes--grab the tree by the butt or stump, lift it a few inches (and never mind if the rear tires come the ground), and back up. Instant log skidder.

On the farm, we have installed a mile or so of water line. I have a 36" x 6" trencher for the skid. It's good for my soil type, and I can stand it more or less straight down and carve out square holes to set valve boxes. We hired a tractor-loader-backhoe to dig through the rocky areas and to install the larger culverts in the creeks and ditches.

The main attraction of the mini-ex's is their versatility, size and weight. The smaller ones can ride on a 10,000 or 12,000 lb trailer behind a 3/4 ton pickup. But their size is a disadvantage, too. That's why some of the guys put more hours on them--for bigger jobs the bigger backhoes are 5x faster. The jobs we thought of using (renting) the mini-x, we were far ahead to hire the backhoe man and pay him by the hour.

[bsebastian]

You need to figure out which would come in most handy and fully utilized before you purchase... you can always rent the other

[vcolper]

I just purchased a JCB 1cx/208s and seems great to me. It has both, loader in front and backhoe in the rear, great visibility all around.
My 2 cents

Vic
Guayama, PR

[Orgnoi1]

I like the post about renting both machines and seeing which you may actually "need" more... I really considered getting a mini-excavator but the more I thought about it the less I really could find much of a personal use... I dont use my machines for business purposes... it steered me away from the purchase and onto better options...

[NCPIPELINE]

Before I had a dozer or excavator I had a skid steer. Found out real fast that just a skid steer was limited as just a mini ex is limited. If you live in a booming area with lots of new home construction than just one machine could work. Find a niche and stick to it like retaining walls, concrete work, or pavers. If you live in a area that is not building alot of new homes than you have to do alot of things from trucking, excavating, dozer work, putting in lawns, drives, septics, new homes, drainage work etc. A mini ex is great for specific jobs as a skid is. I used to use a skid steer for grading but found a dozer is best. Coundn't move enough dirt fast enough. I used a mini ex for small excavating jobs but what do you do if you start to get alot of larger holes to dig. Then you need a trailer and truck to move machines around with. If I was to start all over again I would start with a dump truck, than a trailer, 16,000 lb excavator rubber track, 18,000 dozer, skid steer, and a Backhoe in that order. With this mix of machines you can do just about any job. Don't forget about all the small stuff, tampers, had tools, demo saw, chain saw etc. I though that I could do smaller jobs with just a skid steer but not enough work so had to get to a size that I was able to compete with the others. Here every landscaper, or mason has a skid steer and mini ex.

We use the skid steer a lot for than our X, I guess it boils down to what kind of excavating you would be doing, like most of the guys have said it is "what work will YOU be doing" we have an MT55 with a great trencher that is an absolute monster. Again but does have to have the back up of a good skid steer to move dirt and grade back. Loved the post about the dump truck and trailer, we have been getting rid of a lot of our smaller trucks and opting for '07 and never F650 4 door dump trucks with a nice contrail trailer to tow our machines nothing like have all the tools you need on one rig.

[mjt]

Hello I have a Venieri backhoe that I use instead of an excavator and a skid steer. Here are some pics.

MJT