ThreeCW
I am a semi-retired and live on a hobby farm in the Rocky Mountain foothills near Calgary, Alberta. We have owned a New Holland LS160 skid steer since 2003 that we use mainly for handling round bales, plowing snow from our ½ mile gravel driveway and occasionally even moving a little bit of dirt.
We have recently upgraded to a 2006 Cat 242B skid steer which has a little more lift capacity to handle 1500 lb round bales (with 2000 lb rated lift) and a heated cab which I really enjoy when plowing snow. It has taken me a few hours to get used to hand controls (ISO) after using foot controls for 16 years, but I am getting the hang of it now with 10 hrs under my belt. Now to train my wife on hand controls before selling the New Holland. She is also a regular operator of the skid steer on our farm.
The 242B was a bit of a project but we bought it right … only 1800 hrs on it but it was poorly maintained. I’ve probably removed over 5 gallons of dirt from the belly pans, done some catch up routine maintenance, replaced the windshield, re-wheeled it to get enough offset for tire chains and am currently working on repairing a leaking pilot valve (just ordered the O ring kit after disassembling it). I have already benefited from the HEF on my pilot valve repair … thanks to willie59 for his thread on “Repairing a leaking joystick control valve”.
Hobbies include horses, horse camping, automobile / equipment repair and occasionally fly fishing.
I hope to be able to contribute to the HEF where I can.
Regards, ThreeCW