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JCB Skid Steer

durallymax

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Messages
666
Location
Wi
Yes T bar controls and it was a pain not that id I had enough seat time I could master but I don't think you get the level of feel with the electronic controls.

You don't, but that's also the nice part about them. You are in much better shape at the end of the day being isolated from the vibrations, having controls that move with you, and running small joysticks with low resistance and small hand movements. Its a tradeoff, operator comfort for operator comfort haha.

Access plate for a drain plug wouldn't bug me at all, always had them. Our NH machines all did and so do all of the cats. 4 bolts on NH, two bolts on Cat and they are off. Does Gehl use a hose like Bobcat? I hate those, I can take the plate off and on faster than I can wait for that slow hose to drain. NH went to a drain hose on their new machines as well.


I'd give you more input on the JCB, but still haven't heard back. Did hear back from what I assume is the "corporate" guy, checking in to see if I was contacted, said he was going to straighten it out with the dealer. Still haven't heard from them. Tried renting a telehandler with the possibility of buying one later on at said dealer recently as well but they had nothing, didn't seem to bug them much so I ended up getting a Cat. I needed an Ag style machine which is not as common, but it is a category I think JCB is at the top of their game in along with Manitou. I was hoping to get a JCB instead of a Cat to be honest, but the dealer is really leaving a bad impression. You would think being the new guy in the area with a big new store they would be out selling the stuff.
 

cat320

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Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
913
Location
Stoneham,MA
the oil drain is nice with the Gehl a plug on one side for oil and one on the other side for hydro . very fast to drain no plates, hoses the only problem is filter placement but one trade off for the other I guess.
you would think that your dealer would be trying to sell them so far my guy has really been pretty good getting a machine dropping it off at my location and letting me demo it for a good amount of time under real conditions .
 

durallymax

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Messages
666
Location
Wi
After talking WI th then at WDE I finally got an on farm Demo of a 205 setup for next week.
 

dave esterns

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Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
597
Location
madison
i would be surprised if you do not think this machine is nice. i do not think you are going to like it in a short demo more than a cat d series. that is the only other machine i would consider purchasing other than another jcb. what specifically did they change on the joysticks from c to d.
 

durallymax

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2011
Messages
666
Location
Wi
Don't know specifically what they did but the response is amazing on the D series. All of us have had to turn then down whereas with the c series we always left it maxed. Hydraulics are a lot faster too which helps,
 

pafarmer

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
883
Location
Somewhere in the woods !
Occupation
Land clearing, demo, site prep etc. Ex Pro Motocro
The D series CAT 's are by far the best CTL I have ever run...There is no way on Gods green earth I would pick a JCB over a CAT for multiple reasons....not even in the same league in my opinion...but each to their own .....
 

dave esterns

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
597
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madison
Upon the release of the new Jcb skid steer, they were the clear winner for having the sweetest skid steer loader. Since the release of the d series the lines are a bit more blurred. The ctl side entry version is not quite as sweet as the wheeled machine. The only problem I have w cat now is the glass inside the screen, the slightly cramped cab, and the giant step to enter the machine. I assume cab noise is not existent. There is no local dealer for cat construction so...
 

dave esterns

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Messages
597
Location
madison
as far as the bobcat not having a flat floor. that is something i have never noticed before. on the contrary, i like the nice wide stance you have when you drive a bobcat. the cat setup is too narrow much like the old case machines where you have to sit more like a girl when you drive. at the same time it may be nice to have 2 levels on your floor to rest your feet on when you get tired of one level.

so after driving the 570 and being impressed with the headlights, the cat d lights do not seem that they would throw any light straight downward where you need it. also, why does cat make me pay so much for the options i want. i could not care less about having the computer screen with all the gadgetry and the return to dig shenanigans n such; i don't see how that would even work since when do you always have your bucket angle the same when you move a pile of dirt. i want soft ride and adjustable controls thats it. at one of the local shows the cat dealer had the standard 2500 lb lift vertical machine "ag special" for $39,000 with 2 speed and ac, which would normally be a good price but once you add the air seat soft ride and adjustable controls who knows how high you would be. and y is the ac option on the 242d 3k?! at another local show i asked cat why they cost more money, he said they have a premium product... not really it all comes down to $$ in the end.

one thing you won't like about the 205 jcb is how you have to push a button to turn soft ride on; i would suspect the speed activated system would work out pretty well. of corse it is not half as bad as having to hold the button! i think if they gave you a 1 or 2 month demo in the jcb you would be more likely to switch brands. doesn't the bucket dip when soft ride turns on?

is the full time suspension on the cat ctl somehow not a problem like it would seem to be?

and whats wrong with bobcat advantage!? the difference between the cat utube vids and the bobcat ones is that bobcat is hilarious!

i can't really speak for the cat ctl, but the 205 jcb is absolutely in the same league as the 242d, with the exception of having less hp.
 
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DirtCrawler

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Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
111
Location
USA
as far as the bobcat not having a flat floor. that is something i have never noticed before. on the contrary, i like the nice wide stance you have when you drive a bobcat. the cat setup is too narrow much like the old case machines where you have to sit more like a girl when you drive. at the same time it may be nice to have 2 levels on your floor to rest your feet on when you get tired of one level.

so after driving the 570 and being impressed with the headlights, the cat d lights do not seem that they would throw any light straight downward where you need it. also, why does cat make me pay so much for the options i want. i could not care less about having the computer screen with all the gadgetry and the return to dig shenanigans n such; i don't see how that would even work since when do you always have your bucket angle the same when you move a pile of dirt. i want soft ride and adjustable controls thats it. at one of the local shows the cat dealer had the standard 2500 lb lift vertical machine "ag special" for $39,000 with 2 speed and ac, which would normally be a good price but once you add the air seat soft ride and adjustable controls who knows how high you would be. and y is the ac option on the 242d 3k?! at another local show i asked cat why they cost more money, he said they have a premium product... not really it all comes down to $$ in the end.

Dave
I like the wide stance of the bobcat also and low roof line, easier to get under a door than the Cat.
But I found that with Bobcat you had to add in the cost of a air ride seat (which was non heated) and the SJC controls to equal the Cat which comes standard with the controls and a air ride heated seat. Cat also had ride control standard and Bobcat it was a **option.
The Cat I spec'd wasnt a 'ag special' though either, so maybe that had something to do with it. Not really sure what a ag special is/consists of.
In the end the Cat was a few hundred more than the Bobcat and the bobcats ride control wasnt even included in the quote.
So not much in my view to throw in favor of one over the other when it came to pricing.

((**Bobcats brochure says its a option, but when you check their website and spec one out I dont see any option to include ride control ??))
 

KSSS

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
4,321
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Idaho
Occupation
excavation
If anyone is interested in buying a Volvo version of the JCB, there are about 50 of them going through Iron Planet on the 10-30-14. They appear to be out of Texas mostly. There you go Dave, probably get it one for half the price of the BC even with shipping.
 

dave esterns

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Oct 23, 2010
Messages
597
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madison
there is a lot of sweet stuff on iron planet. it appears that all those volvo machines are probably going to be low spec rental machines... but i would imagine down the road if sweet loaded ones are going cheap i will have to pick up a couple of them it would be the best value in town. really buying a new skid steer makes little sense if low hour used ones are going for half price... there is so much sweet equipment to be had these days i could probably use a tele handler for fun as well.

the ag special is just a machine with no computer screen, a mechanical vinyl seat. and i doubt soft ride. how does soft ride work if you don't have amics. button on joystick would be ideal.
 
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durallymax

Senior Member
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Jun 10, 2011
Messages
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Wi
Dave, you say there is no local dealer for cat construction?? I'm lost.

AG special is simply a special price for the ag market. The machine specs will vary, most have a decent amount of options. AG specials can have the nice seats, display, etc etc.

Return to dig has nothing to do with the advanced display, it's an additional option the dealer needs to activate. Loading dirt is one of the times where your bucket angle is always the same and would benefit from RTD. This is assuming you are loading out of a pile. Go to a quarry and see what they think of return to dig. I'm not saying it's worth it in a skid steer but it has its place and I use it all the time on loaders.

IIRC you do not need the display for ride control on the D series but I could be wrong. Without the display you have to have the dealer adjust the speed it engages it. Ride control is turned on and off with a switch. When it's turned on it automatically engages at the preset speed and disengages when you go below that speed. An indicator will light up when it is engaged.

The LCD screen is a few hundred dollars. I wouldn't call that terribly expensive for what you get.


I'd love to give an opinion on the JCB but once again the dealer has gone silent.
 

EarthworksWP

New Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
1
Location
Colorado
Occupation
Excavator
So after reading this entire thread I went out and demoed a new Volvo/JCB track skid loader. It was the largest model made and was fully loaded. Pro's about the machine would be fuel consumption, visibility (with exception, see con), very quiet cab, side entry, roomy, no dpf or urea, no boom flex to the unsupported side and I was ripping hard frost, like the mode control for bucket/arm speed. However the con's were pretty substantial. When the bucket is stressed while in a vertical scraping mode it flexes back and hits the track..yikes, the ground clearance was very low and it would high center easily when stacking dirt on a pile, you are unable to see the front of the tracks when pulling up to walls, the cab obstructs your view when loading trucks, the 2 speed has a 1 to 2 second delay when shifting and does it differently each time which is very frustrating when you want to down shift going into a pile and it even stops sometimes to make the shift, the boom has some serious side to side play and it was brand new, significant delay in drive control joystick when operating quickly, no view of Left side track unless the arm is lifted, hard to see bucket edges due to large front plastic cover at the front window. I hate to be so negative with this machine because I was really impressed with the motor and non-emissions and the side entry. I think this is a great machine for snow removal, landscaping, and moderate digging but for a serious excavator who runs his/her machine hard this unit does not hold up. For a farm or home owner it would be great but for heavy usage I just don't believe it would hold up. I currently have a Takeuchi TL140 and this machine is a tank, I bought it used as a rental machine with 3500 hours and it runs strong with the hardest work I throw at it, I love the excavator style door, especially when you have to get in and out a lot and on the nice days. The visibility in my machine is just as good or even better as well. The JCB/Volvo has a great usage in a niche market but does not meet the needs for excavation usage. This review comes from 12 hours of operation digging and backfilling a foundation with a lot of frost to rip. For those that bash the machine and have never operated it I say give it a try. For me I will be buying a new Takeuchi this year, the units are extremely solid, have been tried and true since their first model and seem to rarely break down. I also have a Takeuchi mini-x which pound for pound destroyed all the other brands when I demoed. Would love to hear comments from JCBIRON. Thanks guys
 

KSSS

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Idaho
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excavation
Did it feel like it was powerful? Good tractive effort? How about bucket breakout?
 

dave esterns

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Oct 23, 2010
Messages
597
Location
madison
i know you asked for that other guy, but for now looks like all you are getting is me! i can't say i disagree entirely with your review. to begin with i have never been as big of an advocate for the track jcbs. the bucket hitting the track does seem like a problem. but your review is not totally fair because the tak is a radial machine and the jcb i assume was vertical. i would definitely recommend the radial machine for tough use, but if your doing exclusively dozer type work i would probably recommend the tak for you. somehow, and unbelievably, the vertical boom is not quite perfect like i was expecting it to be, because when you are selling a one armed machine, its going to be highly scrutinized, so one would think getting it perfect would be priority one. as far as the side to side movement, its true that it is there and does seem to get worse with time (our machine has 1500 hours on it), but is it a problem? to some maybe, to me i just accept it as part of the pros and cons of having a one armed machine.

it is definitely true that if everyone grew up on a jcb and some new company came out with a standard skid steer everyone would laugh and never buy it.

for me it all comes down to being comfortable in the drivers seat, that is my main objective. i spend 1000 hours a year in the machine and get in and out 10s of 1000s of times; as long as everything else seems to work i am happy. sure the boom is not perfect, but it still seems to go up and down and dump without any problems. until the competition starts making quiet machines with roomy cabs and better ergonomics and such i am not very interested in them. the cats seem to be coming close but their cabs are not very roomy. our new bobcat pretty much sits in the shed all the time because it is too loud and hard to drive. although the visibility to the cutting edge is impressive on the bobcat. which leads me to my next point... when you have the jcb and the bobcat next to each other and compare them, the jcb is almost identical as far as the front window location and dimensions and the wiper motor location, but where the jcb "looses" out in cutting edge visibility is because the cab is 6 inches longer or so, so you sit back in the cab another 6 inches, which puts you that much further away from the cutting edge. so if one would move the seat ahead all the way i would imagine the visibility might improve. but i am not willing to sacrifice my lounging capabilities for cutting edge visibility.

as far as not being able to see any of the tires really, at first that bothered me, but after a few months i got used to it. because the machine is so different, it takes some getting used to.

as far as breaking up frost, i do a few acres of that every year on the cow yards. when the bucket is in vertical position lots of times the relief will activate on the tilt cylinder, prematurely in my opinion, generally i try to stop before the cylinder is fully extended and I'm still pushing that just seems like it might break something but a few times i have not been quick enough.

i find the 2 speed activation works great on my machine, much better smoother and nicer than the bobcat. I haven't done an official test yet, but I'm guessing the jcb uses less than half the fuel the bobcat does. partially because with the bobcat you have to be running full throttle for it to do anything and the jcb is usually running less than half throttle, adding even more to the quietness.
 

Shimmy1

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Aug 14, 2014
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our new bobcat pretty much sits in the shed all the time because it is too loud and hard to drive. although the visibility to the cutting edge is impressive on the bobcat.

What model Bobcat? We just went through this game this fall. Tried a Cat, Case, Kubota, and Bobcat. We ended up with a T770 Bobcat. Hated the Case, Cat was $14,000 higher, and Kubota had a terrible cab. I'm a big guy, I love the Bobcat cab. Just as quiet as a Cat, no huge wall to climb over. I suppose it makes a difference, we have joystick controls. I ran them all for 6-8 hrs, the Kubota controls were excellent as well, but the Cat controls were a bit unpredictable.

i find the 2 speed activation works great on my machine, much better smoother and nicer than the bobcat. I haven't done an official test yet, but I'm guessing the jcb uses less than half the fuel the bobcat does. partially because with the bobcat you have to be running full throttle for it to do anything and the jcb is usually running less than half throttle, adding even more to the quietness.

I will agree I am a bit displeased with the two-speed on my Bobcat. But, I don't agree with the throttle statement.
 
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dave esterns

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Oct 23, 2010
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madison
i actually kind of like the kubota cab... once you manage to get in it, and with having the machine off; hating the door is a given. would it really be that hard to offer both style doors? the seat seems to be sweet and the cab seems to be roomy. the seating position did feel a bit awkward but probably something you would get used to. we have the bobcat 570 with standard controls; a sweet ride if your looking to be ultra productive and quick. if the cat cab is as loud as the bobcat, the cat must be super loud. our bobcat doesn't have all the foam and such in it because nobody wants to deal with it. the bobcat is fairly easy to get in and out of i will give them that. the machine is huge compared to the jcb for being the same size. the jcb running at half throttle i would say has the same cab sound level as a later model diesel pickup truck, no foam needed.
 

Shimmy1

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Aug 14, 2014
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i actually kind of like the kubota cab... once you manage to get in it, and with having the machine off; hating the door is a given. would it really be that hard to offer both style doors? the seat seems to be sweet and the cab seems to be roomy. the seating position did feel a bit awkward but probably something you would get used to. we have the bobcat 570 with standard controls; a sweet ride if your looking to be ultra productive and quick. if the cat cab is as loud as the bobcat, the cat must be super loud. our bobcat doesn't have all the foam and such in it because nobody wants to deal with it. the bobcat is fairly easy to get in and out of i will give them that. the machine is huge compared to the jcb for being the same size. the jcb running at half throttle i would say has the same cab sound level as a later model diesel pickup truck, no foam needed.

They must really be different the bigger you get, because we do not think the Bobcat (or the Cat, for that that matter) is loud at all. I'm no sound engineer, but I'm going to guess 15-20 decibels quieter than the Kubota or Case? It was very noticeable. And you seemed to get some weird hydraulic feedback (noise) when pushing the hydros. We did like the roominess, just not the layout of the Kubota.
 

dave esterns

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Oct 23, 2010
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madison
its possible that the bigger ones are quieter, but without a modular cab, i don't think they are going to be able to compete in the sound department. granted our bobcat does not have the "quieter" doosan engine, but if nothing is done to address hydro noise i don't see how a quiet engine is going to make much difference. the jcb would be somewhere between 68 and 72 decibels when I'm running it, i would bet the bobcat is well over 100 i would not be surprised if its pushing 110. then that compounds with the extra hydro noise and all the sweet therapeutic vibrations coming from the seat and all the controls it makes for quite the ride. i did call the dealer and asked him why its so loud he said they got everything turned up so much on them that its just impossible to tame the sound. it reminds me of riding in an old school turbo prop airplane, or in a tank. but somehow it is still a sweet ride. i did notice the sweet climate control buttons on the kubota are under the lap bar, something I'm willing to overlook.
 
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