Looking at Skid Steers that can lift 2k lbs.. John Deere vs Bobcat?

yea, people give the 773 a lot of crap but when it comes down to it, its a tough little machine, and a best seller in the skid steer industry. the worst jolt i ever had was backing into a concrete wall 5 mph. that is a serious collision. obviously i never got out to check to see if my machine was ok, why wouldn't it be? we got a mirror in ours so i never look back, its pretty handy.

I know what you mean dave. some times you just get into it. I've never had a problem with being uncomfortable in the deere or the bobcat. Thoe the cab in the bc was a little more stiff. I guess that a good thing about being somewhat young. I have seen both doors bent on both machines to where they would not close without picking up or down on them. And if you hit either the machine at any angle from the back wheather high or low its going to do the same thing. I guess its just in all what you get used to. And its funny you mention about using the deere in the cattle barn because alot of dairy farmers have switched over to deere b'c they could see what they were doing, was more stable in the air with a big load and the foward reach. After that you get a feel for where things are. If you are doing that with the bobcat the same as with the deere and the boom is raised then you are going to knock the crap out of something with the bc. Space is space. You don't gain or lose it with deere.

Deereman I am not knocking Deere skid steers. There have been those on here that have had problems with Deere's E/H. One guy from SD traded his nearly new Deere in for CAT due to E/H problems that they could not resolve. I know first had that there problems at the release of the machine. I am sure not every machine has these problems but apparantly some do. However CAT and Bobcat have also had their issues with E/H and now that CASE is using E/H, they will have their turn in the barrel. I maybe ordering one of the new tracked machines with E/H so you will hear first hand about its issues. I sat in the D series skid steer at ConExpo and the machine is much more comfortable than previous machines which was about the same as sitting in a bathtub. The visibility out of the large track machine I thought was marginal but from what I could tell by looking at and sitting in the machine it seemed nice.

Deereman said:

KSSS, not calling you out or anything. but all these problems you keep hearing I have never heard so much as one out of anybody.??Like I said I'm not wanting to start a war. I actually like hearing about your case stuff=-)

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I think KSSS might be referring to the speed sensor, or lack thereof in the drive motors. I know a few Deere customers that complained and one of the local Deere saleman and I go back some ways and regularly fish muskies together. He has mentioned E/H issues several times during the course of our fishing expeditions. Maybe they have them worked out now. For what its worth, the Bobcat E/H was a mess to the point where they were offering extended warranty on it..

ha ha. about space being space... i never calculated anything, but a deere skid loader the same length as a bobcat would probably take more space to turn in, because they have the booms, the longest part of the skid steer, also being the widest part of the back of the skid steer. we tried out a deere (185 size) a while back and it couldnt turn in our freestall barn, and our bobcat easily does, i believe the new model deeres are shorter than the previous tho.

as far as damage on impact to the rear of the machine. i will fight to the death saying a bobcat can take a lot more abuse than the deere before you have a problem.

if i was going electro hydraulic i would take a bobcat. they have been doing it a lot longer than any other company. AND you get a 3 year warranty on them anyway.

No big deal dave and and ksss. And dd Im not saying they don't have problems but it just seems to be local to you. Usuallly a few hours with a customer helping them out and they are fine. My biggest problem with the deere is the engine. they should have stuck with the 4045.

Deereman said:

No big deal dave and and ksss. And dd Im not saying they don't have problems but it just seems to be local to you. Usuallly a few hours with a customer helping them out and they are fine. My biggest problem with the deere is the engine. they should have stuck with the 4045.

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no problem. I think Tier IV is driving all of the OEMs to the smaller engines. I would have never thought Deere would go away from the 4045 or Case would have gone away from their 4.5L engine..now Deere's running a 3.1L and the new Cases are running 3.2L engines. What's the world coming to??

I hate the 5030 engine now in the deere. Its good for an air compressior but not a skid.If you put the biggest engine you possibly can it will last longer and run easier..Less pollutant.. Emissions suck. burn twice the fuel to just be half as clean??

Deereman said:

I hate the 5030 engine now in the deere. Its good for an air compressior but not a skid.If you put the biggest engine you possibly can it will last longer and run easier..Less pollutant.. Emissions suck. burn twice the fuel to just be half as clean??

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That seems to the model that the EPA is using.



It sucks going from a 4.5 L displacement to a 3.2L. I hope they run well at alt. Sucks saying good bye to 288 foot pounds of torque.

KSSS said:

It sucks going from a 4.5 L displacement to a 3.2L. I hope they run well at alt. Sucks saying good bye to 288 foot pounds of torque.

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I always had engine envy with the large frame Case machines.

JCB is running 4.4L in their new models... I was impressed.

thats what im talkin about!