billybonds
Member
I've never owned a skid steer before. I own 2 small horse farms in the suburbs of NY, one is 3 acres, the other only 1 acre. I currently own a New Holland Workmaster 35 tractor with loader, which I am only putting about 100 hours per year on handling all the property maintenance. Regular tasks are loading manure into a dumpster, scraping mud from paddocks and replacing with rca, screening/spreading sand, snow removal, driveway maintenance, riding ring maintenance. The tractor handles all these tasks poorly except riding arena because of the tr3 drag attached to it. I would like to make my life easier, and feel that I should have purchased a skidsteer in the first place, and an old tractor just to pull the arena drag. Which brings me to trying to find out the best machine for my needs.
I am not opposed to buying new or used. I definitely want hvac. It needs to be small enough to meneouver in and out of 8' gates/fence openings with ease. It needs to handle a bucket of sand/rca with ease. I would like it be able to unload a pallet of anything(wood, stone, grain, etc) from a truck or trailer. I would like it to be able to move a mafia block. It will operate almost exclusively on RCA drives and dirt except for a little snow removal on paved surface. I occassionally need to scrape the top layer of a sand arena to be screened for rocks. I feel like a track machine would be ideal, but not sure the added cost is worth it? Would mud/snow ties minimize damage enough? I also prefer pilot controls, hand/foot is very foreign to me any time i have rented a skid, and already having a tractor with loader, i prefer to keep loader operation similar. I may branch out to do some outside property management/arena management/etc, but if not, I would like this to be a one time purchase. I prefer simple emissions system with as little maintenance as possible.
Going in to dealers, I feel like they expect me to know exactly what I want, and seem frustrated with my questions as I try to determine what is best for me. I have been trying to watch the used market, but there doesnt seem to be a lot of good, fresh, used machines out there. Everything is either old with very high hours, or new-ish at practically new prices, which is why I am open to new. Please any input or advice would be appreciated.
I am not opposed to buying new or used. I definitely want hvac. It needs to be small enough to meneouver in and out of 8' gates/fence openings with ease. It needs to handle a bucket of sand/rca with ease. I would like it be able to unload a pallet of anything(wood, stone, grain, etc) from a truck or trailer. I would like it to be able to move a mafia block. It will operate almost exclusively on RCA drives and dirt except for a little snow removal on paved surface. I occassionally need to scrape the top layer of a sand arena to be screened for rocks. I feel like a track machine would be ideal, but not sure the added cost is worth it? Would mud/snow ties minimize damage enough? I also prefer pilot controls, hand/foot is very foreign to me any time i have rented a skid, and already having a tractor with loader, i prefer to keep loader operation similar. I may branch out to do some outside property management/arena management/etc, but if not, I would like this to be a one time purchase. I prefer simple emissions system with as little maintenance as possible.
Going in to dealers, I feel like they expect me to know exactly what I want, and seem frustrated with my questions as I try to determine what is best for me. I have been trying to watch the used market, but there doesnt seem to be a lot of good, fresh, used machines out there. Everything is either old with very high hours, or new-ish at practically new prices, which is why I am open to new. Please any input or advice would be appreciated.