what is the best tracked skid steer?

[eric12]

I'm looking into buying a tracked skid steer and i was just looking for some thoughts and ideas of ones to look at. right now im looking at bobcat, cat and ASV. any thoughts?

 

[DrJim]

Eric, welcome to HEF. I'm sure some other members have more experience that I do. They'll be asking you, what's your budget, what's your purpose or need? The tracked skids (compact track loaders or CTL's) are useful and productive. Depending on what you are doing, the push better, are more stable, and are useful in softer ground conditions. But I get them stuck, too. Compared to tires, they are definitely more expensive to own, i.e. track replacement costs, rollers and bearing, and labor. Will you be working in the cold? You'll want a cab (extra cost).

I own a Bobcat 773 and am happy with it, so I'm familiar and favorable towards the Bobcat line. I'm not crazy about the T200, the T190 is nice for light work but for what I'm used to, I stall it--too much traction and not enough power. For tough jobs, I like the T250 or T300. If money is no object, look at the new M-series.

There are a lot of Cats around here. Same deal though. If you're buying used, you can get into some track/roller/bearing replacement costs.

To get an idea what used Bobcat stuff sells for (asking prices, anyway), look at this site as an example. I've known Rod Lano for a while, and they sell and trade a lot of Bobcat units from their 3 locations.
http://www.lanoequip.com/

Before you buy, try to rent a variety of machines and run them for a minimum of a day each. That'll help you decide what you like.

 

[stumpjumper83]

make sure to try the takeuchi line, also marketed as gehl & mustang. For dirt work they are some of the strongest.

 

[WV earth mover]

tak and gehl are reliable but dont serve purpose of a track machine to me due to the fact that that they arent very stable climbing steep ground with empty bucket

 

[deerefan]

If your willing to spend the money go with a cat, we just gotta 299c, best ctl by far. Great power and unmatched visibility. We demoed a deere 333d and a t870, cat smoked um both

 

[WV earth mover]

how is the 299 on steep ground

 

[Drc]

I think older Cat and ASV have plastic undecarriage parts that don't hold up well working in gravels. I've heard Cat has excellent auxillary flow. We have Takeuchi TL 130 powerfull little machine not a problem in over two years.

 

[WV earth mover]

a friend of mine claims around 600 hrs on his tak 130 tracks and says sprockets , idlers about 1200 hrs thats much better cat/asv if you dont watch what u r doing

 

[eric12]

most of what i do is in mud or spreading topsoil. i plan on using it in the winter to push snow and i was thinking about putting a stump grinder on it possibly if it makes sense. ive herd alot of bad about the ASV/ Cat undercarriage with the rubber idlers. but in mud and snow the rubber idlers should last decent shouldnt they?

 

[stuvecorp]

I would say for a pure CTL, the Takkie(or sister versions) is the answer. I run a Case with the Loegering VTS and think that is the best, if I was still doing commercial snow I would take the VTS off and run tires. To me it doesn't make sense to put extra hours on a track machine as well as not having the same top speed as a regular two speed skid. Also, try selling a CTL, it is brutal...

 

[dave esterns]

jcb

 

[xcmark]

snow removal , a CTL is not a good idea. Operation cost of a track machine is way to high running on pavement and big money rubber tracks ! A machine with tires is faster and cheaper to run in that application . pushing dirt or digging holes a CTL will run circles around even the biggest of tire machines , really comes down to what needs to be done. I run may machine in soft silt and topsoil that always muddy so a CTL is best for that but I also do limited snow removal so I really need to watch the time I run it on pavement that there is some snow to buffer the tracks. mostly just push back piles that the plows bring to me and stock pile.

 

[Hendrik]

most of what i do is in mud or spreading topsoil. i plan on using it in the winter to push snow and i was thinking about putting a stump grinder on it possibly if it makes sense. ive herd alot of bad about the ASV/ Cat undercarriage with the rubber idlers. but in mud and snow the rubber idlers should last decent shouldnt they?

You gonna be using this machine on a commercial basis or is it private use only?
It's not so much the idlers that are a problem, it's the bearings they run on. Track lugs are another issue but can be fixed with Larry lugs.
The problem is poor operators that don't look after the undercarriage.
If you are mechanically competent you can most of the work on the undercarriage yourself and save a dollar or 100.

 

[pconnelly]

XCmark, you said

a CTL will run circles around even the biggest of tire machines ,

What about a big machine like a 963 using Loegering steel tracks over tires. Do you think that combination can get through the mud like a CTL?

 

[xcmark]

XCmark, you said What about a big machine like a 963 using Loegering steel tracks over tires. Do you think that combination can get through the mud like a CTL?

My CTL has a 92 hp turbo 4L motor that about the highest HP rating of anything made today, True there are a few more HP in some models but any thing over 90 is at the top of the pile give or take. Loegering steel track are a huge improvement over tires but I dont think you have the surface area that a 18" wide rubber track has . Cat and ASV has even wider tracks on there machines all this gives you is flotation and soft ground you want to tread light , or you sink! If I recall the 963 is around 14,000 lbs , that is big no mater how you slice it but I still think todays modern machines can do more work with less weight on rubber tracks . just my opinion and opinions are like A holes everyone has one and no one wants to hear it ! LOL

 

[frogfarmer]

make sure to try the takeuchi line, also marketed as gehl & mustang. For dirt work they are some of the strongest.

+1 for Tak

 

[deerefan]

Havent had it on ne thing to crazy steep, but it seems to have very low center of gravity and good traction, yesterday we pulled our 650j outta the mud with it no problem. We also borrowed a pisher for the day froma buddy, a 10' pro-tech, it pushed 6" of wet sloppy snow in second with no problem at all

 

[Jordon]

Our company has a Cat 277B. It's pretty good on fuel, and has enough power for everything we've ever done. I've run it with grapples on three major land clearing jobs with no issues, picking up 13 or 14 inch, 60 or 70 foot long logs. Also, we've run it in mheavy mud on each of those jobs and never had a problem. Now we just need more work for it.

 

[Blacksmoke07]

Ive run a bunch of different, presonally i think the mustangs/gehl/tak are strong machines fast and resonably priced. When it comes to puching snow though, unless you can find a different track design for them...no good on icey areas (its what we use, and isnt to efficent). Ive heard that the cats do great in snow, they have the track design where the treads runs long ways across the entire pad, spaced every couple inches and that aparently works great on the icey areas. But just the other day i ran a tracked 333 Deere, and man i loved it, i though it was faster and more responsive than the cat (was using it to spread and grade stone). I did happen to notice that the rubber track deisgn (not undercarrage design) was similar to the mustangs ... dont know how it would be in the snow/ice. Just my .02

 

[Hendrik]

Ive run a bunch of different, presonally i think the mustangs/gehl/tak are strong machines fast and resonably priced. When it comes to puching snow though, unless you can find a different track design for them...no good on icey areas (its what we use, and isnt to efficent). Ive heard that the cats do great in snow, they have the track design where the treads runs long ways across the entire pad, spaced every couple inches and that aparently works great on the icey areas. But just the other day i ran a tracked 333 Deere, and man i loved it, i though it was faster and more responsive than the cat (was using it to spread and grade stone). I did happen to notice that the rubber track deisgn (not undercarrage design) was similar to the mustangs ... dont know how it would be in the snow/ice. Just my .02

My understanding is that the yellow puss uses the ASV type undercarriage and uses torsion bars to provide suspension, this helps keep the track on the ground, where fixed tracks tend to lift the front a little.