Anyone have any experience with a Bobcat T190?

[hunz]

Hi All,
   I usually frequent the sawmills and milling section of the forum, that's the beauty of this place. All of the genius minds in forestry in one place. Well the title says it, I am in bad need of a tracked loader to do basic maintenance around the family farm, as well as get timber out of the woods and near my mill. I rented one for a week about two years back and LOVED that thing. It blew my mind what it would lift . Anyhow, a week with a rental machine hardly justifies buying that brand over another. I am coming to you guys because I am sure you all have owned and run skidsteers over extended periods of time. The T190 has a 61hp Kubota 4 cyl. Anyone know what the life expectancy is on one of these things(kubota 4cyl specifically) with proper maintenance. The place I rented one from a couple years back is going to let one go soon with 2500hrs. From talking to the store owner and the employees, the guy is  about his maintenance. He is going to be in the 15k range when he lets it go. Anyone have any insight if this is a good price for a tracked skid steer? I believe it weighs in at about 7600#. Thanks for the help!

[LittleJohn]

I would be a little nervous about about buying a piece of equipment from a rental place, but thats just me.  Assuming people used rented equipment any thing like they treated a rented car,  I would run.

Last place I went to for rental landscaping equipment (Power edger - for landscape edging - not boards) I had to take it back twice cause drive pulleys were both misaligned and would throw the belt as soon as you put any power to the head.  Needless to say after the 2nd trip back I asked to see all edger before I loaded it in the truck; out of 5 edgers - 1 was adaquate enough to get the job done. 

I am not saying all rental places are questionable, I am just not sure they are all 100% about maintenance.  Remember people are generally rougher on borrowed equipment than there own ;)

[EricR]

In my opinion. if your going to be in the woods and rough ground you want a track loader with what they call a suspended undercarriage (mulit terrain loader vs a compact track loader). On the 190 the bottom rollers are fixed and gives you a rougher ride where the MTL have a bogie set up for lack of a better term.  Cat sells both systems.  ASV which is now Terex have suspended systems.  They have more moving parts therefore more to wear out but in my opinion they have much better traction on rough ground and give a much better ride

[BargeMonkey]

 I have a C-175 NH and love the machine, basically the same size. Again like anything brand preferences is up to you, I shy away from bobcat. They are a decent machine, if taken care of it wouldnt be hard to say 10k or more hours easy lifespan. You would probably be doing the engine, pump and drive motors, plus a few sets of tracks but yeah 10k plus easy. Rental equipment goes both ways. Pull the seat up, look for alot of dirt and rubbed wires and hoses, thats what scares me on those, tend to burn pretty quick. Check the finals, if they are super watery or dirty walk away. Your not buying a bad machine, and 15k is in the range. Look on the "machinerytrader.com" website.

[Offthebeatenpath]

I agree with all comments, esp. Eric's observations about MTL vs. CTL.  I own an ASV RC-60 and I can't say enough good things about how it handles itself on rough and snowy terrain.  I've run the smaller and larger ASV's and they run circles around the more ridged undercarriages in the woods.  I haven't used any of the newer Terex versions, but I imagine they are similar.  The CAT tracked machines are nice too, although they are essentially ASV tracks placed on a CAT machine, whereas the ASVs were designed from the tracks up.  They lack some of the bells and whistles and ergonomics of other machines, but in my experience, they are a much smoother ride.  In terms of having more parts that will wear out- I'm about to replace my first set of tracks and bogie wheels after over 2000 hours, almost all of which have been in the woods and/or pushing snow.

[BargeMonkey]

 This C-175 is my first track machine, so comparing it to the cats or asv's  ???  I personally hate 90% of bobcats equipment, ran a brand new 763 in highschool and my 7775 new holland would walk all over it. Bobcat builds machines "boxy" and some have the single cylinder for the bucket, which doesnt allow you to see the bucket cutting edge. We have 2 new holland dealers within 30 minutes so parts are easy. The bobcat dealer turned me off when I asked about a new machine -mini excavator- and he couldnt answer the basic questions. New kubota 131 came home later that day.

[redprospector]

I have never ran a T-190, but I have owned several of them in sizes all around that. I had an 863 (tires) several years ago, while my buddy ran an 864. I believe the T-190 took the place of the 864. I ran his some and it was a pretty nice machine. I ran a Cat 277B for a guy for a while.
After that I had an ASV 4810. The controls are very awkward on this particular machine.
Then I bought a brand new Terex PT-100G Forestry in 2011 (what a nightmare).
I now own a 2008 Bobcat T-320. I've had it going on 3 years now, and of the recent skid steer type machines I've owned, I am most satisfied with the Bobcat.
Yes the MTL's with bogie rollers have a little better ride, but the Bobcat has been much more reliable. Make sure that you have a good servicing dealer. Even if you do your own mechanic work, without a good dealer you don't have much, regardless of the brand.

Consider the fact that you are buying a used machine. You will want to buy it at a price that you will still be comfortable if you have to rebuild an engine or something. Just my 2 cents.

[redprospector]

In terms of having more parts that will wear out- I'm about to replace my first set of tracks and bogie wheels after over 2000 hours, almost all of which have been in the woods and/or pushing snow.

I had a problem with the seals in the axles on the bogies. Hopefully you can just replace the wheels, the price of those axles are outrageous. Be sure to get the parts to rebuild your track drive before putting new tracks on.
ASV is a pretty nice machine...if you have a good dealer. My dealer turned out not to be so good, and made my experience terrible.

[barbender]

Cat offers two undercarriage options, ASV and their own proprietary undercarriage. They are both suspended, The Cat design looks like it lands about halfway between ASV and one of the rigid undercarriages. I've never ran a Bobcat machine, I used to see a lot of them with low hour's and a new engine for sale in the Machinery Trader. That's a red flag to me, but the Kubotas have a solid reputation everywhere else. The guys running Bobcats are diehard fans usually, so they must be decent.