Skid Steer attachments

[Rockn H]

Now y'all, I wasn't trying to pick on any colors. ;D I was just naming two manufacturers that I knew offered a front end loader that you could take an attachment straight off of a Bobcat, New Holland,Cat, etc. skid steer and put it on.  I didn't know JD offered a frontend loader that would.  I was told in Aug by a JD dealer that they didn't.  Now all the JD loaders I looked at were quick change, but not skid steer style.  If I'm saying that right.  So if I was spreading false info. My bad. Y'all keep me straight. ;)

The main thing I was trying to say, is that no matter what kind of tractor, I would recommend one with a loader that excepts skid steer attachments.  There's a lot of them and they can often be found cheap second hand.

[Furby]

Easier to rent an attachment as well.

[scsmith42]

I ditto the other's recommendations regarding getting a tractor that has the "universal skid steer attachment plate" on the front end loader.  By getting this, you open yourself up to a wealth of relatively inexpensive attachments.  Otherwise, you are stuck with the specific manufacturer's brand (or type) of attachments, which limits your options.

I have several tractors, one of which has the universal skid steer attachment plate and accepts skid steer attachments.  It's the one that I use the most...

Scott

[Bibbyman]

We have a Lund grapple.  It's built very heavy - mostly 1" and 3/4" plate stock.  It's only about 40" wide but I'm not a bit afraid of damaging it. 



Here is Eric Lund at the Mid-West Forestry Show showing how it can bite a log on one end with out a problem.

[TexasTimbers]

There's a lot of them and they can often be found cheap second hand.

you're right on about that. There's quite a few folks making there living doing nothing but buying and reselling skid steer attachments. They buy them from individuals and businesses who are financially distressed, power wash them, replace any leaking hoses and resell them to guys who don't mind saving a buck.
Had I not needed to have the grapple pronto I could have bvought a used heavy duty one for the price I paid for the light weight. the MAIN reason I bought the light wegiht one was not to save money, but to add as little as possible to my 2000# tipping weight. My lightweight grapple only weighs #400 but the heavy weight by the same company weighed #1100 so that would have only left me #900 on the outside edge. But at that weight the machine kind of rocks along with the back wheels airborne much af the time.
I do need a bigger machine. I should probably invest in a front loader for my tractor for the heaviest logs and use the skid steer for the other 90% of the work.
It's just no comparison about how much faster  the skid steer is than the tractor working in the yard and the kind of woods I work in. But together, they make a great combination.

Bibbyman that grapple you have is a beaut!

[Raider Bill]

so far on my list is a 4wd tractor 40 hp or bigger with skid steer attachments

[Engineer]

Bill,

If you have a John Deere dealer nearby, go and look at their 110 TLB, which is basically a scaled-down version of the 310-series backhoes.  They are around 45 horsepower (I think) and have two very nice features worth considering.  First, the backhoe is detachable and comes off quickly to reveal a standard three-point hitch.  Second, the front bucket is a grapple-type bucket but is also a standard skid-steer QA mounting system, so you can pop the bucket off and put any standard SS QA attachment on the front.  I don't think you can get the front bucket hydraulics in high-flow, there's just not enough horsepower to run the HF system, but I could be wrong.  Anyway, a friend of mine is considering buying one of these, and I have looked at them myself several times over the past few years.  Just haven't been able to pony up the ca$h for one yet or I'd give you a first-hand user's report.    JD is the only company at this point that I'm truly loyal to, brandwise, and only because of my local dealer.  I might look elsewhere if he wasn't there for me, but dealer support means a lot to me when I don't have a clue how to fix things sometimes.

[Raider Bill]

Any Idea what that baby runs$ Just so I have a starting point.

[Engineer]

List is $43k, a dealer probably can do better, I see them selling used for $25-35k all the time.

[EdK]

1. Skid steer style loader attachment - all the way.  ;D

2. Not growing up around tractors but getting some experience with my brother's JD before buying for myself I got to hate removing/re-installing the 3-pt/subframe backhoe attachment. When it came time to buy my own I've left the 3-pt uncluttered and for almost the same $$$$ got a used Case 580 instead of an attachment.

[scsmith42]

Bill, re tractors, three years ago I purchased a new Kioti DK65 4WD tractor with cab, ac and heat.  It came with a front end loader that is self leveling, accepts the skid steer attachments, and is capable of picking up about 3600 lbs at the pins.

It also included a 4 in one bucket, an oversized set of forks with a hydraulic grapple, a round bale attachment, and a hydraulic cylinder that lets me cant one side of the three point hitch from inside the cab.

The engine is rated at 65HP, the tires are the heavy duty industrial type, and it uses the "shuttle shift" type of transmission (all gears syncronized).

I paid 35K for the package out the door.  The same package w/o the cab would be about 29K.

At the time, I sent out an RFQ to every major tractor manufacturer for a package similar to this.  Kioti gave me the best price, and the best overall package, and the most capacity in the loader and hydraulic system.  The JD equivalent was 30% more.

It's light enough for me to move around behind my F350 with no problems.  The Kioti is very, very similar to the Kubota, is made in South Korea by the same company that made Kubota's for years.

I've put a little over 800 hours on it in 3 years, and have not done anything other than routine maintenance.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

Scott

[Raider Bill]

Scott and everyone thanks for the tips, I'll be buying early spring.

[Dave Shepard]

I'll try to give my opinion on this without stirring up too much trouble. I have the Kubota L48 Tractor Loader Backhoe. It is the best compact tractor I have run, and I have run a lot of them. I will try to list pros/cons for this machine, IMO.

PROS:

It's a Kubota, they have a great reputation for reliability, service, and well thought out designs.
Most HP, lift capacity and lift hieght in class.
Fastest R/R of backhoe, it comes of in 30 seconds, and will go just as fast if you back up to it square, you just hook the hoses and it clamps itself to the back of the tractor.
Backhoe has two hyd pumps, one of which is dedicated to the swing circuit for faster digging.
Best, IMO, hydrostatic on the market. One pedal, and very precise control. All the other hydros I have run have been mushy at best. There is no coasting when you change directions, if you are going forward and stomp it into reverse, it changes direction NOW, however you cannot hurt it by doing this, it is over pressure protected.
Skid steer type QA is factory available.
Machine is a serious industrial machine, not just a farm tractor with a 3 point hitch backhoe.
This machine will easily run a 6' rotary mower, 6' box blade, Farmi type winch, etc.
Factory thumb and quick change buckets are available for the backhoe.
The tractor is made in Japan, but the loader and backhoe are made in US with SAE fasteners. Incidentally I think this makes it about the most american compact on the market. JD is made by Yanmar BTW.
It is Orange!
There are many more points, but these are the most important.

Cons:

This is an industrial machine and carries a price tag to match. I paid $40,490 for my machine, which included every option available, including front hyd. for grapples etc. and top-n-tilt, which a three valve hyd system that has cylinders to control the top and side links on the 3ph. The hydraulics were a$2500 option.
The L48 has a three range transmission, Low is for serious pushing or working in extremely tough conditions, Medium is your general purpose working range and High is for road travel only. My only complaint about this is that there is a big gap between M and H. Sometimes if you are shuttling long distances it would be nice to have something in between these gears.
No factory cab, that I am aware of, although there are aftermarket ones.
Heavy, my machine with loaded tires is over 9000 lbs., I move it with my 2500 Dodge, safely, but it is not something you want to move without the proper equipment and experience, especially as I also move the pallet forks and box blade at the same time.



I hope this long winded spiel is of some help. I don't offer the L48 as the end all be all of compact tractors, it certainly isn't. I just hope my experience can be of some use to others. While this machine will definately be capable of doing the work you need, as I have done a lot of this kind of work with it, you will have to decide what you need to get your job done.
I also don't want to discourage you from the other manufacturers, as one of those models may suit you just fine. I don't know much about the Mahindras and other newer brands, they may work just fine for your budget. Kubota was a new brand once too!

Just to give you and idea of the size of machine the JD 110 was introduced to compete with the L48, but is about 10% shy on all capacities(HP lift hieght, lift weight) The L48 is 48 HP, and will lift a full bucket of wet gravel (about 3/4 yard heaped) with ease. Tonight I picked up an older pine butt log that was 36"x 10' with the backhoe off and it handled it with ease, although it would be safer with the hoe on. I have used my machine for my landscaping business and on my family farm since it was new and it has performed beyond expectations. I hope this isn't too much info.


Dave

[Snag]

I bought this NH TC40 last year....



It was great to have a machine to help out my poor back.  When I decided to buy forks for it, I went with the skid steer quick attach style forks, bought the quick attach mechanism for the loader and cut off the old connectors off the bucket and welded a quick attach plate to it.  It cost a total of $1200 and it has been worth every penny.

[beenthere]

What skid-steer attachments do you attach? 

Do you need to manually flip the lock's down, or do you have the hyd. lockers?

[Snag]

They are the manual ones.  I thought about going hydraulic, but really didnt feel like messing with it.  I would have had to run more hyd up to the front.   Also, I dont know what the price difference would have been. 

[woodhick]

Snag, where did you get your quick attach plate?  I have a Bush Hog loader on my Kubota now that does not have quick attach :(.  Thinking of changing over.

[Snag]

I bought it right from New Holland.  I'm sure a local Kubota dealer could hook you up with the right stuff.

[johnjbc]

Dave
I also have an L48 Kubota and have been very happy with it
I didn't  order it with the skid steer Quick attach but had the dealer order one in for me. It's a great Idea !
I would be interested in some pictures of how they taped in the remote hydraulics on yours.
.
You can see the Quick-Attach in this picture. I removed the bucket to get enough lift to pink up the track