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Skid Steer for landings - stacking/sorting - wheeled or tracks?

Started by catfishhunter, December 21, 2020, 07:58:09 PM

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mike_belben

Quote from: Bruno of NH on December 23, 2020, 04:42:50 PM
No Mike
They are now in production and for sale at dealers
Sweet.  Next time i get a covid check im gonna run down there and get that 0% financing!   8)
Praise The Lord

ehp

my dealer told me that unless I needed and had to have a machine on tracks it was alot cheaper to go with wheels , tracks and the drive motors are pretty costly, I tested 2 tracks machines , the smaller machine did a pretty good job, was pretty smooth on my back but it turned up the ground . My 650S was a pretty good machine and was quite strong but I was quite worried I was going to break it cause of all the 30 plus ft timber logs I was piling with it , Back tires were off the ground steady so I moved to the S740, same thing a very good machine to drive but it only came with 12.5 by 16 tires so in real soft sand it sinks because of the weight so I run tires chains on it and its good 

mike_belben

Ive seen several new holland LS models with 36 and 37 inch humvee tires on stock rims with no spacers that i can see.  Theyre about $50 used most of the time and very plentiful.  Fairly tough carcass.  


Farmshow had a guy put 9-16 ags i think on his machine with rims welded to rims.  Said it was night and day and roaded hay down to his pasture way faster. 
Praise The Lord

moodnacreek

Small machines- big logs.  Small sawmill- big logs.  It's all the same, you can do it but in the long run and for production you need the iron, big iron small logs, that is what works.

ehp

one thing I had to think about is traveling on the road , If my next job is 2 or 5 miles down the road I just drive the skid steer to it , its almost as fast as the skidder on the road so its very short time to get there. 

OH logger

When I was lookin for a loader to use at the woods I about bought a wheel bobcat. The owner of a mill I sell to regularly said no way. Go with tracks. I did and don't regret it one bit. I traded off  a T770 a year ago with 2300 hours on it and the tracks or any other part of the undercarriage had never been touched. It got tracks at the dealer I traded it to though. I have a wheel bobcat at home which I love but if your wantin one for the job I'd get a track machine. So versatile. I even fix the skid paths with it all the time. Looks like a dozer did it. I have a log grapple for it too that I can skid with if I want. More stable and way better for grading than tires
john

mike_belben

No question that it would take a fine operator to make a wheel machine match the grade carrying quality of a track bottom. 
Praise The Lord

barbender

A track machine definitely carries a grade better, but it's not as pronounced as you might think. They're pretty short.
Too many irons in the fire

catfishhunter

Quote from: OH logger on December 25, 2020, 09:49:57 AM
When I was lookin for a loader to use at the woods I about bought a wheel bobcat. The owner of a mill I sell to regularly said no way. Go with tracks. I did and don't regret it one bit. I traded off  a T770 a year ago with 2300 hours on it and the tracks or any other part of the undercarriage had never been touched. It got tracks at the dealer I traded it to though. I have a wheel bobcat at home which I love but if your wantin one for the job I'd get a track machine. So versatile. I even fix the skid paths with it all the time. Looks like a dozer did it. I have a log grapple for it too that I can skid with if I want. More stable and way better for grading than tires
@OHlogger I have a line on a CTL, Bobcat T650. I was curious how you have done on the frozen ground and in the snow handling wood? Are icy hills carrying loads an issue? I am close to pulling the trigger, but have to admit somewhat nervous about it. Wheels and chains are solid in the winter. I can only have one machine though...

Bruno of NH

In a FB group I'm in someone but chain strips on the tracks of a bobcat t650 had pictures with a load in the grapple going up a steep icy hill.
Lt 40 wide with 38hp gas and command controls , F350 4x4 dump and lot of contracting tools

OH logger

It's pancake flat here so I can't help there. As far as the tracks yea they're slippery on frozen snowy ground but I think wheels are too. We don't use tire chains much. Skid or track loaders are much more responsive than wjheel loadrrs so I weld roller chain on the forks so when they are covered in snow or ice the logs don't slide sideways off the forks 
john

mike_belben

Ive put a SS roller chain bracelets on the center of the front tires on the deere 318 (garden tractor) at smith and wesson for plowing snow on the loading docks where going off a few inches was a bad day.  They looked like #40 mohawks.  Worked good. 
Praise The Lord

chevytaHOE5674

Spent 2 hours today with a torpedo heater and weed burned thawing out a set of tracks for a guy. Last he used the machine it was 30° and slushy today it was -5° and the machine wasn't moving. Nearly impossible to shovel all the slush out of a set of CTL tracks.

Never had that issue with my wheel machine. Ha

Walnut Beast

Quote from: chevytaHOE5674 on January 01, 2021, 07:42:55 PM
Spent 2 hours today with a torpedo heater and weed burned thawing out a set of tracks for a guy. Last he used the machine it was 30° and slushy today it was -5° and the machine wasn't moving. Nearly impossible to shovel all the slush out of a set of CTL tracks.

Never had that issue with my wheel machine. Ha
That's where ASV open track design shines

ehp

I tested a new T650 bobcat with winter tracks on it . I parked it in about 20 minutes , my back sure didnot like that ride but I also had a job at a airport so Bobcat sent me a T590 , I had to cut around 50 walnut for them to build a new builder so they could fix jets. I used that machine to do everything as trees were all close . It worked very well and in about 10 inches of snow 



chevytaHOE5674

ASV is great until you get some hours on them then that undercarriage gets pricey. Buddy does ROW clearing with 3 or 4 ASV's and he loves them to death but trades them in before the undercarriage gets wore and starts costing a fortune to keep reliable.

If I was making my living in that machine 8+ hours a day (ROW clearing work) I would would look at them no doubt. But for a guy who uses the machine but not as is sole income producer (farmer, logger, etc) the upkeep is to costly.

barbender

The RT50 machines are pretty reliable I think, they're not as hard on their undercarriage as the bigger machines. And they get froze up with mud, too😊
Too many irons in the fire

Walnut Beast

I don't know why you couldn't stud some of these tracks on units that are always off of a pavement surface for the concerns of icy conditions. You don't hear much about tire studding anymore. Probably due to laws banning them on pavement in many states

OH logger

EHP. Have to ask what winter tracks are? Never heard of em
john

Walnut Beast

Probably referring to the multi bar track. Like the ASV. When I looked at the CAT 299D3 Forestry I was told by several different people the multi bar track type got around way better than the block type overall

Skeans1

Quote from: Walnut Beast on January 02, 2021, 06:18:09 PM
Probably referring to the multi bar track. Like the ASV. When I looked at the CAT 299D3 Forestry I was told by several different people the multi bar track type got around way better than the block type overall
If they're triple bar grousers on ice they don't do much, up in BC they have bolt on ice picks on a lot of equipment. Another option is to add grouser extensions to the pads.

barbender

I know the block tread tracks never impressed me very much even on dirt🤷🏽‍♂️
Too many irons in the fire

ehp

Its the only skidsteer I have seen with them. They are a rubber track but raises tread like a snow tire   about  2 to 3 inches off the belt part of the track . I'm sure in the winter they work well but I was testing in August and it ran pretty rough . Felt just like driving a dozer . I guess I could just of bought a set of normal tracks for summer. Another thing it was slow compared to my wheel machine . I have ran lots of different machines like wheel loaders . Cherry pickers. Telehandlers and at piling logs I like the skidsteer the best . Sure cherry picker is fast but mill draws my logs so no need for a log truck and to have a cherry picker just to sit on the landing makes no sense where I log. I move way to many times and to float the machine steady is not a good idea. Your not going to drive it or pull it here. Cops will have you in a second 

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