Author Topic: Skid Steer for landings - stacking/sorting - wheeled or tracks? (Read 3170 times)

Walnut Beast · « **Reply #20 on:** December 23, 2020, 02:49:59 PM »

Quote from: barbender on December 22, 2020, 11:57:29 PM

The ASV ride and traction is incomparable. Just have your wallet ready when it's time for undercarriage repairs. Rigid undercarriage machines ride HORRIBLE, and more so when the tracks get worn.

Barbender is exactly right on everything. When something works extremely good it’s going to cost a little more to fix stuff. That’s why you see guys replacing only the parts that they absolutely have to 😂

Bruno of NH · « **Reply #21 on:** December 23, 2020, 03:00:27 PM »

I don't know if you guys have heard or seen.
I have from a Kioti dealer I follow on FB
Kioti has a skid steer coming out wheeled and tracked.
It was a bigger machine.

mike_belben · « **Reply #22 on:** December 23, 2020, 04:00:34 PM »

Quote from: Bruno of NH on December 23, 2020, 01:57:19 PM

Case makes a new steel tracked 1/2 skid steer with a special frame mount dozer blade.
I can't remember for certain it might weigh in around 12,000 lbs
It also will take a ripper bar on the rear.

Yeah thats project minotaur (sp?) iirc. I think its still a concept.

Bruno of NH · « **Reply #23 on:** December 23, 2020, 04:42:50 PM »

No Mike
They are now in production and for sale at dealers

jimbarry · « **Reply #24 on:** December 23, 2020, 05:23:05 PM »

Quote from: mike_belben on December 23, 2020, 08:33:10 AM

What causes the track frame to wear out?

I have to say that undercarriage replacement is why i will force myself to stay with tires. $100 each for imports, $600 per corner for brand flatproofs on new wheels.

Holes for the axles were worn, needed to be drilled and sleeved. Were already sleeved at some point in the past. Cost to do that now is near the cost of brand new, so I went with brand new. Frames were $923 per side. Front hub and wheel group were $591 per, need 4. Rear axle hubs are $403 per, need 4 of those too. re-used the rear steel wheels. Caps to cover the axle nut are almost $35 each, needed 6. Good thing, there's 24 on the machine.

mike_belben · « **Reply #25 on:** December 23, 2020, 06:56:23 PM »

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!

ehp · « **Reply #26 on:** December 23, 2020, 07:05:06 PM »

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 · « **Reply #27 on:** December 23, 2020, 07:10:24 PM »

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.

moodnacreek · « **Reply #28 on:** December 23, 2020, 07:51:16 PM »

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 · « **Reply #29 on:** December 24, 2020, 10:29:05 PM »

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 · « **Reply #30 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

mike_belben · « **Reply #31 on:** December 25, 2020, 10:06:59 AM »

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

barbender · « **Reply #32 on:** December 25, 2020, 12:15:18 PM »

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

catfishhunter · « **Reply #33 on:** December 31, 2020, 08:41:14 PM »

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 · « **Reply #34 on:** January 01, 2021, 09:38:45 AM »

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.

OH logger · « **Reply #35 on:** January 01, 2021, 04:16:33 PM »

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

mike_belben · « **Reply #36 on:** January 01, 2021, 06:29:50 PM »

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.

chevytaHOE5674 · « **Reply #37 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

Walnut Beast · « **Reply #38 on:** January 01, 2021, 07:45:32 PM »

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 · « **Reply #39 on:** January 01, 2021, 07:52:02 PM »

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

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Author Topic: Skid Steer for landings - stacking/sorting - wheeled or tracks? (Read 3170 times)

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