small earth moving machines

[adeso]

So good chance I'm going to buy a 19 acre plot that I want to convert from a farm into a private hunting area. It has 7 acres of protected wetland, and slopes towards it, but has a lot of drainage issues. Nothing too much, but some places need 4-5 foot deep drainage cut to make it nice. Between that and needed something for snow removal and mowing sometimes damp areas, I have decided I want to get a large compact track loader (ie bobcat T870) with the bucket and 6 way blade, and maybe some other attachments.

My question is what brands/models should I stay away from? I want tracked since it stays wet for 3 months out of the year and has heavy snowfall. I thought about a small tractor with a loader but not sure if it will do what I want. No clue what I want to spend on the cost, I would like to keep it cheapish, but at the same time most of these places are doing 0% APR so that is tempting.

I have been told JD, bobcat, case, and cat (if you have the $$$) are good, anything I should watch out for?

Thanks

 

[dirty_max]

cat 289c and 299c are pretty much small dozers. and they have an all steel roller undercarriage, much like an actual dozer. the others have a crappy undercarriage. cats are the only ones i have any expirience with though

 

[workin' diesel]

We have a T300 Bobcat at work. Nice and sturdy machine. If you are going to make hunting areas, look into a tree spade. That is what I do at work. Then you can move tree around and make your own forest!:thumb:

 

[prodiesel804]

my dad owns a T300 also, great machine, always had good luck with bobcats. He has traded some in with over 10,000 hrs and still working fine.

 

[dbev24]

Run a t300 at work with a fecon head for mowing under power lines and imo the hydraulics are weak. It has a hard time spinning the head when in high brush. We also have a cat (not sure of model number) but it is relatively the same size and has no problem mowing down trees and and brush. I know bobcat has a great name in skid steers but imo id go with a cat.

 

[Cornell]

I love the M-series Bobcats.

We have a T770, T750 and an S770 all loaded but the S770 is the only one with hi-flow.

I love my T770. I demo'ed a 289C before we decided on the first T770 and wasn't really impressed. The D series has awful sight lines to the rear and I hate the tier 4 emissions the new machines have.

 

[adeso]

wonder how hard it is to have the emissions fall off

 

[arneson]

Bobcat hands down. I own 9 now, couple t250s-t300 and couple s250s and have owned over 30 bobcats all together. Love the machines. Ive tried cats, wasnt impressed, very slow imo. New hollands are even worse. Case and john deere are also something i wouldnt own after tryin out some different models.

Another thing to consider is tracks suck for snow. I do lots snow removal and hate our track machines on driveways and parking lots. Might wanna look into Steel over the tire tracks for muddy seasons ect. Easy to install and remove when not needed for snow removal. I have a few sets that we remove when there not needed.

 

[adeso]

do they suck on snow on pavement or just snow in general? I don't think this thing will leave my place very often and it is all dirt/gravel.

 

[arneson]

I hate our track machines on snow covered hard surfaces. Sure they can be used, but our tire machines will walk all over them pushin snow.

 

[arneson]

But i love our tire machines for snow removal. We use 5 tire machines every snow fall. All use snow buckets also. Have a few snow plows/pushers for them, but rarely use them unless in our big lots.

 

[messejme]

watch out for any machines with worn tracks and undercarriages if you need to replace tracks , rollers or cage drives you be spending many thousands more just for the replacement parts.

 

[adeso]

cool thanks for the info guys

 

[hondarider552]

Cat 994 will do anything you want in one pass :thumb: :rofl:

 

[AubleAK]

Stay away from any Volvo equipment. Absolute pieces of shit.

 

[Hot COCOAL]

I was always a big fan of the cat D3 with a 7 way blade, also had good use of kobelco's mini excavators, I liked the sk 150-200 or the komatsu pc 60 through 120 series

I don't know what you are considering small, the sk/pc 55 through 75 series were pretty sweet as well, with the blade attachment, and have some steel I beam in a good 6' length and you can do just about anything, a small 3-5 yard dump might be nice too then you really can do damn near any kind of small land development you need

 

[RickDLance]

I hate our track machines on snow covered hard surfaces. Sure they can be used, but our tire machines will walk all over them pushin snow.

Snow removal is the only place I don't prefer a track machine.

I've got a t250 now and love it! I've had 7 or 8 Bobcats and overall you can't go wrong with them.

 

[workin' diesel]

Run a t300 at work with a fecon head for mowing under power lines and imo the hydraulics are weak. It has a hard time spinning the head when in high brush. We also have a cat (not sure of model number) but it is relatively the same size and has no problem mowing down trees and and brush. I know bobcat has a great name in skid steers but imo id go with a cat.

This is interesting. We use a 48" wide auger to plant all our B&B trees.That sucker turns it in 'like a boss'! Sure the machine is running at 2000+ RPMs, but it gets 'er done. And yes, the tracks suck in snow, really suck.

 

[adeso]

hmmm might have to rethink the tracks. would be really nice for all the earth moving I want to do and not getting stuck, but there is snow on the ground about 4 1/2 months out of the year. Why do they suck? getting stuck or just has no pushing power?

 

[arneson]

Tracks are really wide, spread the weight of the machine over 7 feet. Makes the psi half to 2/3's of what a tire machine has. Almost same principal as wide tires on a truck in snow, they work, but not as well as narrow tires. Most rubber tracks dont have smaller tread blocks which makes the track not bite also. Great for mud tho.

If tracks are a must, look into some steel tracks that u can put on over the tires when needed. We do this often and are easy to change. Under 30mins.