Rental company needs advice on Skid Steer purchases

[J2Rentals]

Hello and thank you for reading my post.

I am not sure on the rules on this forum so I will try not to say anything that might come across as advertising my company.

I own a small trailer rental company in Calgary, AB, Canada and am about to add 2 skid steers to my fleet. As the type of rental customer I would be primarily renting to would be land scappers, snow removal companies, and small construction companies (mostly the people who read this forum) I thought I would ask you guys what units and features you want on rental units.. and hopefully you can help me chose the best units to purchase. Keep in mind I need ones that can stand up to abuse and are reasonably cheap to maintain.

The brands I have it down to are Cat and Bobcat. I don't want to say anything to offend any other brands but after much reasearch i have already ruled out all the other brands. (although I Might consider a John Deere or New holland (the new holland dealer is good, the local case dealer is terrible)

I will be buying brand new (leaseing actually) and will have the full warranty on these units as well. I think I would like to go with 1 wheeled machine and one tracked machine, what are your thoughts?

SO far I am thinking:

Bobcat
S185 or S175
T190

Cat
226 236 or 242
247 257 259

The Cat track loaders are a bit heavey and I have heard many bad things about the 247 and 257 but maybe that is older units.

The only other thing I can add is that I want to stay Under 8000lbs operating weight on the tracked machine due to insurance and weights on my trailers.

I really appreciate any advise / help you can add!

Thanks Again!!!

[bobcat_ron]

Cat is an awesome choice, our Cat Rentals keeps their skid steers to well over 3000 hours and they keep going. The Bobcat dealer here cycles them out after 1000 or less hours, they really get beat on.
If I had to buy skidsteers to rent out, I would buy Takeuchi track loaders and Cat rubber tired skid steers.
A Cat 236B2 is an awesome machine to run, lots of power and balance and a 259B3 would compliment it nicely.
The new 259B3's are pretty amazing from what I have learned and hopefully they can make up for the grief the 257's caused for that sized track loader.
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[Dirtman2007]

Originally Posted by bobcat_ron

Cat is an awesome choice, our Cat Rentals keeps their skid steers to well over 3000 hours and they keep going. The Bobcat dealer here cycles them out after 1000 or less hours, they really get beat on.
If I had to buy skidsteers to rent out, I would buy Takeuchi track loaders and Cat rubber tired skid steers.
A Cat 236B2 is an awesome machine to run, lots of power and balance and a 259B3 would compliment it nicely.
The new 259B3's are pretty amazing from what I have learned and hopefully they can make up for the grief the 257's caused for that sized track loader.
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my sales guy said that takeuchi was coming out with a wheel machine. that should be interesting.

[bobcat_ron]

Originally Posted by Dirtman2007

my sales guy said that takeuchi was coming out with a wheel machine. that should be interesting.

I've heard that too, but that was 2 years ago and still nothing. At least ASV and Kubota came through with their promises to have a skid steer to compete with everyone else.
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[Digdeep]

Originally Posted by Dirtman2007

my sales guy said that takeuchi was coming out with a wheel machine. that should be interesting.

Takeuchi did brand a few Toyota skids in Italy a few years ago, but I never heard what happened after that. Maybe they'll time the release to match Kubota's launch

[bobcat_ron]

I want to see a Hitachi skid steer please.
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[J2Rentals]

I can't go with the Takeuchi because the dealer here just dropped the line... So there is no dealer here now.

Any other suggestions?

[bobcat_ron]

Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat, Cat.
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[J2Rentals]

Hahaha. The only reason I am hesitant on the 259 is because it weighs 8700lbs... My low boy flat deck is only rated for 9500lbs of cargo and my highboy is only 11000lbs of cargo. That is just cutting it too close by the time you put extra attachments on the trailer too. Should I even consider a 247, it is exactly what I want but the undercarriage really scares me, even with a 3 year warranty.

[bobcat_ron]

The 247 is a bit weak, 114" of dump height really hurts for loading trucks and 1400 lbs ROC doesn't get you much, customers might not want it back. 119" of dump height is perfect with 1900 lbs ROC is a big step and a big money maker.
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