The Green Industry's Resource Center

4 seasons lawn&land · #1 08-09-2012, 07:20 PM

I know I know You cant match a ctl with a dozer but for the lightest jobs you would ever do with a little dozer down to 1/4 that size. What type of skid is least pitchy for leveling out material and best at cutting high spots of ground to do the lightest smallest scale of dozer work? I was thinking the Cat 277's with those long tracks must be pretty good at grading.

Hollowellreid · #2 08-09-2012, 07:33 PM

ASV hands down. stellar grading machines.

I would imagine cat would be a close 2nd with the ASV undercarriage but would lack the balance.

scagrider22 · #3 08-09-2012, 08:09 PM

The ASV undercarriage is junk, I sold my Cat with low hours because I had so many problems with the undercarriage. Also my local tool rental switched over to ASV about 5 years ago from New Holland and Bobcat, the ASV machines are always down. I would say they have about 15 newer machines and they usually have 4-5 of them torn down in the shop area. When they had the other brands they didnt have nearly as many issues. Im not sure what the best is but I switched back to New Holland and never have any issues, it also has more power (comparable sized machines) than my Cat did.

bobcat_ron · #4 08-09-2012, 08:32 PM

Our 277C is flawless and even better since the new valve bank was installed, what a hot rod now. The tracks are getting beat up and the rollers on the front are all down to the plastic. The only gripe I have with Cat is the damn anti stall system, after you have cleared through the pile you are knocking over and the anti-stall has been triggered, it keeps the speed to the default crawl speed, you have to stop and return the pilot control to neutral and go forward to resume speed. With the older hydraulic pilot controls the motors would pick up speed as soon as you cleared through.
But give me a Takeuchi anyday, even the new series with the new numbering, all the power and simplicity makes you giddy. It's a great feeling.
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4 seasons lawn&land · #5 08-09-2012, 08:41 PM

what catches my eye about the 277b though is all that track length.. Otherwise all skid steers look the same balance wise

TMlawncare · #6 08-09-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scagrider22

The ASV undercarriage is junk, I sold my Cat with low hours because I had so many problems with the undercarriage. Also my local tool rental switched over to ASV about 5 years ago from New Holland and Bobcat, the ASV machines are always down. I would say they have about 15 newer machines and they usually have 4-5 of them torn down in the shop area. When they had the other brands they didnt have nearly as many issues. Im not sure what the best is but I switched back to New Holland and never have any issues, it also has more power (comparable sized machines) than my Cat did.

ASV/Terex has the best undercarriage on the market for specific types of work. Too say they are junk is very juvenile. Many who bought the machines new and maintained them have had very few problems especially on the newer designs. For working in the wet, soft areas nothing compares. For ground clearance on the ASV/Terex machines nothing comes even close. Snow removal using track machines, they are widely known as the best. Is there some maintenance involved in owning these machines, yes. Are they junk, lets get real.

bobcat_ron · #7 08-09-2012, 08:49 PM

The 277B's are just awful, look for a newer C model instead, they gave Cat a bad name due to the amount of time it takes to tear the frames apart to replace rollers and other moving parts. The newer C Series is so much easier to work on should it need any replacement parts.
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4 seasons lawn&land · #8 08-09-2012, 08:57 PM

I figure you have to go into those machines with the general knowledge of $8000 every 2000 hours. If they are far better in balance for doing mini dozing then maybe its worth the extra $3-4 an hour but do they perform like they look? They look so long and stable front to back

scagrider22 · #9 08-09-2012, 09:14 PM

Not juvenile at all, I bought a very expensive machine brand new and had lots of problems with undercarriage with less than 500 hours I would say that gives me the right to call it junk! And I know many other machines with the same issues. I bought the machine with the intentions of putting 3000 hours on it. I didn't have the problems before the CAT and I don't have them now, I was also told it was the best and believed it just like you, that's why I bought it. It was a relief getting rid of it!
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