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New Holland vs. John Deere Skid Steers

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello, I am getting ready to purchase a new skid steer. The two choices I am down to are a New Holland LS 170 or a John Deer 250 series 2. Both seem to be very similar machines and the price is about the same. I wanted to know if anyone had any comments about the two and wich one I should lean towards. I will be using it for landscaping - retaining walls, rock hounding yards, loading materials, etc. Also, will it be necessary to get the high flow hydraulics?
Any comments appreciated.
 
#2 ·
The NH are good machines. I have a friend who ran the 170 for three years before trading up to the 180. I know he loves the New Hollands. I spent quite a bit of time in both machines and they are solid. I can't say much about the JD, I demo'd the 260 about 2 months ago, it seemed O.K. I have heard good and bad about them, more bad. Ask Randy Scott how he feels about the JD:angry:.
I think the high flow would only be necessary for attachments like a cold planer or snowblower. Someone else may be able to shed more light on that.
I'm not sure if you are set on only those two brands, I demo'd about 6 different brands before I bought my Cat 246. Check out the Cat, I think you will be impressed. Mike
 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
Thanks for the input. I have run New Hollands before at my previous job and they seemed to be great machines. I personally like the foot controlles on them. I have run Bobcat and they don't seem to have as much power and are slow with the hydraulics. Case has a good machine but my legs kept bumping the joystics and moving the bucket on rough terrain. I tested the John Deere and liked them but don't know alot about their track record. They have a little more horsepower than the N H, but are a lot louder. The N H hydraulics are faster too. I want something with a verticle lift. I'll look up Cat and find out. Thanks, again.
 
#4 ·
I've checked out many over the years but New Holland hasn't been one of them.. I felt the JD's had to much plastic on them. I only gave it about a 10 min try and decided no. Not really fair perhaps.
The guys would have went for a Cat last fall (especially the mechanic ...he felt they would be easier to service) when we had them all in to demo but we get such good dealer support from Bobcat and already have 5 in the fleet .... going with a new S220 seemed the logical choice. And we love it!
 
#5 ·
Good dealer support is a big consideration. Downtime costs so much, it is a no-brainer to buy from a dealer who will keep you running, regardless of the brand. Kris, it is funny that you mentioned the JD having a lot of plastic. I thought the same thing, especially the 2 plastic panels you had to remove to access the sides of the engine. Not real impressive.
 
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#10 ·
we owned a few bobcats, and didn't like them. i have a new holland ls170 now, i love the thing to death. but i have also used my friends Cat, i don't know the serious but I liked it a lot as well. all comes down to price and the dealer..
 
#11 ·
I also have a JD 240. I use it for personal use so going bigger was not a concern when buying it. It does all I have needed it to. The visibility is very nice. As for the plastic parts... I don't see any problems with them. They are just some side panels, that are inside the lift arms. Nothing should come in contact with them anyways. Since this is the only skidsteer I've used I can not coment on the other brands, but I would buy another JD.
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
I purchased a new New Holland LS 170 today. After shopping around, I got the most features and the lowest price with a reputable dealer. It comes with the quick attach system, so I'm sure that will be nice. The Cats were a lot more expensive and it didn't justify spending the money for one. Thank you all for your input. It is being delivered tomorrow.:)
 
#13 ·
i was talking to a guy that i do some maintence work for, hes remodels homes and whatnot, about skid loaders. he seemed like he knew his stuff, and he was telling me how the NH's are the best out there (in his opinion) he said that they have the best lifting abilities, due to their front/back weight ratio. he was telling me that he could barely pick up a pallet of sod w. a bobcat b.c it couldnt balance its load. also some other machines could not load into a full size dump truck, due to the height. also the problem he said he had w. some brands was when u got the bucket up high there wasnt really a forward tilt on most of teh machines, only teh NH's. also said the ease of operation and ride quality was superio to anything else
However he noted that this was for models that were a few years old. and the attachments were not compatible between the different makers.

just some things to keep in mind.....

dont know what its worth, but hey, i tried
 
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kris
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