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if a little is good than more is better....this can be said about skid loaders. I would get a loader that can do more than what you want to do with it now. For example, now you are unloading 2000# pallets of fert. What happens when you want to do a retaining wall and the pallets weigh 3400#. You will be wishing you got a bigger loader. I used my t200 to unlaod 3400# pallets of wall stone today and it can be a hair raising experience on un-level terrain.
 
kickin sum grass said:
I almost have bobcat talked into letting me try an s185. Maybe next week.
KSG,

You've answered your own question with the statement above. If you're serious about buying, there is no reason for a dealer not to let you demo a machine.

I believe that ROC is at the top, so if you're picking off pallets from 3-4' high, I would think the S185 would be a decent choice based on your criteria. Remember though, skids aren't forklifts, and it can get hairy. Be careful.
 
If your unloading a truck and you feel the machine starting to go over or its feeling really tipsy drop the boom it doesn't matter if you hit the truck or trailer deck your unloading the skids from. You don't want the machine to roll over because you may end up with what ever is on the skid on the cab of the machine.

I have ran forklift for many years where you pick a 4-5 ton load off the truck in one lift you have to make sure your centered and the machine can do it.

I was running a rubber tired backhoe with forks last year it was the first time I really run a backhoe with forks man what a different experience from a regular forkift. With the hoe hanging on the back the forks didn't have enough weight to counter balance the machine so the backhoe wanted to do wheelies.
 
tnmtn said:
have you thought about a small tlb. something along the lines of a B100 would have the lift capacity and still be able to accept skid steer attachments up front and back for that matter. you would be sacrificng the skid steer turning ability but at least your tires would last longer. if you need a tighter radius check a b250. but then your getting heavy for the trailer. just another thought.
We are looking into a B300D from bobcat as we have rented one in the past. This thing is awsome having the full time backhoe saves on cost and adds the rear end weight you need to lift the big load. We pulled a few fence post with it that were in two feet of concrete and had been there for 30 years, the rear wheels barely came off the ground. Call your bobcat dealer now! Don't listen to anything that they say about a lack of power, the breakout force on the backhoe is great for demo or land clearing, I beileve you can use a clamp on the rear for tree or shrub removal.:blob2:
 
brownsallseasonlandscape said:
We are looking into a B300D from bobcat as we have rented one in the past. This thing is awsome having the full time backhoe saves on cost and adds the rear end weight you need to lift the big load. We pulled a few fence post with it that were in two feet of concrete and had been there for 30 years, the rear wheels barely came off the ground. Call your bobcat dealer now! Don't listen to anything that they say about a lack of power, the breakout force on the backhoe is great for demo or land clearing, I beileve you can use a clamp on the rear for tree or shrub removal.:blob2:
My dealer told me Bobcat is getting out of the TLB and discontinuing their models. Hopefully, it doesn't result in problems down the road with parts and support.
 
BobcatS250 said:
GreenMonster, out of curiosity, did he give a reason?
I not sure I accurately recall, but he suggested they are seriously ramping up their mini x offerings as it is a fast growing market. MY guess is they prolly couldn't compete in that market with Kubota, JD, New Holland, etc.

Other interesting news, he mentioned Kubota will be introducing a skid steer, and Bobcat will be completely doing away with Kubota motors. I think, as in I'm not sure I recall this correctly, but I think he said Bobcat is buying out Deutz
 
I can see that there really isn't that much work for a TLB if people want a rubber tired backhoe they are looking at Case,Deere and Cat etc. A mini excavator can out dig and go places where rubber tired backhoes can't go.

I also think Bobcat is making a mistake dropping the Kubota engine its really hard to beat the little Kubota diesels if they were going to drop it they should look into Yanmar or if Isuzu makes a small enough engine.

You start getting into Deutz engines more expensive to repair and prolly cost more and not as good as Kubota.
 
Gravel Rat,

All my bobcat Kubotas have been good to me so far, so I would have to agree.

Dealer said with Kubota getting into skid steers and already offering mini x's, it's kinda silly for Bobcat to be telling customers how great the Kubota motor is.
 
I don't know why Bobcat would be getting into a snitt about Kubota making a skidsteer they both already make mini excavators.

If Bobcat burns their bridges with Kubota they will end up in some trouble I seriously doubt they are going to find any other manufacturer that supplies a cheap and easy to fix reliable diesel engine that small.

Bobcat is the first company to really produce a skid steer loader everybody else copied them I think the second company was Case then the rest followed behind.
 
GreenMonster said:
My dealer told me Bobcat is getting out of the TLB and discontinuing their models. Hopefully, it doesn't result in problems down the road with parts and support.
I just talked to my dealer today he said the same thing that the market was never there for bobcat put there parent company IR is still going to make the TLB. He also said by law they have to manufacture parts for 10 yrs. What do we know if anything about the kubota skidsteer?
 
brownsallseasonlandscape said:
What do we know if anything about the kubota skidsteer?
I don't know anymore than what I've said. Not even sure when we'll see the first ones.

I don't know enough about who makes motors and where else Bobcat can go, but I can see them trying to separate themselves from Kubota if they're makings skids and mini x's. It is a little silly for them to be singing the praises of bulletproof Kubota motors, who is going to be (and already partially is) a direct competitor in compact equipment.

On another note, it will be interesting to see the similarities between the Kubota skid and the Bobcats. I mean, they've been producing engines for Bobcat for how long now? They gotta know everything there is to know about a Bobcat skid.
 
Corrections:

Gravel Rat, Mustang is the second-oldest SSL manufacturer after Bobcat. From there, it may actually be NH then Case... but I'm not positive on that.

Deutz engines were used on all 800-series long-wheelbase machines (863, 873, 883). The 963 was Perkins. Deutz also makes larger (>150 HP) engines, so I'd be very surprised if Bobcat bought the entire line. Personally, I think Bobcat needs to decide on an engine and stick with it. Right now, with Kubota, you can get an entire line of skid steers with one engine. That's great for service. Just when Bobcat seemed to settle in (after debating Kubota, Peugeot, Deutz, and Perkins) on Kubota, they want to get rid of it... arg! (No current Bobcats run Deutz engines.)

At the same time, I wonder if Bobcat will get rid of the transverse-mounted engine... it may be hard to find another company with offerings in the 2L category (that isn't already a competitor to Bobcat), so maybe the engines will go in longitudally now? Hmm...

And I'm getting a little flustered with the number of manufacturers in the SSL industry... there are at least three more in Europe, in addition to
Bobcat, Case, Cat, Deere, JCB, Komatsu, [now Kubota], Gehl, Mustang, Takeuchi, Hyundai, Daewoo, NH, Thomas, and Volvo... granted the Thomas and Hyundai are one in the same, and Daewoo and JCB hardly have any market share, but that's a ton of manufacturers to keep track of. If I had to buy a skid steer in three years, I'd go insane trying to figure out which one is the best for me...
 
That's correct... Thomas makes SSLs for Kubota for the European market; Thomas and Hyundai signed an agreement for Thomas to produce SSLs for Hyundai. I'm not sure if that's been fully realized, or if it is still in the planning stages.

Wonder, then, what the Kubota US machines will be like... and if they'll replace the Thomas-Kubota agreement in Europe as well.
 
Go with the bigger machine even if you have to get a bigger trailer. A machine that has a rating of 2000 pounds lifting a pallet weighing 2000 is cutting it close enough. That rated capacity is on level ground under ideal conditions. The center of the 2000 pound weight would be out 24" in front of the pivot pins using a 4' pallet. We all know the machine will lift much more, but the question is....will it tip over? Many have resulting in injuries to operators. Work safe, don't put yourself at risk
 
I agree with dccarling. I would opt for a machine that will lift more than what you'd normally be doing. It definitely doesn't hurt to lift material that weighs less than the machines Rated Operating Capacity, but it can be unsafe to lift material that exceeds it. This is exactly why I will be trading in my used RC-50 for a larger ASV machine sometime next year. I'm at my limits for some of the work I want to do with it, and it will move a 2,000 pound pallet around, even though it's ROC is 1,500 pounds.

This brings me to the thread that was talking about the John Deere video showing their machines lifting more than their competitors. I think it was stupid and reckless. We all know a machine will hydraulically lift more than the machine's ROC, but all it takes is for someone to do this in a real application (not in a controlled test), flip the machine on it's nose, eject the operator, kill/maim him, and sue stating that he saw it on a video on the John Deere website. if it isn't meant to do it, don't show it. i always sold a customer up to another machine size if he wanted to do something at the very limits of the machine he "wanted". I would have rather lost a sale than sold a marginal machine for the job.
 
We have been building a couple of spec houses lately since the trucking abd snowplowing have been kinda slow. And now that we are roofing them, and have same numbers to go off of, I can tell you what I have found out for lifting capacitys so far. These are all based off of shingles weighing 245 per sq. (or about 82 lbs per bundle).
The S185 lifted 31 bundles all the way to max height, thats about 2540 ish pounds.

The S250 will unload a full pallet of 54 bundles off of a flat bed truck on flat ground, which is about 4400 lbs. And it will easily lift 48 bundles to max height, which is about 3900 lbs. I have never really figured out the true lifting cap. of either machine before. I was very impressed with both of them!!
 
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