Takeuchi skid steers

[No_Bivy]

I recently aquired a "Beaver Squeezer Grapple" with a 12k winch(awesome deal 5k, only hour away)....sorry dave. I'm planning on a purchase of a full size machine to go with it. I don't really want the biggest of track machines, maybe the 130? So far most of what I hear is Takeuchi. Great ground clearance, good warranty, seems real solid. Any feed back would be appreciated. Oh yeah, cab or no cab?:D

[MasterBlaster]

Shoot, if you can afford it, ALWAYS a cab. AC, even!

[No_Bivy]

That's what I was thinking..plus a little more protection up front.

[sawinredneck]

I have not heard a whole lot of bad about them, other than they can be a bear to service/work on. But pretty durable for reliablity. Also check on parts availability, that can kill the deal!!!
The cab, Butch nailed it!!!!!

[No_Bivy]

here's the 130

[sotc]

never ran one but have heard good things

[Paul B]

I likes me the Caterpillar skid steers, tracks are beauty in my rainy part of the world. :D
http://buildandquote.cat.com/?from=LAND

[lumberjack]

Cat/ASV has the best undercarriage IMO.

What will you be using it for? Beaver squeezin?

[No_Bivy]

What will you be using it for? Beaver squeezin?

yep....
I looked under asv/cat and the undercarriage doesn't seem near as burly as the Takeuchi. I will use it when access isn't an issue for moving heavy wood. Maybe some light lot clearing. I heard asv has a lot of plastic idle roller that expensive to fix.....smooth ride though.

[No_Bivy]

the BSG grapple
http://www.getbsg.com/common/content.asp?PAGE=335

[lumberjack]

What's the price range? Any ideas?

[No_Bivy]

130 = 35k to 38k with cab....new

[arborworks1]

If you have option to get powered attachment hookup get that. It will save alot of headache. The cab will make you lazy! But that is why you have ground guys.

How much capacity is the 130 rated for?

[sotc]

sounds decent, 2 years ago i priced a fully enclosed bobcat t300 for about 56k. just looked, i still have the brochures

[lumberjack]

I would NOT get a vertical lift pattern, as the (typically) aren't as rugged and have many more joints to develop slop.

[No_Bivy]

Whats a vertical lift platform?

[Koa Man]

My mason contractor friend said Takeuchi is the best skid steer he ever used. He has lots of experience with New Holland, Bobcat, Cat, & Case. We have a Takeuchi dealer on Oahu, so parts and service is no problem here.

[lumberjack]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/skid-steer4.htm

Some variation of that. The TL130 is radial and thus generally more rugged.

[arborworks1]

Vertical lift will allow a little more reach than the traditional radial lift, so you could not reach quite as far into the back of the chip truck.


So if you get a dump trailer to haul it on, then it will not matter.

[No_Bivy]

an advantage when load over the side of a dump truck I guess? no?

[arborworks1]

YEah I guess never really noticed the difference. with the bsg you will be able to reach all the way across a truck or trailer anyway.

Just think if you are getting a trailer to haul it anyway get a dumper, Just my two cents input.

You know its never going to stop now, once you get this then you need this and then if you had this one, that is bigger, you could do that work, and on on it goes. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

[lumberjack]

Yeah, for moving dirt or such, but they wear and then get lateral movement in growing amounts.

For what you're doing, I'd surely get radial.

[bergsteiger]

If you're doing tight access dirt work/grading like around houses and such the vertical lift path can be an advantage sometimes but the normal radial lift does have fewer bushings and pivot pints. I demoed a Takeuchi 140 one time, it was a pretty smooth machine. Definitely get the joystick controls and not the typical skid steer pedals and levers. I use a Bobcat S150 all the time and I think tracks are definitely the way to go.

[Thor's Hammer]

Takeguchi are very good machines, basicly Yanmar Engineering.
Why a skid steer? why not an articulating loader?

[No_Bivy]

Swinger? I'm open to it....

[Buzz]

here's the 130


Haven't read the whole thread but that make is the brand of choice over here in mini excavators now. I've driven a fair few and they were all great plenty of power on the tracks as well :)

[Thor's Hammer]

John, not swinger, one of these -
http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/download.php?Number=101786

[sotc]

very nice

[Thor's Hammer]

Not sure why that pic wont embed

[MasterBlaster]

Not sure why that pic wont embed

You're not wrapping the right tags around it, that's why.

Besides, the pic would streech the pag to shit. The link is better.

[Reddog]

I like working with an articulating loader. Much quicker for loading a truck from the side. Also less tearing up ground, your not skidding to steer.

But if you need the tracks for the low ground pressure, not much else you can use.

[PCTREE]

Ive got a tcm804 articulating loafer with a grapple and just love it. We mainly do residential removals and it is just great for this as the floatation tires dont seem to rut up grass and you dont mess anything up turning. Weighs in a a mear 4500lbs and can pick 2500 I think. We haul it behind a pickup so it is easy to move around. I just love thing, never got it stuck and it will go up inclines that scare the jesus outa me!

[No_Bivy]

Got any pics of that loader?:D

[PCTREE]

no but I will try to get one tommorrow.........

[stehansen]

I use a 60 hp John Deere tractor with a loader for these types of jobs. It won't go in a back yard of course, however being a tractor it can go down the road at 16 mph or so. A couple of times if I was close to home and had a full trailer I would hook the tractor up to the trailer and drive it home. My son could do it back when I did it as here a drivers license isn't needed to operate a farm tractor on the road. It will lift about 10" high. The flotation of the tractor isn't near as good as tracks would be or even a articulated or skidsteer loader with larger front tires. It is pretty heavy to haul around but if you need to pull a tree over it's pretty good for that. My Dad gave me the tractor and I paid $1,200 for the loader and probably spent another thousand on valves, fittings, and such. I'm estimating that it will lift two thousand pounds or so.

[NeTree]

I've rented the small Tak escavator, and it was solidly built, and gave me no trouble. Gutsy little sucker, too.... you wouldn't believe the stumps I was popping with it.

JM2C

[Koa Man]

I use a 60 hp John Deere tractor.... It will lift about 10" high.

Not much of a lift on that baby huh?:lol:

[sotc]

my father in laws tractor is similar to that, i only use it on occasion to move logs and such around at his place

[No_Bivy]

It's steep round' here remember. The tracked machine would go where most others wont. How wild can you get with an articulating loader?

[Reddog]

It's steep round' here remember. The tracked machine would go where most others wont. How wild can you get with an articulating loader?


Think of a Skidder, they are articulated. And look at the places we take those.
As long as you don't go for the narrowest wheel width setting should be pretty good. The problem with any loader on rough ground is if you are trying to lift on a side hill, most get tippy real quick.
You might be surprised that a wheel loader will climb hills better than the tracked skid steer. The skid steers like to roll over front or backward on steep stuff.
Find a place to rent a Kubota R series loader, and give it a try. Or a dealer and test one.

[No_Bivy]

Im gonna check em out.....the other thing I worry a little about with wheels is flats, how burly are those tiires?

[Reddog]

On the Kubota, same as skid steer tires from what I have seen. Could always slime them if you are in a lot of thorns.

http://www.kubota.com/f/products/r420s.cfm

[Reddog]

Another one to look at is the Willmar Wrangler. Find a AGCO dealer and they will handle them.
It is 4wheel hyd drive.
A lot of farmers use them on feed lots and fertilizer operations. Seem to get a lot of hours out of them.

AGCO's web site sucks. So it is easiest to just find a dealer on it.

And for everyone looking at this, I realize these are not mini's. Nobivy is looking at full size skid steers, so I am showing him options in articulated loaders that have the same capacities.:)

[stehansen]

Im gonna check em out.....the other thing I worry a little about with wheels is flats, how burly are those tiires?

I've run very few rubber tracks, mostly steel tracks and, I have never had a flat tire on a track, steel or rubber.:)

[MasterBlaster]

How 'bout this tire?

[stehansen]

The orchard brush shredding guys used to run tires like that MB on their tractors, but in the last 10 years most of them have went to vehicles with rubber tracks. I saw one of them running tires made from gluing layers of rubber belting together into a solid mass.

[No_Bivy]

MB are those re treads?

[MasterBlaster]

I bet it rides a tad rough.

[Al Smith]

How 'bout this tire? Thorn proof but not termite proof.

A skid loader is as handy as a pocket on a shirt.I have the use of a New Holland from time to time that will lift about 1500 pounds I suppose.

Tracks are nice on a skid loader but they tear the dickens out of a yard.In the past I've used both rubber and steel tracks but not for tree stuff.Dragging timber out of the woods is one thing and removing a tree from a nicely maintained residential lawn is another.

My old Fergeson TO 20 with a Davis lift will hoist about 2500 but you can't steer it with that much weight on the front.It won't tear up a lawn like a skid loader is capable of.On the other hand though you can't squeeze it into as tight of a space as a skid steer.

Over the last 30 years I've packed a lot of saw logs out of the woods with that old tractor.

[squisher]

Skidders go anywhere, but I've never seen a wheeled loader venture off a landing, two different animals. That said I have no experience with the smaller machines.

[PCTREE]

I cannt figure out how to resize the pic of my tcm804 on our new Mac computer(I took down 3 trees in a trade for the Mac, 4 hours work and the computer guy said he felt like he was making out, so do I, gotta love trading) . Anyhow I owned a Wrangler loader befor I got the tcm . The only good thing I can say about it was it would lift more than the tcm but man it would get stuck all of the time!! It did have 4 wheel hydrostatic drive but if one wheel started spinning all the flow would go to that wheel so you could get stuck in a puddle! Mine was an old loader so maybe they have gotten better but I would NEVER consider one over my tcm. Now the kubota might be worth a spin but I have never used one.
Paul

[Paul B]

you can email it to me and I can resize it for you then email it back, I will PM you my email addy.

[stehansen]

That is another weakness with my tractor is that when you get a heavy load in the bucket on soft dirt it removes weight from the drive wheels and puts on the steering wheels. It has a differential lock but sometimes I have had to unload the piece of wood and cut it in half to make it out. A four-wheel drive tractor would not have that problem. Another problem I have with my tractor is that whenever I am on a nice clean concrete driveway it leaves black rubber tracks wherever I go even if I'm not pulling or carrying a load or anything. Both the front wheels and the rear.

[Reddog]

Skidders go anywhere, but I've never seen a wheeled loader venture off a landing, two different animals.

As long as the tires are aggressive they will go about as good as a skidder.

I would not want to skid with a loader. But they seem to get good traction for going up and down hills.
On the smaller ones I am sure the smaller tires will have an effect on the flotation in soft stuff. That might be the edge for the track loader.

[squisher]

Well, the set-up I logged with for many years was line skidders to forward from the yarder and a wheel loader to run the landing and load trucks. You could never with any kind of tires take that loader where a skidder could go, I didn't really think that wheel loaders where designed for trail or off trail use like skidders. The blocks we were given were for a yarder obviously (steep) and we would line skid everything we could up to some extremely steep/gnarly ground, pushing a skidder to it's max for accessibility. We also used a high track Cat for a mobile tailhold at times and that thing would go anywhere.

[Reddog]

Nobivy

Go and try as many different pieces of equipment as you can find.
1. It is always fun to do.
2. It gives you a good idea of the feel of the different configurations.

Squisher

I think you have read to much into my posts. I was trying to show a comparison to other articulated pieces of equipment. Not saying they are equal.

:)

[No_Bivy]

I will definiftly demo a bunch before droppping that kinda cash. Wheels are appealing for yards but tracks might go a bit further round here....,both would be nice:D

[squisher]

Squisher

I think you have read to much into my posts.

Probably, I'm operating on a huge sleep deficit and no time in sight to catch up.

[Reddog]

Be safe Squisher. Don't need you getting hurt or breaking equipment.
Thats what I usually do when sleep deprived, break some thing.

[Paul B]

I will definiftly demo a bunch before droppping that kinda cash. Wheels are appealing for yards but tracks might go a bit further round here....,both would be nice:D

one place I worked we had a bobcat that we had a set of steel tracks made up for when it got more sloppy out. They were not gentle on the ground like the rubber tracks but they did make it easier to drive over softer ground vs the wheels. Word of warning, try not to get enough mud in the tracks so the wheels slip and you dont get to go anywhere! :)

[squisher]

Be safe Squisher. Don't need you getting hurt or breaking equipment.
Thats what I usually do when sleep deprived, break some thing.

Thanks eh, lack of sleep or food seems to turn me into a a--hole so no offense was meant. I'm hoping to catch up but they're calling for snow on christmas.

[Jonseredbred]

I am considering a Gehl or Swinger articulated mini loader for the spring. I can't decide on size though.

[Ax-Man]

I think that is the way to go myself instead of a track loader or a zero turn machine on tires.

Swingers are hard to find at least I haven't been able to locate one close to where I am. I think they are more plentiful in the upper Midwest like in Minn. Where they make them, I think anyway.

Swinger has a website showing one with a grapple doing tree work. I will swe if if I still have the link. You have to type in Swinger loaders for a keyword to do a search on the web otherwise you end up in the porn websites. I found this out the hard way, well sorta.

After seeing Koa's Gehl I would coinsider one of those also. They are more plentiful here only no dealer close. The Swinger dealer close to me doesn't carry much as far as machines but they told me getting parts would not be a problem if I ever got one.

[Ax-Man]

Here's the linkhttp://swingerloaders.com/

[Skwerl]

I used to know a guy who did hauling using a Swinger loader. Very nice machine with plenty of lift height and capacity, and very gentle on lawns. The way the body articulates made it easy for him to manipulate big chunks around obstacles without tearing up the lawn while doing it.

[Koa Man]

Swingers are good for the lifting capacity and all, but I don't think they make a mini machine, at least not one that can fit in as many places as the Gehl. The Gehl AL20DX is 42" wide. DitchWitch has come up with an interesting machine, but I don't know what they cost.

http://www.ditchwitch.com/model.asp?modid=89

[Thor's Hammer]

That ditch witch is a great idea. Been wondering when someone got round to building a mini articulated loader.
Check out the specs on the CSF multitrac loaders
We find them as good as skidders of road, mainly because of their oscillating (lockable) centre joint.

[No_Bivy]

:/: YO....full size machines here......lots mof mini threads out there. I wanna go BIG, no flats, I'm still leaning towards tracks in these thar hills:/:

[Thor's Hammer]

Yo - full size is a very subjective word....

[No_Bivy]

one that can run an 800lb grapple attachment = full size.....:D

[lumberjack]

...both would be nice:D

Lemme muddy the waters, so to speak.



http://www.loegering.com/tracksystems/vts.asp


It is important to remember that if you have an A300 (all wheel steer) that you do not switch from skid steer to all wheel when the tracks are on.

If I could afford it, I'd look hard at Bobcat's A300. All wheel steer, skid, and now, tracks.

[No_Bivy]

Iv'e seem those things but I bet they are pricey...Im OK with dedicated tracks

[MasterBlaster]

Step away from the eggnog, lol!

[PCTREE]

OK so let me see if I can get this pic to post.......

[PCTREE]

2 things really sold me on the TCM 804, 1 the periwinckle blue and 2 the small person that comes with it that you throw down to set chains etc to save you having to get up and down, this feature is important when you become an OPERATOR.......:D

[Skwerl]

Cool! How much extra for that last feature? :lol:

[sotc]

you dont want that accessory brian, they squeal loudly and you cant figure out why and leak like a hose

[stehansen]

Cool! How much extra for that last feature? :lol:

250 K, worth every penny I might add.

[tntree]

No Bivy, Boxer just private labeled Multi Trak they call it there 700 series
http://www.boxerequipment.com/series.html?series_id=35.
These machines have much better specs than the Avant(Gehl). They are brothers to the Multi One but boast heavier torque motors higher lift etc. . .

My son sells Takeuchi, well actually Mustangs. Mustang and Gehl private labels them. Very solid smooth machines. They next to the old Thomas's have the best Hyd heat disipation.
http://twincitiesmustang.com/custominvsearch.html
(our new website is being rebuilt and still kinda sucks)

Carl is on to something on the loegerings. You can purchase them and a wheeled skid for right about the same price as a dedicated track.
Whats the advantage? If you get a hard surface job you can put your tires on to save wear and tear on your tracks, When it comes time to sell your machine you take them off, sell your machine and purchase a new wheeled machine at a significant saving over a dedicated track, they only take about an hour to switch out.

Dustin faced up a loegering track equiped Mustang to an equal HP Takeuchi (mustang) and the loegerring pushed the dedicated track backwards. Also the Tracks have more surface on the ground and extend farther forward than
dedicated tracks giving you more lift stability. One set fits many different models of skids. They seem to make a lot of sense especially if you plow snow. Not much snow down bivys way though.

Nice score on the Bsqueeser, :whine: used?
I have to get $4500 for a 50" without the winch option! :? :?
http://www.branchmanagerattachments.com/images/ceospecdec07.pdf

[No_Bivy]

I was wondering how long it took to change em out. How easy do the track pop off ? Are they spring or grease cyl. tensioned?
How much for the new Boxer/multi thingy?

[tntree]

about an hour and a half - the second time. I meet with the Boxer rep on the 8th at Green Expo here in Mpls. I hope to be able to sell them since it seems Avant won't be coming here anytime soon

[arborworks1]

Do you have a general idea price of the articulating boxer, the 732?

[sawinredneck]

The loegerings are a nice option, BUT they will tear the hell out of a yard!!!! And, they SUCK ASS to put on!!!!

Opps!!! didn't follow the link before opening mouth!!!! I was thinking of the old steel tracks mounted over the tires!!

[Paul B]

I was thinking of the old steel tracks mounted over the tires!!

thats the type I was referring to a couple pages ago, a hassle indeed.

[No_Bivy]

ASV?..............

[PCTREE]

just thought Id put it out there, I just saw a yahnmar articulating loader for sale, seems like it is the same as my tcm with different colors. Its a 99 hours unknown looks in good shape for $16900.............

Forks and bucket

[Mangoes]

Dave

Those Ditchwitches are going to dominate the mini market if they can keep the price competitive. They are awesome! Gonna call the local rep to find out expected costs.

[lumberjack]

The lift capacity is lacking IMO.