compact articulated loaders

   / compact articulated loaders #1  

Renze

Elite Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2003
Messages
4,387
Location
the Steernbos (Holland)
Tractor
Zetor 3011, Zetor 5718
My brother is thinking of getting a compact farm helper:
A skid steer is not an option because of my father: A. because of the jerky controls, and B. because i dont see him, age 65 having arthritis, crawl over the loader arms into the cockpit every day. An articulated loader is far more accessible and wears less rubber.

What do these things really handle ? We have 3 foot horse stable doors, but a compact loader narrow enough to go through those doors, would be useless cleaning a big layer of packed muck in the free stables. Most newer doors are 1.20 wide, and a machine that fits through that doorway, will be able to get things done.
Will it also lift haylage and straw bales, or are these machines too unstable for that ?
 
   / compact articulated loaders #2  
My brother is thinking of getting a compact farm helper:
A skid steer is not an option because of my father: A. because of the jerky controls, and B. because i dont see him, age 65 having arthritis, crawl over the loader arms into the cockpit every day. An articulated loader is far more accessible and wears less rubber.

What do these things really handle ? We have 3 foot horse stable doors, but a compact loader narrow enough to go through those doors, would be useless cleaning a big layer of packed muck in the free stables. Most newer doors are 1.20 wide, and a machine that fits through that doorway, will be able to get things done.
Will it also lift haylage and straw bales, or are these machines too unstable for that ?

I seems to me that the skid steer would be way more maneuverable.
However they do beat the s**t out of you.
What about a tracked skid steer? I hear they are a lot smoother?
 
   / compact articulated loaders
  • Thread Starter
#3  
..No skid steer at all... my father wont crawl into one, so me or my brother have to do the work on winter evenings, while my retired father can take all day, during daylight.
 
   / compact articulated loaders
  • Thread Starter
#5  
How about something like this.

H Class

H Class

1200 lb lift capacity to handle haylage bales and clean hard packed muck ??? no that wont work... Its gasoline powered, something we dont want.

Schaffer loaders

schaffer video

This Schaffer sells for about the same price as that Power Trac with comparable specs...
Just take a look at those Schaffer models and see for yourself, so i dont have to explain why i wouldnt buy a Pwer Trac even if it sold for half the price of a Schaffer, Fuchs or other German miniloader.... ;)


Actually i was more interested in what a machine this size gets done, are they stable enough to handle large square straw bales, etcetera...
 
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   / compact articulated loaders #6  
No you want a loader the size Kubota offers. They are very stable and quite powerful (typical of Kubota's well built machines) and they have many different attachments. Nurserys all around this state use them. They're very common. Case and Deere also offer mini loaders but I believe they're a tad larger than Kubotas.
 

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   / compact articulated loaders #7  
The case 221D is a large compact loader. Case does have smaller models but I've never used them or seen them and right now their website is down so I can't check the numbers. The Deere 244J is a large compact loader as well. The only other compact loader I know of is the JD 84 which is the third picture. I'm not sure on it's size. The Kubota, from what I've een, is a pretty dang compact loader. They have two sizes, one smaller, one bigger. I'd check one of those out. The only thing I notice is they don't look too terribly comfortable. But I could be wrong. Case's machines look comfortable.
 
   / compact articulated loaders #8  
Take a look at JCB.

jmf

383.jpg
 
   / compact articulated loaders #9  
I drove one of those JCB 409's and looked a Volvo 25 (20?), both about the same size.
6' wide (2meters), about 16' long (about the size of a typical compact tractor)

1.2yard bucket (about 1.2 cubic meters)

4000lb lifting capcity
someting like 9000lb breakout force.

way stronger than all but the biggest skid steers.
really manueverable.

bad part?
About $70,000 USD :( (the same price as a big skid steer)
 
   / compact articulated loaders
  • Thread Starter
#10  
We would rather get a smaller one, 2 meter wide is still wider than my 3011 (1.65 on the narrowest 1.35 trackwidth) and not able to enter the 1.20 meter ( 4 foot) horse barns.

I was hoping to get some practical experienced advice on a machine of about 1.10 wide and 2000 pounds of lifting force. That is the size we'd be looking at, we sometimes carry big square bales into the barn lengthwise, but straw bales are lighter than silage so 1 ton tipload would do for us.

I was hoping to hear if a machine at 1.10 meter wide or less, is still stable enough to carry bales up to 800kg and has enough breakout force to bust hard packed muck in the yet-to-build freestalls.

70.000 would be way out of our budget too...
 
 
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