Recently I purchased a MX5100 4wd Kubota. For the past seven years I have been running a tree service and using a skid steer to do most of my heavy lifting. A skid steer is unmatched for its lifting capacity and ability to get in to tight spaces, but it murders yards. I have 20 acres and needed a machine to serve me at home and work. When I purchased the tractor I already owned a 900 pound bullet proof root grapple. After setting the tractor up to run the grapple and working it for a week, I was severely disappointed. To even use the loader I had to fill the tires with fluid and put on a blade with a 500 pound log tied to it. Even with all of this extra weight the tractor was scary unstable with a load. I feared I had made a horrible mistake going with a tractor instead of a skid steer. Rather than give up I put the root grapple up for sale and started researching solutions. I found many people seemed happy with the Markham light duty, so I bought one.
I worked the tractor all day long yesterday and its like I have a different machine. It handles the light duty with ease and the tractor handles like a dream with a load. Despite my best effort I could not bend or break the grapple. I was able to move even more brush and do it with more stability. I think my setup is now better than a skid steer for several reasons.
1. The tractor will go places the skid steer can not. Yesterday I motored through a running creek and across several deep ditches. The skid loader simply does not have the ground clearance to do these things.
2. The tractor is easy on yards. I worked in semi wet yard and never exposed dirt. The same yard would have looked like a mud wallow with a skid.
3. The tractor has a 3 point and a pto. I can run a landscape rake and finish up a job without ever leaving my seat. Tractor implements are 1/5 the cost of high flow skid steer tools and they don稚 require using one tool at a time. I am also excited about the possibility of a pto chipper.
4. The tractor is cheaper. New MX5100 24,000. New 60 horse skid 34,000.
5. Its sexier, ever heard the song she thinks my skid loader is sexy? Me neither.
I worked the tractor all day long yesterday and its like I have a different machine. It handles the light duty with ease and the tractor handles like a dream with a load. Despite my best effort I could not bend or break the grapple. I was able to move even more brush and do it with more stability. I think my setup is now better than a skid steer for several reasons.
1. The tractor will go places the skid steer can not. Yesterday I motored through a running creek and across several deep ditches. The skid loader simply does not have the ground clearance to do these things.
2. The tractor is easy on yards. I worked in semi wet yard and never exposed dirt. The same yard would have looked like a mud wallow with a skid.
3. The tractor has a 3 point and a pto. I can run a landscape rake and finish up a job without ever leaving my seat. Tractor implements are 1/5 the cost of high flow skid steer tools and they don稚 require using one tool at a time. I am also excited about the possibility of a pto chipper.
4. The tractor is cheaper. New MX5100 24,000. New 60 horse skid 34,000.
5. Its sexier, ever heard the song she thinks my skid loader is sexy? Me neither.