Added a bobcat to the herd

[fatjay]

I'm building a garage, and the excavator guy seeing my ferguson to-30 with FEL said i could save $2500 if he could just pile hte dirt up and leave it. I said absolutely, I'll be happy to deal with it.

Then I realized a few years ago I moved 250 yards of dirt with that ferguson and it **** near killed me. The clutching, shifting, braking, no power steering, and the radiator blowing directly on my right foot pretty much cooked it. So I thought I should take a look at what other options I if I spent that $2500 on a machine. I searched and searched for a tractor with power steering and FEL and hydro, but none of them came even close to $2500. Then I found a bobcat for $3500. I offered the guy 3k and he took it, so now I'm the proud owner of a Bobcat M-600. All fresh fluids, cylinders repacked, perfect running and opperating. Has a slight oil leak somewhere that is indicated by some white smoke burning off the top of hte engine, but otherwise all movement is strong, all hydraulics are strong, I think I ended up with a good machine to do my dirt moving.

But boy does that foot/hand thing take some getting used to.

 

[shovelmike]

It looks like you did really well on the deal, prior to buying my tractor with loader I priced used Bobcats, and would have to give twice that for one in questionable condition.

 

[Jchonline]

ROPS/FOPS protection? Looks like a death machine without it!

 

[EddieWalker]

250 yards with that is going to wear you out, but there is a certain satisfaction of doing it yourself. How far are you moving the dirt and what are you doing with it ounce it's moved?

I've never spent more then a couple days on a skid steer and it's always wore me out. Pace yourself. Run it for 4 hours and then stop and rest up, then do it again a couple days later. Don't try to do it all at ounce, you will never make it and then it will be that much harder to finish it off.

 

[lilranch2001]

Yea, I second the ROP point.

If you are on any hills be careful, and even if you are on flat land, being a new operator with a skid steer can get squirrelly fast

 

[fatjay]

The previous owner needed to get into a low building for a job so he cut the ROPS off. I'm not keen on the missing ROPS, but I'm not sure I'm good enough to build one that would actually save me in a roll over scenario. My use case is all flat land, picking up dirt and moving it 50' to some low areas and grading it. I'm trying to get as much practice moving dirt around getting used to the controls. I feel like the hands and feet should be switched, where feet controls movement and hands control bucket.

There's a bit of play in the handles. I'm going to take them all apart and try and get that cleaned up. Also the foot pedal angles could use some adjusting. I'm going to pull it in the garage and take it apart and clean it up before putting it to use.

 

[kevin37b]

Never , ever mount or dismount without putting the bucket flat on the ground ! The pinch point is killer . When those first came out , a hog farmer north of us was killed , looking out the side and dropping the boom . Death machine .

 

[Big Barn]

Yea, I second the ROP point.

If you are on any hills be careful, and even if you are on flat land, being a new operator with a skid steer can get squirrelly fast

Even if the OP has no slopes the ROPS for skid steers provides protection from load spillage when the bucket is in raised position loading trucks.

 

[Big Barn]

I grew up on a Case Uniloader with hand controls. I would be lost on skidsteers with hand/foot controls. .

It’s probably an age thing. I am proficient with JD controls on excavators but an embarrassment using Cat.

 

[blacktruck]

What year and model is that? A long time ago I had one with a gas engine. I think I sent more time working on it then I ever did using it. It was an EPA disaster anywhere it went but if I found another I would probably buy it.