Mini-Skid Steers - Are they good or bad?

[flienlow]

Lately I have been looking at Mini Skid steers to be bridge some gaps that I have between my Kubota BX25 tractor and Excavator. I have never operated one, and would like to hear from those that have to see if they are work pursing.

 

[boggen]

what are you doing? as in...
--getting down into a basement / crawl space?
--having to deal with narrow width gate?
--drive through home to get to the back yard?
--smaller acreage 1 to 2 acres. and wanting to do some landscaping with smaller size concrete blocks to timbers and smaller size rocks?, (what ever helps to remove shovel from hand)?

 

[flienlow]

Basically everything you have a said there. I need something that can go up and down steep slopes to carry wall block and haul material. I also like all the attachments ( harley rake, trencher, auger ect.)
It seems like these are easy machines to use, and have quite the capacity for their size. I imaging that if you were on the thing all day just standing an moving material that would be become fatiguing, but if you need to do a lot of jumping on and off I imagine they are great.

Looking for general positives and negatives about them.

 

[Norm W]

With most of the minis, if you are on steep ground, you need a good seat belt, hard hat and roll cage. This is even if you carry loads low.

 

[flienlow]

With most of the minis, if you are on steep ground, you need a good seat belt, hard hat and roll cage. This is even if you carry loads low.

Norm- Sorry, I was referring to the stand on type. Like a Toro Dingo.

 

[Norm W]

Those (Dingos) are a bit more stable because they don't have to have a place inside for an operator. I've seen more than one person do a face plant with the small Bob Cat with the single cylinder, I think a 10HP engine. They were used mostly for cleaning stalls etc. but they would go through a doorway and were handy within their limitations.

 

[4570Man]

I know they're cool as heck and I want one. Based on what I've seen they're stronger than the loaders on a sub compact tractor.

 

[Industrial Toys]

They can be very unstable in difficult terrain. I would say, most non-tracked skid steers are out of their element in steep terrain. Varying makes carry their loads much different from the next one. I for one, hate getting in and out of one. The exception being the ROBOT by JCB with the side entry.

 

[Xfaxman]

For those that have never seen a TORO Dingo:

 

[motownbrowne]

I've seen several tree services that use dingos or the one that Vermeer makes. They seem super handy, and having worked for a few tree services (none with a dingo, though) I can say that if it'll stand up to that kind of work, they must be a pretty solid machine.