Gadgetnut
Silver Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2005
- Messages
- 137
- Location
- San Juan Islands, Washington
- Tractor
- Walker Mower MD (Kubota,) BobCat ToolCat 5600 Turbo rev. C, John Deere tractor
Hello, Everyone. Thought I'd drop by and tell you a few of my first experiences with the new ToolCat. Wanting to get a little more seat time and accustomed to driving, first two weeks' use saw more general maintenance & transportation than "Tool Time," but that's coming. Love the cab by the way, the HVAC, headlamps, wiper, radio, etc., and I like how the doors and windows work.
ToolCat moved hundreds of pounds of moving boxes between the barn and the main house. (I got the forklift attachment so I can lift a pallette up about seven feet towards the barn's hayloft door.) I moved tools around the grounds catching up on remote repair and assembly projects. I find the TC bed height and low sidewall liftover height very convenient to reach into, compared to my pickup truck.
I used the hydraulic dumping bed to relocate a large shed full of debris. I elected to have the TC bed lined with Linex bedliner. Linex is very tuff and durable and grippy and hence material does not slide out of the bed too easily when lifted to dump position. I might have to put down a tarp for some jobs.
First "job" was digging a two foot deep, thirty five foot long trench on a pretty steep hill that ends in an abrupt five foot drop down into a court yard. Plus it's been rainy and muddy. I was very shy about that dropoff and dug the last ten feet by hand. This was the first time I had used a trencher and I found it very easy to use. I hardly noticed that the machine "trenched" through a couple good sized tree roots along the way. A rented DitchWitch may have been easier to maneuver on this confined slope, but I see a lot more trenching in my future and Bobcat trencher worked very well.
My TC came with the turf tires-- and we'll see if this was a prudent choice for all around use. This has been one of the rainiest winters in history where I live-- so traction for any purpose, including walking, has been terrible in spots. Earlier this week the sun came out, and I was eager to use the BrushCat rotary cutter to clear a three acre field that had been neglected for years. The BrushCat is very heavy (1350 pounds) and instead of letting the attachment float in this soft ground, I found it did better lifted off the ground a little. (But of course the built-in safety feature shuts it off if it rises more than a couple inches off the ground-- so it's a dance.) Anyway on my last pass of the day, without realizing it I got near an underground stream-- and with all that weight on the front tires, TC front left tire quickly sank in and became hopelessly mired. Pulled it out easily following day with my pickup truck. (No, I didn't get the pickup truck stuck in the field; no other tow trucks involved this time!) Given the muck I sank into, I don't think a grippier tire on TC would have mattered though.
Next: Bobcat combo bucket and Anbo farm grapple!
ToolCat moved hundreds of pounds of moving boxes between the barn and the main house. (I got the forklift attachment so I can lift a pallette up about seven feet towards the barn's hayloft door.) I moved tools around the grounds catching up on remote repair and assembly projects. I find the TC bed height and low sidewall liftover height very convenient to reach into, compared to my pickup truck.
I used the hydraulic dumping bed to relocate a large shed full of debris. I elected to have the TC bed lined with Linex bedliner. Linex is very tuff and durable and grippy and hence material does not slide out of the bed too easily when lifted to dump position. I might have to put down a tarp for some jobs.
First "job" was digging a two foot deep, thirty five foot long trench on a pretty steep hill that ends in an abrupt five foot drop down into a court yard. Plus it's been rainy and muddy. I was very shy about that dropoff and dug the last ten feet by hand. This was the first time I had used a trencher and I found it very easy to use. I hardly noticed that the machine "trenched" through a couple good sized tree roots along the way. A rented DitchWitch may have been easier to maneuver on this confined slope, but I see a lot more trenching in my future and Bobcat trencher worked very well.
My TC came with the turf tires-- and we'll see if this was a prudent choice for all around use. This has been one of the rainiest winters in history where I live-- so traction for any purpose, including walking, has been terrible in spots. Earlier this week the sun came out, and I was eager to use the BrushCat rotary cutter to clear a three acre field that had been neglected for years. The BrushCat is very heavy (1350 pounds) and instead of letting the attachment float in this soft ground, I found it did better lifted off the ground a little. (But of course the built-in safety feature shuts it off if it rises more than a couple inches off the ground-- so it's a dance.) Anyway on my last pass of the day, without realizing it I got near an underground stream-- and with all that weight on the front tires, TC front left tire quickly sank in and became hopelessly mired. Pulled it out easily following day with my pickup truck. (No, I didn't get the pickup truck stuck in the field; no other tow trucks involved this time!) Given the muck I sank into, I don't think a grippier tire on TC would have mattered though.
Next: Bobcat combo bucket and Anbo farm grapple!
