Tractor vs Skid Steer Loader Specs

[K5lwq]

I don't agree with you there.
I have used both my 74 and 105 HP tractors with frontend loaders to feed many thousands of big round hay bales weighing up to 1700 lbs and often 2 1200-1300 lb at the same time for 35 + years with no ill effect on the front axle.

We used a JD 4020 with a loader to feed and do lots of heavy lifting on the farm. I can tell you the front end took a beating and we had to rebuild it from the abuse. That said still one of the toughest tractors for it’s size I know. But a Kubota L47 is not a 4020 and for lifting max capacity on a regular basis I would want a machine more designed for that kind of work.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Several posters have mentioned about having to have the arms all the way down to enter and exit the cab on a CTL or skid steer and while that is true for several brands it is not the case with all brands . Kubota and Takeuchi both make overhead slide up doors to enter and exit their cabs, it was one of the main reasons that I bought a Kubota SVL-75-2 CTL, it doesn't matter where my arms are at I can still enter or exit the cab when I get ready via the overhead sliding door. I have a 93 hp cabbed JD tractor and a small 36 hp tractor and they all have their place, I can't hay and harrow fields with the CTL , but there is no way that I could put my tractors where I put my CTL and not tear them to pieces.

 

[ovrszd]

Several posters have mentioned about having to have the arms all the way down to enter and exit the cab on a CTL or skid steer and while that is true for several brands it is not the case with all brands . Kubota and Takeuchi both make overhead slide up doors to enter and exit their cabs, it was one of the main reasons that I bought a Kubota SVL-75-2 CTL, it doesn't matter where my arms are at I can still enter or exit the cab when I get ready via the overhead sliding door. I have a 93 hp cabbed JD tractor and a small 36 hp tractor and they all have their place, I can't hay and harrow fields with the CTL , but there is no way that I could put my tractors where I put my CTL and not tear them to pieces.

Well stated.

 

[Sid Post]

True for telehandlers, but not compact telehandlers.

Mine will out dig the average CTL. I did it using my 1 cubic yard 72 inch wide bucket on a Bobcat T300: Compact telehandler

As far as versatility, mine with SSQA can use most of the attachments made for skid steers. Plus one that I made using an old fork frame and an 8 foot box blade: Adding SSQA to a Box Blade

Those Bobcat's look pretty attractive to me but, they are few and far between. If I could find one for a reasonable amount of money, I could see it being super handy for use at my farm.

 

[Sid Post]

I don't agree with you there.
I have used both my 74 and 105 HP tractors with frontend loaders to feed many thousands of big round hay bales weighing up to 1700 lbs and often 2 1200-1300 lb at the same time for 35 + years with no ill effect on the front axle.

There are a lot of tractors with a loader that is too big for the tractor's front end which puts a lot of stress and wear and tear on the tractor.

When you are looking to buy a tractor for heavy loader use, be sure the tractor is built to handle the loads you will be lifting.

Case in point, my loader on my Kubota L4600 will lift more than I can safely transport with my tractor. Static stress and dynamic stress are not the same so, keep that in mind when shopping! My tractor has 'beet' juice in the tires and is still pretty unbalanced with a heavy load so, if I need to move anything I am nowhere near max lift capacity.

 

[jiggseob]

A "skid steer" as its name implies, steers by skidding. Every time it "skids", it chews up some ground material. FWA tractors have front and rear - and sometimes mid - differentials, so there is alot less "skidding" to maneuver around. If you are handling logs on frozen or well-compacted gravel or pavement ground, a skid steer and a FWA tractor will be pretty much equal with respect to the chewing-up the mud. If ground is just dirt, or mud, in short order a skid-steer will make a really mucky mess out of the operating area. The FWA loader tractor will chew the dirt into mud alot less.

You mention moving logs into a mill. I presume a small mill, so you move logs for an hour and saw for ten hours. So if your moving of logs takes an hour and 20 minutes, no big deal in the grand scheme. Especially if the yard isn't a mucky mess deeper than your gum boots.

If you are working a 12 hour day with a skid-steer, you will get ~50% more work done than a similar loader lift capability sized FWA tractor. Pick up a bucket of material, move it around, and place that bucket of material accurately somewhere else, a skidsteer just plain gets it done faster. A heel-toe hydro tractor is WAY faster than a gear-grinder, but no where near as quick as the spin-on-a-dime skidsteer.

The FWA tractor is better suited to many other tasks around the farm, haying, grass-cutting, and on and on.

Think through the work you do in a day, how much you will use loader/tractor/skidsteer, and how much "loader productivity" you want to trade-off for versatility and lower ground disturbance.

 

[4570Man]

I like loading stuff with my mini x more than I realized I would before I got it. As long as you can park the truck close to what you’re loading it’s efficient and doesn’t scar the ground at all because it’s not tracking around.

 

[mikester]

For sheer grunt in a small package get a 100HP CTL and it will out lift any CUT. If you enjoy riding in a milk crate with poor visibility and like putting loads over your head all the time and like the thrill of limited egress then a CTL is for you. If you need to do a lot of loader work a wheel loader shines. I settled on an M59 TLB because it was relatively cheap, does a little of everything and has a 3PH. It isn't the best at everything.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I own a wheeled skid and a CTL. The wheeled skid doesn’t fall that far behind on smooth hard ground. If the ground has deep holes or is anything resembling soft the tracks are in for big win. Either machine will make a tractor look silly. The tractor was already behind on maneuverability and considering the size difference required to get anything close to the same performance that’s a land slide victory for the CTL. Some of the larger farm tractor loader specs might equal a medium size CTL like mine but pretty much none of them could equal a T12 or equivalent machine. A lot of the posters here haven’t ever used a CTL and are considering a CTL and their brother in law’s small skid steer to be the same thing. If you’ve never had a CTL you really don’t understand. It’s a completely different animal vs a wheeled machine or a tractor. Especially in soft ground. I can make 10 trips over a soft area carrying a load and the same area would stick a tractor in one pass.

If the ctl is far superior, why do you have so many different pieces of equipment?

 

[Hay Dude]

If I had to add a tele, tele skid, skid steer or 4WD backhoe to my operation right now, I would say it would be be the backhoe
Biggest reasons is the fact that a backhoe has BOTH a loader and a digger attached to it at the same time. No other piece does. With good tires, a 4WD backhoe can get around pretty good and pull itself out if stuck. The backhoe can easily be roaded from one place to another. It also has a very strong loader that can dig, scoop or lift. With flip-down pallet forks it can load pallets or hay bales. Spin around in the seat, extend stabs and you can dig a house foundation or dig out enormous tree stumps. Another added bonus: The dipper is probably also the best “stuck equipment” extracting tool you can get outside a track hoe. Backhoes can also be equipped with front & rear aux hydraulics to run 4/1 buckets out front or hammer breakers, grapples or even brush mowers out back.
The cabs are super easy to work in and out of and not claustrophobic. They are easy to learn & drive. The visibility is like a mid sized farm tractor. Most are American made or at least American brands.
Best of all they are relatively cheap to buy and get parts for.

My vote for overall best tool is still the venerable 4WD backhoe. Nothing can match it’s quickness to be changed from one task to another, it’s quick mobility, and it’s price point for the total package.

 

[4570Man]

If the ctl is far superior, why do you have so many different pieces of equipment?

The short answer is because I like equipment.

 

[aircommuter]

Like another person said you should rent some different machines to see what works best for you. I was in the grading business for over 40 years and I only owned one skid steer for tight quarters. If you want real strength and breakout force combined with overall stability then a track loader can’t beat. But it may not provide other things you want. If you are going to own a single machine you will have compromises.

 

[River Valley Landscaping]

The original poster stated a 7500lb weight limit on his trailer. That basically limits you to a smaller wheeled skid or tractor. Not positive but pretty sure l47 or svl75 would put you over that weight once actually loaded with a bucket. If a trailer upgrade was needed would that also mean a bigger truck? In my opinion track loaders are meant to get in and get to work, not the easiest to be in and out of. I think some of those newer compact articulated wheel loaders would be worth looking into. A lot of tree guys in my area use them when handling logs.

 

[ovrszd]

The short answer is because I like equipment.

I'd rather say it's because of the work you do. Very modest on your part 4570.

 

[4570Man]

The original poster stated a 7500lb weight limit on his trailer. That basically limits you to a smaller wheeled skid or tractor. Not positive but pretty sure l47 or svl75 would put you over that weight once actually loaded with a bucket. If a trailer upgrade was needed would that also mean a bigger truck? In my opinion track loaders are meant to get in and get to work, not the easiest to be in and out of. I think some of those newer compact articulated wheel loaders would be worth looking into. A lot of tree guys in my area use them when handling logs.

A 75 weighs about 10k pounds and a 65 is still exceeding 7500 pounds. I think Takeuchi makes a smaller tracked machine in that weight class.

 

[AaronD81]

The original poster stated a 7500lb weight limit on his trailer. That basically limits you to a smaller wheeled skid or tractor. Not positive but pretty sure l47 or svl75 would put you over that weight once actually loaded with a bucket. If a trailer upgrade was needed would that also mean a bigger truck? In my opinion track loaders are meant to get in and get to work, not the easiest to be in and out of. I think some of those newer compact articulated wheel loaders would be worth looking into. A lot of tree guys in my area use them when handling logs.

Yes, both truck and trailer are limited to 10k which means smaller CTL like a Bobcat T450 or T180. L47 would be the max for a TLB. Lots of reasonably priced 10k pound skid steers but buying a new truck and trailer isn’t in my budget.

 

[JoelPM]

Five years ago we moved to a 12 acre property and I bought an L4701 with a bucket, a box scraper, pallet forks, and a rotary cutter. My parents had an old (and small) plow blade that attached to the 3pt hitch in the back of one of their buildings which they let me have. I found that I didn't do a whole of brush cutting, but I did use the pallet forks quite a bit. I also used the bucket for moving dirt and gravel. Plowing our quarter mile driveway was accomplished with a mix of the bucket and the 3pt plow, but it was far from pleasant as the tractor wasn't heavy enough to counteract the push of the snow against the angled plow blade when the snow was heavy. And plowing in reverse is a pain in the neck - literally. I didn't have ballast in the tires (that's my fault), but even with the box blade mounted on the back, a full bucket of gravel could make the rear wheels come off the ground if you weren't careful. And when I started doing some hardscaping around our place I realized I could only move about a third of a pallet of pavers at once. That was when I realized a skidsteer was probably more useful for my needs. I started by looking at the SSV65 (because they're cheaper) but after reading up here and elsewhere I decided an SVL65 was probably the right answer. I ended up selling the L4701 and buying one. I couldn't be happier. I can lift a full pallet of pavers, a full bucket of anything, a bunch of logs (with a grapple), and plow the driveway while looking forward. For my needs, it is in every way superior. The L4701 could never lift as much as the SVL65 does. If your needs are more like mine, then I'd skip the tractor and go straight to a CTL. When I bought the tractor my wife told me to get a heated/cooled cab, but I didn't because I was afraid of hitting it under tree branches and wanted to save money. When I got the skidsteer I listened to her advice. Now I look forward to snow because the cab is a great place to be on a cold and blustery day. It's also a great place to be when its 90 and humid outside. I've never taken it very far, but for the 5 or 10 miles to a buddies house, it rides just fine on the equipment trailer behind my truck.

I moved a lot of dirt with the L4701.

And I moved a lot more sand, gravel, and dirt with the SVL65.

 

[nch77]

I own a wheeled skid and a CTL. The wheeled skid doesn’t fall that far behind on smooth hard ground. If the ground has deep holes or is anything resembling soft the tracks are in for big win. Either machine will make a tractor look silly. The tractor was already behind on maneuverability and considering the size difference required to get anything close to the same performance that’s a land slide victory for the CTL. Some of the larger farm tractor loader specs might equal a medium size CTL like mine but pretty much none of them could equal a T12 or equivalent machine. A lot of the posters here haven’t ever used a CTL and are considering a CTL and their brother in law’s small skid steer to be the same thing. If you’ve never had a CTL you really don’t understand. It’s a completely different animal vs a wheeled machine or a tractor. Especially in soft ground. I can make 10 trips over a soft area carrying a load and the same area would stick a tractor in one pass.

its like comparing the old Gehl skid steer to my Bobcat T870, 40 hp vs 100 hp tracked. The CTL is a beast compared to any tractor loader I've ever used.

 

[nch77]

But my T870 can't pull the square baler at all, can't pull the hay mower so fast that parts fall off, or pull a 10' bush hog. It also doesn't do as nice of a job grading the road as a 3 ph does. But it can push trees around, dig with the bucket, carry very heavy pallets, and use a mulcher.

 

[Bison]

Moving a few thousand bales over 35 years isn’t that much. What if you were stacking a thousand bales a day. Would the tractor still hold up to the job? It’s no question that the tractor loader is built a lot lighter duty than a true industrial loader would be.

Moving a few thousand bales over 35 years isn’t that much. What if you were stacking a thousand bales a day. Would the tractor still hold up to the job? It’s no question that the tractor loader is built a lot lighter duty than a true industrial loader would be.

I didn't think we were discussing a big commercial operation here but regardless.
Loading and stacking and feeding 4 bales at a time up to 1000 bales a year over 35 years is a bit more than a few thousand bales me thinks.I bought this old 75 hp 2wh dr clonker used with well over 5000 hrs on it. At the time it was my only tractor, it did the baling and all loader chores as well Today it has well over 17000 hrs on it with hardly ever a breakdown save for a few starters and tires.It is my back up tractor today.
Did you ever see another 40+ year old tractor regardless of make do that?