David34a:
Just another thought here. The power-tracs are very similar in capability to the Toro Dingo's and clones. If you're enjoying the research as much as I did, then take a look at the Toro Dingo's (
www.toro.com , click on "Professional Landscaper"),
Kanga Loaders , the SS16 Cheetah I mentioned on another post (
SS16 Cheetah, and there's another tricycle type loader there too, very interesting), the Ramrod's (
RamRod Equipment ), Powerhouse's mini-skid loader (
Powerhouse Equipment )...I'm sure you can find more that I've forgotten. All of these are stand-on (rather than sit-on) skid-steer design , all have engines driving hydraulic pumps which drive hydraulic wheel motors, and all have a wealth of attachments that are driven off hydraulic remotes/PTO's. Now, I personally like the articulated steering rather than skid-steering design, and I personally much prefer a mo-chine that I can sit on rather than stand on! The kicker for me here is that all these machines pretty much start at about twice what you'd pay for a Power-trac and you can't even sit on 'em...go figure. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif As I've stated before, Power-trac is definitely doing something right, IMHO. This really makes me wonder why Power-trac doesn't have as many competitors as Toro's Dingo (I think the list is very small, maybe roughly Ventrac and one other in the US but these aren't hydraulic, and one hydraulic articulated machine of similar size in Europe that I don't think is even available in the US, plus a Kubota articulated loader that's much bigger and costs $40K or so...)
One thing I was considering (and what I figured was the most likely candidate to stumble across) was one of the small traditional CUT's of the "grey market" variety. I was keeping my eyes open for a grey-market Yanmar, Hinomoto, Iseki, or Mitsubishi tractor with a loader at a good price (and in good shape). In my opinion, around $3-4K (maybe $5K, if it was in unusually good condition) would've been an irresistible price for a Yanmar 1300D w/ Loader (or other grey market equivalent). A Kubota, John Deere, or New Holland/Ford w/FEL simply wasn't anywhere to be found in that price range when I was looking. Some other possibilities I stumbled across where the Kioti tractors and some of the Chinese Tractors. Northern Tool sells the Chinese Jinma tractors at pretty amazing prices (
Nortrac Tractors. These were still above my budget with an FEL, and neither seemed to be available used. Kubota just recently introduced a
BX1500 which I've heard is priced very competitively.
I had looked at the Power-trac web-site a few times and thought "Very cool, all the versatility of the Dingo and clones, but articulated steering and you sit on it...sure would like to stumble across one used". I figured that would never actually happen, but then I found an ad in the newspaper. A local landscaper (like 40 miles away) was selling a Power-trac 1418 with bucket, stump grinder, and power auger, so I went to take a look (and how convenient that I just happened to be towing the trailer with me at the time... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif). Obviously, I came back with it.
Now, I still wouldn't mind having a small traditional CUT in addition to the PT (they do different things well), but I really couldn't justify it unless I bought it for near nothing. Of course, I wouldn't mind having one of the Magnatrac's just to play with, and why not throw in a Dingo clone for good measure, eh? There's no such thing as too many "tractors", right? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Anyway, even though I've had to put some refurb work into mine, I'm still very, very pleased with it.
Dave
