Used Track Loader/Skid Steer

[BigRichard]

Considering buying a used track loader for our property for some land development. Need to clear out a lot of brush, create some more gravel roads up some hills, and level out some land for future expansion of our cabins. I believe a track loader is the better of the two since I will be working on unlevel ground and possibly working in dirt/mud but I am open to a skid steer as well since they are typically cheaper.

Few quick questions here...

1. What should I be looking for exactly? Hours? Leaks? Wear and tear? Service Records?

2. Anything I should just absolutely avoid?

3. Would you purchase from a rental place? This one seemed the most scary as people who rent them probably abuse the shit out of them but I suspect anyone who owns one probably does too... that is what they are for... for doing tough shit. Rental places would definitely keep the maintenance up on them though I would think.

CP is always a great source of information for stuff like this. I suspect this topic won't be any different.

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

Your preference of wheeled vs. track machine is not shared by most in the market. The market for compact track loaders has more than doubled in the last 3 years while the market for skid steer loaders has dropped by almost 30%.

I manage an SSL/CTL manufacturing facility and in the future we project that 80% of the market will be track machines.

I run both. I know when rubber track machines suck dog balls and when they don't. I can't help it that the rest of the industry gets to go home when it rains and I have to depend on the machine to actually keep working.

[2112]

Originally Posted by BigRichard

We have a beautiful property that has cabin rentals on it. It is a very hilly/shruby/brushy area. I want to develop more of the land. I need a track loader most likely. I get they are costly, which is why I am looking at used. I will use it for what I need and possibly sell it down the road.

The problem with the cat is it has one steering joy stick (which I don’t like) and a tricky switch/escape button on the front glass that blows it out. And it looks like the lever to open the door. Other than that they’re nice.

I used bobcats, new Holland, kubota, John Deere and terex skid steers. The bobcat was my favorite. I had a grapple, a stump grinder and a bucket

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

I'm good friends with the head mechanic at the local equipment rental and he tells me they HATE all the newer models because of all the electronic shit on them. Anything goes wrong at all and it shuts the whole machine down. I've been asking 12K for mine basically because it has a new engine and he tells me fair market is between 8K-10K but mine is paid for and I don't have to sell it. But it just sits.

I couldn't imagine the stories a rental place could tell. If you decide to take 8k, send me a PM!!

I think they all have those issues though. It's just like the new trucks. People don't understand that they're not like the old machines and made to be worked on and rebuilt at home for the next 40 years. They're made to be used and thrown away and shop rates make it very very clear.

I might as well rant for whoever is listening. Bobcat had some serious component issues a few years ago. Nothing like sitting in an expensive ass machine positioning a rafter and the machine just shuts down because the little black box "has issues". You'd think after the third one they'd have stumbled into one good one. BIL's newer Case went in and out of limp mode for a long time before the third dealer finally figured something out. He should have lawyered up with the second dealer for what he spent on "repairs". Now the right side drive is going out. And the pivots have already been rebuilt. I've ran the hell out of it a couple times and if you're in good conditions it's great, but when it gets nasty you might as well just piss on the tracks and go home. He spent over an hour cleaning it one night when he couldn't get a trailer to it until the next morning and the damn thing still froze up on him. Some of the local dairy guys run the Cats with steel wheels and bolt on pads and love them, but at the first sign of needing work they send them down the road, and they're on concrete and gravel 95% of the time. My uncle also does finish grade and turf on new developments with Cats on tracks and they trade them off at the first sign of an issue as well. He really likes the machines, but says he's glad he's not the one floating the loan on them and they're good for blowing out a door or two a year. Some of the local dairy guys have switched to Kubota with their really cheap financing, but they haven't had them long enough to know how they are. I unload chemical loads at a neighbor's a few times a year with a big Deere on tracks. Damn things feels like it could destroy the world if it wanted to, but they don't use it enough to know how durable it is.

I will say the side entry door on the side arm JCB is ****ing magical. Opening gates while moving something is no longer a circus act and you can actually get out of the machine while holding up the load you need to cut the wrapping off of without being a magician. If you need to get out and check your load clearance while sliding into a tight fit, just get out and do so. Every other machine requires a contortionist to get out of and thats even if you can get the door open far enough to do so. I'm poor and have to go do chores for neighbor in order to experience that magic. The extending boom version screams "I'll cause issues" to me, but it looks like a really really handy machine.

[Kman34]

Originally Posted by ghak99

I couldn't imagine the stories a rental place could tell. If you decide to take 8k, send me a PM!!

I think they all have those issues though. It's just like the new trucks. People don't understand that they're not like the old machines and made to be worked on and rebuilt at home for the next 40 years. They're made to be used and thrown away and shop rates make it very very clear.

I might as well rant for whoever is listening. Bobcat had some serious component issues a few years ago. Nothing like sitting in an expensive ass machine positioning a rafter and the machine just shuts down because the little black box "has issues". You'd think after the third one they'd have stumbled into one good one. BIL's newer Case went in and out of limp mode for a long time before the third dealer finally figured something out. He should have lawyered up with the second dealer for what he spent on "repairs". Now the right side drive is going out. And the pivots have already been rebuilt. I've ran the hell out of it a couple times and if you're in good conditions it's great, but when it gets nasty you might as well just piss on the tracks and go home. He spent over an hour cleaning it one night when he couldn't get a trailer to it until the next morning and the damn thing still froze up on him. Some of the local dairy guys run the Cats with steel wheels and bolt on pads and love them, but at the first sign of needing work they send them down the road, and they're on concrete and gravel 95% of the time. My uncle also does finish grade and turf on new developments with Cats on tracks and they trade them off at the first sign of an issue as well. He really likes the machines, but says he's glad he's not the one floating the loan on them and they're good for blowing out a door or two a year. Some of the local dairy guys have switched to Kubota with their really cheap financing, but they haven't had them long enough to know how they are. I unload chemical loads at a neighbor's a few times a year with a big Deere on tracks. Damn things feels like it could destroy the world if it wanted to, but they don't use it enough to know how durable it is.

I will say the side entry door on the side arm JCB is ****ing magical. Opening gates while moving something is no longer a circus act and you can actually get out of the machine while holding up the load you need to cut the wrapping off of without being a magician. If you need to get out and check your load clearance while sliding into a tight fit, just get out and do so. Every other machine requires a contortionist to get out of and thats even if you can get the door open far enough to do so. I'm poor and have to go do chores for neighbor in order to experience that magic. The extending boom version screams "I'll cause issues" to me, but it looks like a really really handy machine.

The R12 Takeuchi has a door that rolls up... Its a hog... I've ran them all and this is the one I picked for our Construction division... We kept the old 240.. No problems with the 240 just replace tracks.
The R12 has a DEF system and I'm sure that will be a warranty issue.. I haven't bought a machine yet that it wasn't.. My 235 Volvo excavator has been a DEF system nightmare...

[displacedinMN]

i like this thread

[Bearcat]

[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Kman34

The R12 Takeuchi has a door that rolls up... Its a hog... I've ran them all and this is the one I picked for our Construction division... We kept the old 240.. No problems with the 240 just replace tracks.
The R12 has a DEF system and I'm sure that will be a warranty issue.. I haven't bought a machine yet that it wasn't.. My 235 Volvo excavator has been a DEF system nightmare...

A guy I went to high school with loves his big Tak, but he's strictly bone dry dirt work. I've never had the chance to run one though.

I can't wait for DEF's replacement, but then again whatever it is will probably be even worse. Maybe someone will make an all electric machine and turn the industry on its head.

[notorious]

Why do skids have problems with DEF?

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by BigRichard

I will start looking for auctions.

https://www.bigiron.com/used-constru...pment-for-sale

Big iron sells a lot of shit. And has the best in the business as far as pictures. Inspect though.

Originally Posted by Kman34

The R12 Takeuchi has a door that rolls up... Its a hog... I've ran them all and this is the one I picked for our Construction division... We kept the old 240.. No problems with the 240 just replace tracks.
The R12 has a DEF system and I'm sure that will be a warranty issue.. I haven't bought a machine yet that it wasn't.. My 235 Volvo excavator has been a DEF system nightmare...

My Spray Rig hasn’t had problems knock on wood. Dad had to put a pump in a tractor but that’s all we’ve done. But we’re nazis about keeping it clean.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Post hole digger, fool.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by ghak99

I run both. I know when rubber track machines suck dog balls and when they don't. I can't help it that the rest of the industry gets to go home when it rains and I have to depend on the machine to actually keep working.

Six drops on a brick or rock and they lit out to the bars. I had an operator tell me that once 6 drops on a brick rule. He was clearing the centerline as we staked ahead of him.

I did the same as a surveyor because I would be fired getting a survey instrument waterlogged. It was a 2 to 3000 bill to take apart and clean lubricate recalibrate. Sometimes required a trip back to Switzerland. Now you could sink them in a lake dive and retrieve and insides will be dry as a bone.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by 2112

The problem with the cat is it has one steering joy stick (which I don’t like) and a tricky switch/escape button on the front glass that blows it out. And it looks like the lever to open the door. Other than that they’re nice.

I used bobcats, new Holland, kubota, John Deere and terex skid steers. The bobcat was my favorite. I had a grapple, a stump grinder and a bucket

Tree Service? Stihl or Husqvarna?

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Post hole digger, fool.

I learned that from the same episode.

[Buehler445]

Guess how you know I didn’t watch the office LOL.

[2112]

Originally Posted by srvy

Tree Service? Stihl or Husqvarna?

Yes, Stihl lol.