Skid steer

[trackrat]

A throwback to Ford's one arm bandits?

IH had a one-armed loader for their cub

 

[GermantownGreen]

We got a New Holland 160 for scrap price. It had been abused, had a hole in the block and one side of the boom was broken half in to.

Found a good engine from a 170 (same engine as the 160 but has a turbo), welded the boom back together, and replaced all the pins and bushings on it. It’s been a good machine, not something I’d want to go out and start doing commercial work with, but fine for what we do with it here at the farm.

Yep Bailey's ls175 is a tough machine. No fancy cab, just pounded 3" and 5" posts tonight at the flooded pasture fence rehab. Didn't have to go full throttle. Yes tracks would be nice, they last a long time like tires. GG Wes

 

[Alvin 41]

Looking for a skid steer for our small acreage, primarily for loading horse manure, moving snow and gravel occasionally. That’s it, no mower on front or anything. Are there brands or models to stay away from? Looking at older , cheaper machines, older jd or nh, or case 1840 for example

I've ran skid steers for over 50 years . First reliable one was a Case 1845. Now have two 1994 NH L-785's that have over 10,000 hours , they have two speed hydro and one has 37"x16.5 military Hummer tires and will go over 10 mph. These 6000# machines with 2000# lift can do a lot of work fast.I'm 84 and have difficulty climbing in .For a new machine I would consider the JCB with side entry and extendable boom.

 

[flying belgian]

A throwback to Ford's one arm bandits?

Looks like a good way to tip the tractor over.

 

[trackrat]

Looks like a good way to tip the tractor over.

bucket is centered

 

[flying belgian]

bucket is centered

I realize that but the loader arm is what, 2-3 ft. off center? Lets exaggerate and say the loader arm was 20 ft off center. Are you saying as long as the bucket was centered its just as stable?

 

[Ultradog MN]

I realize that but the loader arm is what, 2-3 ft. off center? Lets exaggerate and say the loader arm was 20 ft off center. Are you saying as long as the bucket was centered its just as stable?

I had a couple of Ford one armed loaders.
The one above with the snow bucket on the blue tractor was actually mine - 15? years ago. I found that photo on google images.
Yes it was off center and yes you better have the tractor well ballasted - especially on the right rear.
But it was a very handy tool. I used it for snow removal, catching shingles as I tore off for a reroof and lifting the new ones up. Drop the bucket and you had a great mini telehandler for loading heavy items, pulling fence posts and the like cause you could see what you were doing. It would lift maybe?1K lbs pretty easily.
And... you could remove the whole thing in about 5 minutes and reinstall it in 15.
No I don't want another one but I got good service out of the ones I had.
All that said... Would I want a one armed skid steer? Heck No!

 

[m16ty]

If

I realize that but the loader arm is what, 2-3 ft. off center? Lets exaggerate and say the loader arm was 20 ft off center. Are you saying as long as the bucket was centered it’s just as stable?

Well once you get out so far the weight of the actual arm will start to have an effect on stability. With weight in a centered bucket though, it at should have most of the weight centered on the tractor.

 

[Keith True]

All those one armed loaders worked great if they were used for what they were meant to do.I think that people that are not used to what machinery can and cannot do get something like those things and seem to think they bought a 988 Cat or something.I did see one of those Fords twisted up like a pretzel from loading logs onto a mill.If he'd just picked up the log,and carried it low until he got to the brow before raising it way up he would have been just fine.The tractor handled it just great.But,he picked the log up higher than the hood,so he could look under it,and bounced all around the yard.Nobody could tell him anything,and he lost a lot of logs on the ground,and one day the loader just twisted into a heap.I've had a couple of those one armed loaders on Cub Loboys.Worked great for folks with a couple of horses.

 

[DanielW]

I was at a sawmill for work last year and they had one of those one-armed JCB skid-steers. Those old Ford one-armed loaders were exactly what I thought of too when I first saw it. We used that JCB for a pile of hasty clean-up and moving around old equipment prior to installing our new stuff. And we definitely weren't too careful with it and certainly pushed it to its rated limits several times.

I was a little dubious of the design, but it sure was a dandy unit, and seemed to have oodles of capacity and be very heavily-built. Mind you, my time in skid-steers is limited to our Case, a friend's 1845, and that JCB, so I don't have a lot of experience to compare it to others. But from my limited experience and how well-built and robust that JCB was, I wouldn't hesitate to own one if there was a choice between it and another type.. Seemed very well built, and knowing it was used in a commercial sawmill/planer-mill where it got loads of careless operators bashing it to heck for 10+ hours a day, every day, I was quite impressed. The side-entry door sure made it convenient to hop in and out of when we were placing equipment and had to be in/out several times with each piece to check and tweak positions.