Used skid steers??

[Casey in Ky]

I'm looking for a good used skid steer. Not really partial to any brand, maybe New Holland or Bobcat, but I've never own a skid steer before so what should I be looking for. It's gonna be used for landscaping, cleaning the barn, moving a little dirt and just general use around the place. The only thing "special" that its gonna be used for is I do want a hammer/chisel(500 to 800 lb range) to bust a little rock with, nothing serious though.

I am looking at at older units in the 6 to 10 thousand dollar range. I've found a Bobcat 643 for about $7000 thats been reconditioned. It looks like its in real shape, but the owner says its got 38hp kubota diesel, but the Bobcat homepage says its suppose to have a 28hp engine so I'ma little wary. It's suppose to have a 1000lb life capicity and 9.5 gallon hydraulic flow rate. Is this big enough to run a hammer? I'm sure its plenty big enough for my other needs. What else should I be lookig for?? Thanks, Casey

 

[Dan-IA]

For $7000 my neighbor ended up with a fancy CAT skidloader that's about 70HP, diesel, and can go up to 14mph. All controls are on the joysticks-steering on the right, loader on the left. The came in handy when he had a stroke and lost control of one side--he could still drive up to his load, then adjust the loader.

My Case skidloaders also have all controls on the levers--forward and back lever control like a crawler, loader up/down on left handle, bucket controls on the right.

Most other skidloaders use your feet for things. I don't know that I could ever get into that... so I won't recommend it.

 

[Dave from MN]

I am pretty sure the jac hammer/chisel requires a "high flow" ski d steer option Better ceck to erify that so you know what to shop for. I recommen "bobcat" 763.

 

[Anonymous-0]

A 28 hp skid steer would be in the ball park for a 1000 lb machine, and the 9.5 gpm hydraulic flow would suggest it is a small machine. Wouldn't handle much of a hammer and doubt if they make one that small. I never liked using feet to control the lift arms/boom and bucket. Felt "unnatural" to someone that has run any other construction or farm equipment. However, those whom learned to drive a skid steer on foot controls and don't operate anything else, like them better. Bobcat in the recent past garnered over a 50% market share and likely remains the market leader, so someone likes them.

 

[Pitalplace]

I like the foot controls but I think it's what you get use to. I think the hammer is very hard on a skid steer so I would check into that.