Ditch Witch SK500 too small?

I took a brief look at the specs and they seem fairly close to the Vermeer s600 that I just got. I already love using this machine even tho there are bigger machines available. Before buying it i was hand loading or renting, and i never want to hand load again. A great positive for my machine is that it fits in the bed of the pickup. I was able to take it and the stump grinder out yesterday at the same time.

The specs that I looked at said it was a Walk behind, I have rented a toro 427x and you can get a lot of work done walking behind them, but ride on is nicer in my opinion. Yours may have an operator's platform added?
 
Thanks!

Jehinten

That is great. I was thinking It might be possible to fab a stand on platform.

It is advertised as low hours and is 9000.00 CAD$ which seems like a good price.
 
I don't know about the ditch witch, but both the Toro's and Bobcat's offer a bolt on platform. If it's an option then that would save you some fabrication. I paid $5,500 +tax. (US$) for mine and had a break down after the first 2 hours after getting it home. I repaired it myself and it's running strong now.

Just be mindful of used equipment and try not to get rushed while looking it over. I felt confident in my purchase, but probably would have looked it over longer had my wife and 2 year old daughter not been with me. They were both hungry and tired after a 6 hr drive and had patiently waited 2 hrs for me to look it over.

And just for reference, the break down was a broken o-ring in the control unit. The repair didn't really cost me anything except down time and I gained a better understanding of how the machine works.
 
I’m also curious on getting more insight from guys who have run the small mini skid steers. I’ve been looking pretty seriously at the boxer 320. It has a 1250 tip capacity, but looks ultra nimble and is decently affordable compared to bigger mini skids. I’m thinking small mini skid now, and add a cabbed skid steer down the road for logs and bigger dirt work projects
 
Talon Tree Service said:
I’m also curious on getting more insight from guys who have run the small mini skid steers. I’ve been looking pretty seriously at the boxer 320. It has a 1250 tip capacity, but looks ultra nimble and is decently affordable compared to bigger mini skids. I’m thinking small mini skid now, and add a cabbed skid steer down the road for logs and bigger dirt work projects
Click to expand...

1250 lbs is pretty good for a small machine. We worked for 4 or 5 years with our 25g wheeled machine (900 lb tipping) and a 35 hp tractor. The little guy did most the work and the tractor seldom needed to leave the yard.
The biggest thing we learned was how to be creative with big wood. Cutting short and using forks from the ends, loading one end and pushing on and many other little tricks.
The only bad thing about the little guys is you are constantly pushing them to the max so the cycles to something breaking are far fewer. But... really the bigger the machine the more you will want to do with it.
 
Talon Tree Service said:
I’m also curious on getting more insight from guys who have run the small mini skid steers. I’ve been looking pretty seriously at the boxer 320. It has a 1250 tip capacity, but looks ultra nimble and is decently affordable compared to bigger mini skids. I’m thinking small mini skid now, and add a cabbed skid steer down the road for logs and bigger dirt work projects
Click to expand...

It only has two pumps.
 
I haven't but it doesn't look very difficult.

I bought one and it's power is amazing.

Compared to no mini.

I am very impressed by it.
 
I did get one and i am happy. It lifts(or manipulates) remarkably large logs. As you probably know, a larger ride-on, diesel powered machine would be an improvement.

I would buy it over all but the largest toros and bobcats.

I am having trouble with the gx670 honda motor as it burns oil. Biggest problem is the difficulty in finding reliable, honest and capable mechanics here.


Hope that helps
 
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