Which to choose? Mini Skid Steer

Jehinten said:
Haha. Mine probably has more ground pressure than most as it is a tire unit. It just doesn't have the tracks tearing up the grass on turns. I'm running my tires bald so they tend to slide a little easier over the turf. I do believe in muddy conditions or if I were digging that the tracks would be more beneficial, but for what I do the tires work great. The only time I wish for more traction is loading the mini when the ramps/tires are wet, and when pulling over a spar.
Click to expand...
I bought my first mini skid way back in 1998, a Ramrod 750 wheel unit. attachments sucked so I built my first BMG My god, tree life changed. then around 2001 I found the Thomas brand (a copy of the Ramrod 900) 25HP Kohlers were cheap replacement engines - around 03 they came out with there 1st track machine - wow kool I thought a Track machine! well that lug track peeled the snot out of the 1st lawn, - decided NO WAY would I switch from the little tire skids.

I sold over a hundred little wheel Thomas's with my BMG back then, I bought them for $7900 sold em for $9999 - they were so cheap all my crews had one on there truck. they were great they only weighed 1500#s , and in 03 I had the 1st custom chipper(that I know of) made to carry one2005_0327Image0002.webpPicture chipper thomas 008.webp
 
tnttree said:
I bought my first mini skid way back in 1998, a Ramrod 750 wheel unit. attachments sucked so I built my first BMG My god, tree life changed. then around 2001 I found the Thomas brand (a copy of the Ramrod 900) 25HP Kohlers were cheap replacement engines - around 03 they came out with there 1st track machine - wow kool I thought a Track machine! well that lug track peeled the snot out of the 1st lawn, - decided NO WAY would I switch from the little tire skids.

I sold over a hundred little wheel Thomas's with my BMG back then, I bought them for $7900 sold em for $9999 - they were so cheap all my crews had one on there truck. they were great they only weighed 1500#s , and in 03 I had the 1st custom chipper(that I know of) made to carry oneView attachment 57254View attachment 57253
Click to expand...

I've been using a BMG for a couple of months now, I love it. I no longer want to do a job without it. I even use it for loading the logsplitter at home.
 
(In reply to Luzl78) Okay, that wouldn't suprise me. Just thinking about being able to have an articulated machine like my Avant and have tracks in really wet areas of the country.
 
Merle Nelson said:
(In reply to Luzl78) Okay, that wouldn't suprise me. Just thinking about being able to have an articulated machine like my Avant and have tracks in really wet areas of the country.
Click to expand...
Merle, they would be awesome if everyday was a construction site. Our business is wacky. Buy more expensive equipment to make our job easier for the employees and owner. Well just have to buy 1 wheeled and 1 tracked machine. They all serve a purpose.
 
Serf Life said:
How much bargaining can dealers make with buying a new unit? @tnttree @TopNotchEquipment I suck at haggling and don't like doing it. I have quotes from DW Bobcat and Vermeer. Is there more wiggleroom with attachments or service?
Click to expand...
Don't know for sure about other brands. Ditch Witch said they had a little wiggle room. So did Bobcat but they wouldn't share how much until I was committed to buying. Some told me Vermeer had built in some wiggle room but my dealer wouldn't budge. Always ask regardless. Never let a couple thousand dollars be the deciding factor on which machine you get. Get the best machine available that you can afford. It will easily pay the difference for itself in productivity and minimal downtime. $5-$10k is a very small number when you consider maintenance headaches and lack of needed performance.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Serf Life said:
You decide on the MT85? What helped with your choice?
Click to expand...
Hell no. That's by far the last machine I'd choose out of those 3. I've owned a Ditch Witch SK850 (1050) and now a Vermeer CTX100 and would do it the same way if I had it to do over again. Again the little bit that you might save with some dealer's "wiggle room" shouldn't be the deciding factor. The Vermeer guys wouldn't budge and were the most expensive by about $7k but then again... they had a superior machine and it was well worth it in the long run.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
VenasNursery said:
We have a Vermeer 650tx and a Ditch Witch sk1550 Both excellent machines don’t regret either but I wouldn’t buy a bobcat anything mini or full-size
Did a demo on a Bobcat mini and didn’t like it at all
Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...
I'm not saying that the Bobcat is absolute junk quality wise but I can't stress enough to people looking for a mini that it is a poor value for the price. It's a $28k machine and uses the smaller Kubota "D902 Super Mini" that is used in the Ditch Witch SK600. The $25k SK 800, by comparison, uses the larger Kubota "D1105" which is the same engine as the old SK 650 and SK 755 minus the turbo. They are both 24.5 hp but the 1105 is a bigger block engine and has a good bit more torque. SK undercarriage (main wear item on a mini) is more robust and easy to work on as well. You can also add just another $5k to that $28k and get an SK 1050 and in spite of what many Bobcat salesmen will tell you, they are not even close in comparison. It seems that many gravitate towards (and purchase) the MT85 because of the aggressive "ours is better" approach that Bobcat uses which in this case, is downright dishonest. The MT85 is inferior to the SK800 and the Vermeer 925TX. They'll have to design a whole new machine to compete with anything greater than those.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Serf Life said:
How much bargaining can dealers make with buying a new unit? @tnttree @TopNotchEquipment I suck at haggling and don't like doing it. I have quotes from DW Bobcat and Vermeer. Is there more wiggleroom with attachments or service?
Click to expand...
That all depends on a few things, are you talking about from MSRP or their advertised or quoted sale price?
The manufacturer may be running low interest programs as well and if you use those you will give up a rebate to do so or there may be a dealer cost to offer that financing so your price may be higher for financing than cash.
Do you have a trade in could also have a reason why a dealer would give a lessor discount, they may have unexpected repairs to your tradein and withhold some profit from deal to make those repairs.
So the question is do we as dealers have wiggle room? Yes, but how much is hard to say as there are many variables to each deal and most of our starting prices are not full MSRP.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom