Mini skid steer shopping

[Stephen Moore]

I think the mini skids feed chippers better than wheeled loaders. Chippers are low, so the low center of gravity plus the superior traction are great for that application. You can on/off a mini skid easier. They are zero turn. Just all round clearly better. I could feed 30 ft. of 24" diameter pine into a chipper if I needed to, with my sk650.

I was just speaking with August, and he says he would use the Giant over his stand behind if he had to choose between them. Everything about them is better except the easier to get on and off part. I seriously have my eyes on a 254T with BMg hydraulic grapple. Even a zero turn lawn mower does damage in a tight turn, the articulated steering is way gentler on sensitive ground.

 

[Stephen Moore]

The lifting height and tele feature makes loading logs and dumptrucks better too. The down side and I'm sure this applies to all minis is the side hill issue. We don't exactly have flat ground in these parts. But I guess you learn to deal with that. I see that the chipper thing would surely be better in the stand on the the sit on but I 'll just get someone else to babysit the chipper while I load er!

 

[Mike Haege]

The Giant tele 254 is 10x better than a tracked mini, I have both. The mini is better climbing snow or mud on a hill and gets in a 36” gate. I have used my mini one time in the last two years, the Giant goes out ever day and will do circles around any mini out there. I do have the wide tires and all are filled solid which works great.

 

[deevo]

The Giant tele 254 is 10x better than a tracked mini, I have both. The mini is better climbing snow or mud on a hill and gets in a 36” gate. I have used my mini one time in the last two years, the Giant goes out ever day and will do circles around any mini out there. I do have the wide tires and all are filled solid which works great.

I agree with you as well after buying my Avant 528, it’s lifting capacity and stable ness is amazing, and yes the only neg is not good in mud and 36” gate issue, I kept my mini skid also, but overall if I were to only buy one again it would be the Avant. Getting on and off is a non issue. Having a roof over your head and the controls top it off!

 

[Stephen Moore]

I agree with you as well after buying my Avant 528, it’s lifting capacity and stable ness is amazing, and yes the only neg is not good in mud and 36” gate issue, I kept my mini skid also, but overall if I were to only buy one again it would be the Avant. Getting on and off is a non issue. Having a roof over your head and the controls top it off!

K I’m sold,

 

[colb]

I was just speaking with August, and he says he would use the Giant over his stand behind if he had to choose between them.

For chipping? Which make/model is the stand behind?

Everything about them is better except the easier to get on and off part.

And the 36" access, the "go up the hill" thing, zero turn, tree pulling traction, (often) lower price, etc... This does everything unmake.

I seriously have my eyes on a 254T with BMg hydraulic grapple.

Hard to go wrong. They are awesome. I'd trade my DW SK650 for one of those, but then I wouldn't be able to bid on as many jobs. 1.5k here:

Even a zero turn lawn mower does damage in a tight turn, the articulated steering is way gentler on sensitive ground.

With good operators, the differences between zero turn tracks and wheeled units really fade out. Wet? Can't take either machine on the grass unless the soil is draining well. Dry? Both can go a few times, but after several trips it shows. No skilled loader operator zero turns on grass, so the comparison to a lawnmower does not translate. With unskilled operators, a nice yard gets ripped, almost instantly.

I have no issues with you drinking the koolaid on the wheeled loaders, but this post was not discernably a response to the note about chippers and minis that I posted. The post was not factual in a couple places and the comparison to a lawnmower was just apples and oranges. I'm not particularly sure what I'm responding to.

 

[colb]

The lifting height and tele feature makes loading logs and dumptrucks better too.

I have a roll off trailer so loading is fine with the mini loader. Roll offs are a small and increasing market share. They are being installed on cranes, grapple trucks, and, of course, on trailers. I bought a roll off because I did not have a high hinge point loader with a telescoping boom and I preferred to not take on the debt associated with buying one when I had a debt-free mini loader. Dump roll offs have some additional game that is worth considering in other threads.

 

[Stephen Moore]

All good points! I use a Husky 48" zero turn to do my lawn, in fact, I used the same machine and several others to do many hundreds of lawns. You are right, a skilled operator is definitely gentler in the turn. But I have also run loaders, mostly bigger ones Terex and 966s that kinda thing and many different skid steers Bobcats and Thomas etc. On a construction site they rock, on a lawn they suck. Yes like comparing a dog to a horse, but the principal in the turn is the same. I may still have to throw a mat or two down... Sure, I may not get in a 36" gate? I may not take that job?! I want to retire some day anyway...

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

I wish I had a video of the ballet we had on Monday. No way a wheeled loader would have been able to do it. Locust just inside an 8’ gate, that was right next to the house (wall of windows). The pieces needed to be grabbed to the right side of the BMG so the brush hung right so they wouldn’t hit the house. Backed through the gate onto the driveway and had to turn in place swinging the brush over the fence (away from the house) due to a retaining wall 12’ From the gate. Once over the fence the tips were dropped and allowed to rotate the grapple and push toward the chipper in the 8’ driveway. Was able to load one side of the chipper and not touch the grass.
Pin height is no problem with our DW (other track machines I could see issues). 83” gives us ample opportunity to overload our chip truck, pick up truck and 14k dump trailer if we felt the urge to beat our equipment (which we don’t). And if I use my forks or root grapple, oh boy, LOOK OUT SPRING SHOP!
I got thinking about the whole tire thing the other day when I was putting my track back on the ditch witch (for the first time and it was absolutely my fault). I thought back to the hours I spent fighting flat tires, thorns and installing tire plugs. The 15 min or so it actually took to put the track on (and I had no clue what I was doing as it was our first) wasn’t bad. Only big issue was someone had used the last of the grease in the gun.... and the spare tube. Luckily I got some really good friends that had some close by.
The turf argument isn’t even worth arguing, because wheel loader guys won’t believe us track loader guys no matter how many times we say it, so it’s not worth wasting my time !

 

[colb]

All good points! I use a Husky 48" zero turn to do my lawn, in fact, I used the same machine and several others to do many hundreds of lawns. You are right, a skilled operator is definitely gentler in the turn. But I have also run loaders, mostly bigger ones Terex and 966s that kinda thing and many different skid steers Bobcats and Thomas etc. On a construction site they rock, on a lawn they suck. Yes like comparing a dog to a horse, but the principal in the turn is the same. I may still have to throw a mat or two down... Sure, I may not get in a 36" gate? I may not take that job?! I want to retire some day anyway...

Can you take a tracked loader straight across a lawn without ripping it up? That's basically all it takes. If you need to turn, you can start straight, then turn gradually. Or, you can zigzag several gradual turns, starting straight each time. If you need to turn sharp, throw down a piece of 1/2" plywood. Additionally, you can buy turf tracks if you really need them, but I only know of one guy who actually has done so. If you turn abruptly on grass or have new employees operating the loader on nice lawns, tracks are probably not an option.

 

[Stephen Moore]

Yeah there is one more thing some folks don’t have to contend with- snow. We live in the mountains in BC so snow is gonna happen! My experience with tracked equipment is that they have a lot of surface area and tend to ski on snow. Definitely slide sideways on slight inclines. Wheels tend to win here and they can be chained up. Although, there may be clearance issues with the unit I seek? Also chains are not friendly to tires. But we don’t work all winter anyway. You know, I personally wish I could afford both units because I see the merits of them both but... you gotta choose !

 

[Jehinten]

With the debates between wheeled loaders and tracked mini skids, how come the wheeled minis get overlooked? I picked one up recently and so far have been happy with it, lawn friendly when you want it to be, capable of zero degree turns, and foam filled tires so that you never have to deal with flats. My only complaint so far has been traction when pushing, but it also currently sits on 4 bald tires. The previous owners said they found it to be even friendlier on grass with the tires smooth, so they preferred to run it that way. For what I use it for it has not hindered me in any way, however when snow comes I may need to do a tire swap on it. Granted it is still pretty new to me, so I may find some short comings with it as I continue to use it.

 

[southsoundtree]

If you can balance it on two wheel, you can spin donuts without damage!

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

With the debates between wheeled loaders and tracked mini skids, how come the wheeled minis get overlooked? I picked one up recently and so far have been happy with it, lawn friendly when you want it to be, capable of zero degree turns, and foam filled tires so that you never have to deal with flats. My only complaint so far has been traction when pushing, but it also currently sits on 4 bald tires. The previous owners said they found it to be even friendlier on grass with the tires smooth, so they preferred to run it that way. For what I use it for it has not hindered me in any way, however when snow comes I may need to do a tire swap on it. Granted it is still pretty new to me, so I may find some short comings with it as I continue to use it.

I ran a wheeled mini for quite a few years. It was great on turf but the flat tires were killer. Foam filling wasn’t worth the time or effort for how long a set of tires lasted and getting rims for it was impossible due to the fact they discontinued the model. Bald tires were much better and always hated putting new ones on it other than the fact that the belts were hanging out and they wouldn’t hold air anymore. The biggest down fall of the wheeled mini skid is capacity! Mine was a lot smother in a rough yard too!

 

[Stephen Moore]

I ran a wheeled mini for quite a few years. It was great on turf but the flat tires were killer. Foam filling wasn’t worth the time or effort for how long a set of tires lasted and getting rims for it was impossible due to the fact they discontinued the model. Bald tires were much better and always hated putting new ones on it other than the fact that the belts were hanging out and they wouldn’t hold air anymore. The biggest down fall of the wheeled mini skid is capacity! Mine was a lot smother in a rough yard too!

Capacity? They can lift quite a bit? Almost as much as the machine weighs? Hmmm what machine were you referencing?

 

[evo]

If you can balance it on two wheel, you can spin donuts without damage!

got one of those stuck on its ass end when i was goofing off riding wheelies at 17 yrs old..

 

[Stephen Moore]

I dumped one into a foundation! Fucken hurt and I couldn't get out! had to call a tow truck to pull me out so I could get out! Embarrassing! Sand let go under my front tires back filling.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

Capacity? They can lift quite a bit? Almost as much as the machine weighs? Hmmm what machine were you referencing?

Correct they can lift quite a bit.... more than my back can. Our 25G was “rated” at 500 lbs and tipped just over 900 (without the home brew weight kit). As I have said ANY mini is better than NO mini. But these newer units can lift so much more so much farther, plain and simple. For reference the 25G weighed 1700 lbs so it’s capacity fell short of its weight. The DW weighs 3200ish and tips at 3150 at the pins.

 

[Jehinten]

not 100% sure on the tipping capacity of my S600 but it weighs 2,450lbs. Almost all of that is counterweight, real easy to pop a wheelie without an attachment on it. I haven't given it a good workout yet, but I have loaded a 700lb pine log into the back of my chip box. It lifted it as high as the arms would go and I could step off without tipping it. That's clearly no where near the 3150 capacity of the DW, but considering it is my first mini and I used to handle wood by hand, I couldn't be happier with it. I think the hinge pin height is 83"

 

[Stephen Moore]

Correct they can lift quite a bit.... more than my back can. Our 25G was “rated” at 500 lbs and tipped just over 900 (without the home brew weight kit). As I have said ANY mini is better than NO mini. But these newer units can lift so much more so much farther, plain and simple. For reference the 25G weighed 1700 lbs so it’s capacity fell short of its weight. The DW weighs 3200ish and tips at 3150 at the pins.

No I was referring to the Giant ! It can lift its own weight much higher than the ditch witch am I right?