Which to choose? Compact utility tractor VS Mini Skid VS Gehl

Chris Schultz said:
Going to look at a 2021 ctx100 with 240 hours. Looks mint. He’s asking 35k. Open to any thoughts/criticisms/things to look for etc….. I like the Vermeer user interface, the way they handle, the range of motion, and the capacities. Comes with two buckets, and a concrete breaker. Part of me is a little hesitant that those 200 hours could all be from busting out concrete (which I assume is hard on bushings, and the machine in general….)
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Get it up off the ground and check the rollers. Damn things add up and wear quick. The same for the front idler and sprockets.
Pretty easy to check bushing play in the loader arms.
Sounds like a pretty decent machine for the price.
I paid about the same for mine with much more attachments.
You’ll want forks and obviously a grapple. So that will be another $5k or more (been a while since I’ve seen the numbers)
 
evo said:
Get it up off the ground and check the rollers. Damn things add up and wear quick. The same for the front idler and sprockets.
Pretty easy to check bushing play in the loader arms.
Sounds like a pretty decent machine for the price.
I paid about the same for mine with much more attachments.
You’ll want forks and obviously a grapple. So that will be another $5k or more (been a while since I’ve seen the numbers)
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What are you liking for a grapple? I’ve run the Vermeer “dangle head”, nothing else.
 
Chris Schultz said:
What are you liking for a grapple? I’ve run the Vermeer “dangle head”, nothing else.
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Like you, I have no context outside what i have. A BMG, and I cut the bollards off and installed a winch.
Overall I’m pretty happy with it, not sure if the grass is greener but there are some things I wish were different
 
Been running the Kanga 8 series for almost 4 years now. It’s a wheeled machine.

Pros
-a very rugged machine
-stand on
-wide turf tires
-good hinge pin height. Slightly higher than the toro tx1000
-Kubota engine.

Cons
-too light in the back. We added close to 400 lbs of counter weight before it performed properly.
-Ground clearance is a little too high at 7”. Makes it slightly tippier than my old toro (5”)
-Big turf tires don’t skid/turn well on asphalt. Too grippy and bouncy. I wish a lower profile tire was available for this machine. It would make it less tippy and lower the center of gravity a little.
-Weak auxiliary hydralics. . It's ok but not enough for a 30” auger or brush mower. For comparison. My old dingo 323 gas had better more powerful auxiliary hydraulics.

We chose this machine because it is the largest of all the WHEELED stand on machines. We do like it but it could be a lot better with some improvements
 
southsoundtree said:
Some machines will skid steer on a 4x4 sheet of plywood, rotating in place.

@flushcut calls saw chips on the ground / mat/ plywood by the term 'mini butter', IIRC. Good for spinning the mini.
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“Pavement butter” is a scoop shovel or two of chips by the chipper to break the friction of a hard turn feeding the chipper. Track life goes up I’m guessing plus 100 hours. On asphalt driveways with a lot of cracks filled with tar I’ll lay down two sheets of plywood and spin on those. I just use half inch plywood for that and it lasts a good long while.
 
I chatted with a couple dealers at an ag fair today and thinking to pull the trigger on a Kioti 2610 with winch and forks. 1,600-1,800 lift depending on who tells you, about 6’ wide, but turf friendly. More of a backup machine to the sk800 and the few jobs where the pto winch will be better. I’ll share the hard quote this week when it’s sent over. Plus work at the homestead and taxes…
@Brando CalPankian how are you liking the tractor setup so far? Yanmar 25hp iirc? @Chris Schultz did that mini arrive this week!?
 
Serf Life said:
I chatted with a couple dealers at an ag fair today and thinking to pull the trigger on a Kioti 2610 with winch and forks. 1,600-1,800 lift depending on who tells you, about 6’ wide, but turf friendly. More of a backup machine to the sk800 and the few jobs where the pto winch will be better. I’ll share the hard quote this week when it’s sent over. Plus work at the homestead and taxes…
@Brando CalPankian how are you liking the tractor setup so far? Yanmar 25hp iirc? @Chris Schultz did that mini arrive this week!?
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I have the 25hp Yanmar SA325 with grapple and PTO stump grinder. I love it. I use a Wallenstein FX-85 PTO skidder on the forestry project. Kubota 3902. I’m telling you it’s a beast. It will jerk an entire 100ft 24” DBH out quick. My 2 cents.
 
The couple crews I worked with stating out used tractors and skidding winches, one didn’t use forks for some reason. Mini skids or avant/giants are significantly more effective for residential treework, but some jobs need the grunt of a winch. We’ve used the portable winch for yrs, love it, and skidded serious volumes too. Coastal Maine has some rocky bullshit that is just un reachable with a machine and pure spruce to blow down in increasingly common and strong storms.
 
Kinda funny we all use the term "butter" for the chips/dust on dry asphalt...

I've been working with a guy that has a full size skid with a ryan's grapple and winch. Pretty awesome to have the winch on there but that attachment is stupid heavy. I'm very much preferential to the mini excavator.

I've been nerding out on japanese forestry stuff on instagram. Very much like the projects we're into in CO, what I refer to as "micro-logging". They have winches mounted on the boom of mini excavators and some larger machines set up as yarder's.

 
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