Which to choose? Mini Skid Steer

[Smithy74]

Thats why im hoping by adding a turbo I will pretty much have a sk755. I think the sk752 has basically the same frame and pumps.

 

[Tweakes182]

Sk850 has tier 4 pause to process pollutants. You get one or two overrides, then it really shuts down and dw has to come unlock it (what I've heard, anyways...) Not something you want happening when the mini needs to pop a sketchy top against its lean.

Additionally, dw swallowed the koolaide and put side operator cockpit thigh supports like vermeer has. It seems like a pita, when going backwards.

The sk850 gpm, psi, and tip weight are only marginally better than sk755/sk650. Sk755 is best dw right now, followed by sk650 and sk750, imho... All three are nice machines.

I am confused about the Koolaide comment. Why would this be a pita when going backwards.

 

[colb]

I am confused about the Koolaide comment. Why would this be a pita when going backwards.

Minis in tree work are more constrained to travel backwards with loads instead of forwards, to keep from snagging brush under the tracks and to keep from dropping logs on the hood. I think you already know or have experience with this.

When I go backwards I stand sideways, look sideways (90° instead of 180°), floor it, stick my butt out off the side for agility and balast, and even dangle a leg on the edge of the foot plate. This straightens my joints to load my ligaments instead of my muscles. I also drag my knee on the pavement for stability in the turns. I'm kidding about that last one - I don't drag my knee. I felt boxed in and knocked forward off balance by the sides on the new vermeer and could not achieve optimal balance/agility. It felt "production-like/'merican/overbuilt", etc. The sides are designed to provide stability while operating facing forwards - maybe 1/5 of my workflow...

Additionally, the sides encourage one to stand straighter, which means I would take all the vibration straight up the spinal column as stacked compression. On the sk650, vibration is a bit exaggerated because the footplate has less antivibration capability than newer minis. Fortunately, there are no side supports so my spinal column is not oriented on the vertical. Without sides, I can do yoga while in transit with my loads, which is important to prevent repetitive task injury. I come home sore after extended periods on the mini. It's work!

That all make sense? Anyone have a different take?

 

[colb]

I had an mt55 and greasing it every 8 hours was a PITA! I tried to demo the mt85 but the rep from Bobcat central out of Stockton never returned my calls. The mt85 is a vast improvement over it but has even more grease fitting. Really loving my sk752. No grease fittings and the open track design is great! Joe over at Ditch Witch Sacramento has been very helpful and accommodating. He even delivered an implement on a sunday morning when I was in the area on other business. Great customer support. Wish I had gone to the sk850 for the extra horsepower though. $8k difference was hard to swallow. looking into adding all the components from a Kubota 1105-t to add a turbo and gain 8 hp. Bought a set of narrow tracks as well and under $400 which is a great price from a manufacturer.

Didn't mean to exclude your sk752 from my comments - I'm sure it's a great and comparable machine to the rest of the 600/700 series.

 

[AmericanArborist]

Minis in tree work are more constrained to travel backwards with loads instead of forwards, to keep from snagging brush under the tracks and to keep from dropping logs on the hood. I think you already know or have experience with this.

When I go backwards I stand sideways, look sideways (90° instead of 180°), floor it, stick my butt out off the side for agility and balast, and even dangle a leg on the edge of the foot plate. This straightens my joints to load my ligaments instead of my muscles. I also drag my knee on the pavement for stability in the turns. I'm kidding about that last one - I don't drag my knee. I felt boxed in and knocked forward off balance by the sides on the new vermeer and could not achieve optimal balance/agility. It felt "production-like/'merican/overbuilt", etc. The sides are designed to provide stability while operating facing forwards - maybe 1/5 of my workflow...

Additionally, the sides encourage one to stand straighter, which means I would take all the vibration straight up the spinal column as stacked compression. On the sk650, vibration is a bit exaggerated because the footplate has less antivibration capability than newer minis. Fortunately, there are no side supports so my spinal column is not oriented on the vertical. Without sides, I can do yoga while in transit with my loads, which is important to prevent repetitive task injury. I come home sore after extended periods on the mini. It's work!

That all make sense? Anyone have a different take?

how wide are your hips!? i don't have any trouble with my vermeer side cushions.

 

[colb]

how wide are your hips!? i don't have any trouble with my vermeer side cushions.

First, I've never had a man ask me that.

Second, you got to lay it out some more, mate, lol. It may just be preference.

 

[evo]

I move my 4400 pound chipper with my Boxer 532dx, routinely. The BMG has an insert hitch that accepts slugs. Not as rigid as a dedicated towing set-up, but pretty much does what I want most always. Takes a good operator. I wouldn't expect a newer operator to get all they can out of it, naturally.

I've pulled it up a 25 degree fresh-gravel driveway pretty well, until I lost traction on the loose gravel.

I move it around off-road. A tracked chipper is different, but you will be happy I think to have log, brush, trailer moving capacity. I have moved all my gear to the deep back yard in a trailer in one trip, chipped into the trailer, moved it to the dump spot, and tipped as high as possible (not dumping on its own, but greatly aids unloading). Moved all the wood to the wood shed. 100' fir by myself in a day.

BTW, my chipper has super light tongue-weight (maybe 100 pounds). a strong person can easily flip it onto its butt.
If you're in Olympia, let me know.

Good to know! I think I am going to shoot for a mini and a long flat bed trailer... I could push the chipper up a tip trailer, then load the mini via ramps on the side... Haul all to the site in one truck, and fly chip in the back 40..... Another config would be the same to the site, then load logs on the trailer, chip into the truck, and just come back for mini, trailer and logs. This would reduce one round trip per job, negate the need for a second truck, and commercial auto for my only employee.....

 

[tc262]

Good to know! I think I am going to shoot for a mini and a long flat bed trailer... I could push the chipper up a tip trailer, then load the mini via ramps on the side... Haul all to the site in one truck, and fly chip in the back 40..... Another config would be the same to the site, then load logs on the trailer, chip into the truck, and just come back for mini, trailer and logs. This would reduce one round trip per job, negate the need for a second truck, and commercial auto for my only employee.....

Sorry but to be honest that sounds like a huge cluster f#€k.

 

[evo]

Sorry but to be honest that sounds like a huge cluster f#€k.

I truely appreciate that. How ever I want low overhead one employee. I am not able to drop the funds on a CDL truck with a mini platform. Perhaps it's putting the cart before the horse? My market generally involves large properties greater than 5 acres (county laws have it as you cannot subdivide less than 5). It's a heathly mix of forest management and urban style tree care. I need to find a effective and efficient way to get the brush to the chipper or the chipper to the brush. The latter would be ideal, but even with a 4x4 chip truck I couldn't be as effective as I would like.
My goal is to maximize efficiency with one maneuverable smaller sized truck (short frame 550 or smaller) have a mini on site, chipper and hauling wood would be a bonus. Thoughts are very welcome.

Also I should add that 90% if my work is less than 15 miles from base. Rarely do I have to dump mid day, if we are even hauling chips. One extra trip isn't too big of a deal, but two becomes burdensome. Frequently wood just needs to be moved from point a to b. I honestly only see needing this config 10-20% of the time.

 

[tc262]

One employee as in you plus one right, or you're the only employee?
Your setup and loading time sounds like it would be ridiculously long. My market sounds similar to yours. Here's my suggestion. Run a chip truck and chiper. Even if the chip truck is just a pickup with a dump insert with a top. Have your employee bring the mini skid in a dump trailer pulled by a one ton van. Vans are awesome additional vehicles. Used ones are 1/3 the price of a comparable pickup. Tons of lockable storage for gear and saws that won't have to be unloaded when you get back to the shop. They are cheap. The same drive train and all the pulling power that a 3/4 ton truck has. And did I mention they are cheap!

 

[colb]

One employee as in you plus one right, or your the only employee?
Your setup and loading time sounds like it would be ridiculously long. My market sounds similar to yours. Here's my suggestion. Run a chip truck and chiper. Even if the chip truck is just a pickup with a dump insert with a top. Have your employee bring the mini skid in a dump trailer pulled by a one ton van. Vans are awesome additional vehicles. Used ones are 1/3 the price of a comparable pickup. Tons of lockable storage for gear and saws that won't have to be unloaded when you get back to the shop. They are cheap. The same drive train and all the pulling power that a 3/4 ton truck has. And did I mention they are cheap!

I use a van. It's great. I have no garage except for the one that travels everywhere I go. Here's a couple of Japanese magnolias that didn't get wind burnt.

My sk650 just barely does not clear the roofline to go inside... I keep my stump grinding attachment just inside the back and pick it out with the mini.

 

[southsoundtree]

Minis fit truck beds and chip boxes. Mine goes in my f450 service body bed, and f600 southco box, both under CDL.
Ramps were spendy ~$1200 discountramps.com, but fit both trucks, and bridge over swales.

I've thought the same about a mini and small chipper on a flat bed . You need to be able to load the chipper and mini together, disconnect, strap down, transport, reconnect, and offload, if possible.
You have a lot of inefficiency, still. Consider a little motorcycle for shuttling vehicles. PCTREE put one on his crane.


Mini's with Bucket lay waste to massive blackberries, btw. Grapples move rolled up piles of canes to their burn pile or chip box. Additional services.

 

[Oroboros]

Minis fit truck beds and chip boxes. Mine goes in my f450 service body bed, and f600 southco box, both under CDL.
Ramps were spendy ~$1200 discountramps.com, but fit both trucks, and bridge over swales.

I've thought the same about a mini and small chipper on a flat bedView attachment 44212 . You need to be able to load the chipper and mini together, disconnect, strap down, transport, reconnect, and offload, if possible.
You have a lot of inefficiency, still. Consider a little motorcycle for shuttling vehicles. PCTREE put one on his crane.


Mini's with Bucket lay waste to massive blackberries, btw. Grapples move rolled up piles of canes to their burn pile or chip box. Additional services.

How long are your ramps? What height are the truck beds? Do you have any advice? I'm looking at ordering a set soon.

 

[southsoundtree]

Lumberjack pointed me to DiscountRamps.com. I think that my chip bed is 41" off the ground. The Service Body a few inches lower. Ramps are 10'.
http://www.discountramps.com/skid-steer-pin-on-ramps/p/10-16-120-02-S/
$1000 plus shipping, and applicable sales tax. I didn't shop around.
Light enough for one strong person to lift/ carry. Maybe 75 pounds???? per ramp.
Good grip on the ramps so far. Easy to chain to the truck for storage.




My mini is 1" shorter than the bed on the chip truck, so I have to load it heavy end down-hill, nose-first. I can grab a log chunk in the grapple if I really want, but don't really need to. I can rest the grapple against the ceiling of the box for stability, but have gotten comfortable over time.

I wouldn't load my mini without an attachment, nose first. I'd chain something to the loader arms for weight.

I can load it properly, heavy end uphill into the 6' box on the service body.





I have a small 6 lug trailer/ mobile chip box for the mini as well. I use short, homemade ramps, with 'landing legs' for loading/ unloading. Heavy equipment trailers have a vertical, structural part on the attached ramps to support the end of the trailer, taking the leverage on the suspension away from the equation.




I had a bracket welded onto each truck for the hook-ends. No stabilizers.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

I think my bed height is 52-54"... I think. Ramps are 12' folding. They were special made for the previous owner of my mini by a fab company. No unhooking the chipper even, just jack knife the chipper to the right side, open the gate and run her down the ramps!

 

[Oroboros]

My bed height is 50ish inches. Would like to get the shortest possible ramps. How is the angle with the 12 foot ramp squirrel? Would 10 foot ramps be too steep?

 

[colb]

My bed height is 50ish inches. Would like to get the shortest possible ramps. How is the angle with the 12 foot ramp squirrel? Would 10 foot ramps be too steep?

Consider these too:

http://m.northerntool.com/products/shop~tools~product_200306671_200306671?hotline=false

 

[colb]

My bed height is 50ish inches. Would like to get the shortest possible ramps. How is the angle with the 12 foot ramp squirrel? Would 10 foot ramps be too steep?

You don't want to tip your mini at the top, y'know... That's the most risky thing I do with mine is tip it from the ramp to the trailer and vice versa, lol.

 

[southsoundtree]

When I'm at the rock-over point, I can step off, move it a bit farther, then manually tip the machine with little effort. I can then step back on, and move. Seems to steady that rock-over maneuver. Seems that its far enough forward that it doesn't want to tip back when I step back on.

I'd be sketched at going 9" taller, so significantly steeper. If you have that high of a load point, you probably have a 12'+ box, which means its easy to fit 12' ramps. I Maybe you can even load them under the truck.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

My bed height is 50ish inches. Would like to get the shortest possible ramps. How is the angle with the 12 foot ramp squirrel? Would 10 foot ramps be too steep?

Oroboros I dug this out of the archives. It doesn't seem too steep for my mini, but I would be extremely cautious with a track machine. Also in the thread I dug it up from I said my deck height was 44" I will measure the new truck today and get a picture of the machine on the ramps and how I get in and out.
The great thing about wheels is it's a smooth transition from truck to ramp to ground (with a 2x4 at the bottom). A track machine is going to have a tipping point where most of the machines track is in the air until the center of gravity passes the pivot point.