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The skid steer thread

6800 hours is a shit load for a skid steer. But like anything it's all in how it was used and taken care of.

To update a little. My work ended up buying a new jcb teliskid. It's quite a bit different from the one I ran over the winter. Smoother controls, rides a little better and just seems nicer all around. Inside they added a fancy touch screen with a backup camera. I've only used it a few times, but it does give me a little more faith in the machine.

On the other hand, it has 9 hours and I've seen a joystick code pop up twice and the wiper literally fell off the first time I turned it on. :homer:
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Inside they added a fancy touch screen with a backup camera. I've only used it a few times, but it does give me a little more faith in the machine.

On the other hand, it has 9 hours and I've seen a joystick code pop up twice and the wiper literally fell off the first time I turned it on.
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I'd trust an older machine with higher hours more than these newer ones with moderate hours. How long until that touchscreen doesn't work or you're replacing the joysticks?
 
PAToyota said:
I'd trust an older machine with higher hours more than these newer ones with moderate hours. How long until that touchscreen doesn't work or you're replacing the joysticks?
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All depends on use. I work for a company that obviously has the money to buy new and off it before it depreciates too much. You just have to hope that warranty covers you without too much downtime.

I'm not advocating new vs old, just sharing my experience with the machines I've ran.

I've seen guys buy older stuff and have great luck and guys have constant issues. My buddy with the t770 has dumped 1000s into his "good deal" machine. While his mini ex has been flawless.

There is a sweet spot imo when buying new vs old where you can run it for a few years, resell and not loose much, if any.
 
Oh, definitely agree on purchasing new for a company, depreciating it, and moving on to the next new piece of equipment.

Since the conversation was about buying used for personal use, I just meant that I'd trust something before all the gee whiz bang electronics more than the later stuff with the gwb-electronics...
 
PAToyota said:
Oh, definitely agree on purchasing new for a company, depreciating it, and moving on to the next new piece of equipment.

Since the conversation was about buying used for personal use, I just meant that I'd trust something before all the gee whiz bang electronics more than the later stuff with the gwb-electronics...
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I agree, but in my experience I've seen both be both very reliable and very very unreliable. With used stuff at least you can do research and check condition vs price.
 
Talking to a guy now with an 873 w/27xx hours. Asking 14k, hoping to work him down a bit. Edit no budging from that guy, pretty sure he blocked me now when I said I'd come get it today for 11k :laughing: It was a bit over weight for my trailer anyway, typical 7k car trailer.

I'm not married to any particular brand but Bobcat definitely has everybody else beat just in quantity available. The NH LS170 I mentioned wanted $15k but had over 7k hours and wouldn't budge.

There is a 753 local ish for 10k. 4k something hours I believe. Has been posted for a couple weeks now, might get them down a little bit.
 
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Gots_a_sol said:
Talking to a guy now with an 873 w/27xx hours. Asking 14k, hoping to work him down a bit. Edit no budging from that guy, pretty sure he blocked me now when I said I'd come get it today for 11k
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Personally, I hate anyone who starts trying to work the price down without even seeing what I'm selling...

If you can say "well, there's this, that, and the other thing and I'll give you $$$ less because of those things" that's one thing, but typically I've already taken those things into consideration when I set my price. Sight unseen wanting $3K less without laying eyes on it is another.
 
PAToyota said:
Personally, I hate anyone who starts trying to work the price down without even seeing what I'm selling...

If you can say "well, there's this, that, and the other thing and I'll give you $$$ less because of those things" that's one thing, but typically I've already taken those things into consideration when I set my price. Sight unseen wanting $3K less without laying eyes on it is another.
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Normally I'd agree. I did ask some questions and seller said it was leaking/burning oil from a VC gasket puking oil which looks like a world of fun to replace in these things. If it was closer I'd have gone and made an offer in person. But I threw out the offer I was going to make anyway to see what happened before wasting the drive time.


The 753 said firm at 10k. Seems like ok deal if the description is accurate.

Been looking for about a month now, no omg buy it right f'ing now deals yet.
 
PAToyota said:
Personally, I hate anyone who starts trying to work the price down without even seeing what I'm selling...

If you can say "well, there's this, that, and the other thing and I'll give you $$$ less because of those things" that's one thing, but typically I've already taken those things into consideration when I set my price. Sight unseen wanting $3K less without laying eyes on it is another.
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Same here

"Wuts ur bottom dollar?" :homer:

Some people just have to negotiate down, no matter how good the price is. My father in law missed out on a nice ~$8k ranger because they wouldn't take less than $100 off the $6500 price.
 
Gots_a_sol said:
Normally I'd agree. I did ask some questions and seller said it was leaking/burning oil from a VC gasket puking oil which looks like a world of fun to replace in these things. If it was closer I'd have gone and made an offer in person. But I threw out the offer I was going to make anyway to see what happened before wasting the drive time.
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Fair enough. I'd give you that if you had to travel to see it.

YotaAtieToo said:
Some people just have to negotiate down, no matter how good the price is.
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And for that I always put some "extra" in my price. Not that I won't negotiate, but the ones who just want you to take thousands off the price "because that's what they want" can go fly a kite...
 
I typically negotiate the price "have truck trailer and cash for the right deal, if it is what you say it is I'll pay xxxx in cash on xxx day, can send $200 deposit now"


I'm not gonna drive 200 miles and bicker
 
Projectjunkie said:
I typically negotiate the price "have truck trailer and cash for the right deal, if it is what you say it is I'll pay xxxx in cash on xxx day, can send $200 deposit now"


I'm not gonna drive 200 miles and bicker
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I get that when it's a distance, I don't mind negotiating over phone or text. It's when the first text is an offer that's like 60% of the posted offer, I get annoyed.

I usually just plan to pay full price and anything less than that is a bonus.
 
Definitely not impressed with jcb currently
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Threw some transmission code first thing also. But didn't get a pic of it.
 
PAToyota said:
I'd trust an older machine with higher hours more than these newer ones with moderate hours. How long until that touchscreen doesn't work or you're replacing the joysticks?
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Guess you called it, screen was just in a loop saying "machine ready, welcome, machine ready, welcome" later in the day. No Temps, fuel level, reverse camera, ect. :homer: literally didn't even make it through the first tank of fuel. :lmao:

Benny said:
Well, it does have 13 hrs. It's fawkin wore out. :flipoff2:

:lmao:


I hate electronics.
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Not just that, but bolts falling out, ( wiper plus a random ~12mm that i couldn't fimd where it came from) and a engine hatch not working.

Pretty embarrassing to have a machine with 13 hours that has a ratchet strap holding the door shut.

Another thing I noticed that I think is a shit design is the cab door. It has glass as the leading edge on most of it. So if you open the door and it swings into something, you risk breaking what's probably a very expensive window.

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Whatever these are look pretty fucked up for 13 hours also. The right side was flat to the belly. All its done is a few odd jobs at our yard, like 2 buckets of soil and a few pallets moved. This was the first job its been on and was just a paved parking lot.

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Result of covid quality control maybe?
 
Gots_a_sol said:
I'm not married to any particular brand but Bobcat definitely has everybody else beat just in quantity available. The NH LS170 I mentioned wanted $15k but had over 7k hours and wouldn't budge.
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The late '90s to early 2000s are the sweet spot on the Bobcat machines when it comes to being able to affordably own and maintain one (comparatively to others). They produced a lot of them, they had decent QC on them, and the parts were still semi simple and domestically styled enough that you can generically work on them, ie standard styles of O Rings, JIC and ORB fittings, no weird super custom things about them that didn't interchange across a bazillion of their other machines of the era. They also bought parts from a lot of other big companies that are still in business, ie the Kubota engines, and Rexroth / Sunstrand / Denison Pumps and motors.

My T190 has 5k hours on it. I bought it with 4,200. It had a few issues but was really cheap at the time, which should have been a warning. I started to address a few things and found myself down the rabbit hole replacing both drive assemblies, the drive pumps, new drive hoses, and pretty much rebuilding the damn thing. I basically put another $7k in parts in the thing, plus my time, but have a rather nice machine now that I can trust to do what I need it to do.

So caveat emptor with these older used machines. Certainly go look at it, and look at it good. A lot of times, the reason people are selling these is there's an issue that is a $ yikes and they can't justify the fix.
 
Picked up an LS170 today. 9k without any attachments. Found a guy that was on my way ish home and snagged a new 66" tooth bucket and set of pallet forks.

Minimal if any play in the pivots, no major leaks that I could see other than maybe a valve cover gasket. Guy said he has had it since '11 and had maintenance/service done every 150 hours (6100 on it). Drove it around his yard and all the controls felt tight and smooth. He was selling as it was replaced with a newer CTL and was just sitting around not being used much.


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Gots_a_sol said:
Picked up an LS170 today. 9k without any attachments. Found a guy that was on my way ish home and snagged a new 66" tooth bucket and set of pallet forks.

Minimal if any play in the pivots, no major leaks that I could see other than maybe a valve cover gasket. Guy said he has had it since '11 and had maintenance/service done every 150 hours (6100 on it). Drove it around his yard and all the controls felt tight and smooth. He was selling as it was replaced with a newer CTL and was just sitting around not being used much.


PXL_20230516_013630725.jpg
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Flip that LED bar upside down and mount it below the roof line and it'll look exactly like mine. Better protected and lower overhead clearance.
 
Gots_a_sol said:
Talking to a guy now with an 873 w/27xx hours. Asking 14k, hoping to work him down a bit. Edit no budging from that guy, pretty sure he blocked me now when I said I'd come get it today for 11k :laughing: It was a bit over weight for my trailer anyway, typical 7k car trailer.

I'm not married to any particular brand but Bobcat definitely has everybody else beat just in quantity available. The NH LS170 I mentioned wanted $15k but had over 7k hours and wouldn't budge.

There is a 753 local ish for 10k. 4k something hours I believe. Has been posted for a couple weeks now, might get them down a little bit.
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I have a 753 I got pretty beat up back in the day, like the main arms had cracks (welded up before I got it). Can't say I've had no issues, but with the backhoe attachment I got for $2400 (back in the day), I ripped out 117 tree stumps and put the dirt back little by little, so I could put a floor down in the pole barn immediately without fear of cracks. Currently have about 3600 hrs.

I got tired of moving the HF tamper in and out of the holes, so I tried this setup. Didn't work out too well. :idea:


I've had a couple hydraulic lines go and had to rebuild the spool valve assembly up front on the "passenger" side. The one thing I would check for fully warmed up, is "light" drive in both directions on both sides. Mine fully warm sometimes does not want to go left rear at anything but a higher "command" for pressure.

I load probably 600-700 lbs of crap for wheeling trips (especially the Unimog stuff that you will never find parts for if you bust up something out in the woods). Finally got smart and got a set of forks to load it all on a pallet for each trip.

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Man, having an SS on hand is so f'ing useful. Wish I had a use/room for one of these years ago.

Overgrown fence line that is half fallen down? Gone. Monster trucked right through that with the bucket skimming the ground. Went way easier than I was expecting.

Some random old tree stumps? Fuck those guys.

Dead trees still standing? Pushed them bitches over just because I could. I mean for safety purposes :lmao:

Potholes in the gravel driveway? Ripped up and smoothed out a bit. Waiting on gravel to be delivered to finish that job. Already substantially better and hopefully fucking Amazon/UPS will stop driving in the damn grass :mad3:

Pile of pallets from work? Stacked up in the burn pit with the overgrown fence line, tree stumps, and pushed down trees to light off this weekend :laughing:



A grapple bucket seems like it would have made most of those tasks easier. Trying to get the shit to stay in the bucket without getting out was annoying. Time to cruise fbmp for one.
 
I'm not a big fan of the grapple buckets. Kinda the worst of both worlds. The regular grapples let dirt fall out, and work better for raking also.

I'd rather have a 4 in 1 for dirt stuff where I wanted to also grab stuff.

I'd like to try the Kubota style grapple, maybe not great for big logs, but works as a root rake and easier for brush.
 
Gots_a_sol said:
Man, having an SS on hand is so f'ing useful. Wish I had a use/room for one of these years ago.

Overgrown fence line that is half fallen down? Gone. Monster trucked right through that with the bucket skimming the ground. Went way easier than I was expecting.

Some random old tree stumps? Fuck those guys.

Dead trees still standing? Pushed them bitches over just because I could. I mean for safety purposes :lmao:

Potholes in the gravel driveway? Ripped up and smoothed out a bit. Waiting on gravel to be delivered to finish that job. Already substantially better and hopefully fucking Amazon/UPS will stop driving in the damn grass :mad3:

Pile of pallets from work? Stacked up in the burn pit with the overgrown fence line, tree stumps, and pushed down trees to light off this weekend :laughing:



A grapple bucket seems like it would have made most of those tasks easier. Trying to get the shit to stay in the bucket without getting out was annoying. Time to cruise fbmp for one.
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Right? I had the same epiphany after acquiring mine and using it to clean up both my new property when I bought it and my grandmother's farm. I had someone give me a well abused and worn out Bobcat Brand Industrial Grapple. I went through it and rebuilt the cylinders, put new hoses on it, and replaced the cutting edge and still only have about $500 tied up in it. As mentioned above, Grapples aren't always perfect for the job but since I only have one type, I think this is the best universal version. I can still grab most piles and brush and logs. I can cut some grade and back drag with it, and the tines on it allow me to grab all sorts of weird junk ranging from big rocks, logs, etc.

grapple.jpg


grapple2.jpg
 
PAToyota said:
Downside is that you end up taking on projects you'd never have considered before... :flipoff2:
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Oh yeah, that has happened almost immediately :laughing:

There was another house on this property that burnt down years ago. Nobody ever cleaned up the spot worth a fuck. Started out of Ill just scrape the top layer off and it got out of hand within 10 mins lol.

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Everything I've dug out so far, including the big ass pieces of concrete on the left. I plan to get a rock bucket or similar to sift out the trash eventually.

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Fucking rock. I did not realize how big this fucker was when I started digging it out or I'd have left it alone. NH wouldn't even attempt to lift it. Just shoved it around enough to get it in the bucket then out of the way

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Other than the big rocks and house debris, the dirt is beautiful at this property

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I had been wanting a skid steer for a number of years to use on the farm and could never talk dad into getting one. Well last year we were needing a tax write-off and I was thinking about something older and maybe mid sized but dad saw some video's on full size SS's with mulchers on them and decided that's what we needed.

We found a 2018 Cat 299D2 XHP with the forestry package with low hours and a decent price during covid. It looked like it had 3000 hours but only had like 8xx on it. Guys used it in the city pushing snow etc.. Brought it, mulcher, bucket, grapple and forks home. Been happy with it now just over 1100 hours it.

I will say we had some issues with it but Cat has taken very good care of us. I guess there is a 5 year emissions warranty which covers the engine and entire emissions system. We had def issues as well as a turbo failure. Both instances were multiple thousand dollar repairs and Cat and our dealer took care of both of them for nothing in a very timely manner.

A 299 is a good sized machine but its not a bull dozer, nor is it an excavator. Its got a range of jobs that it can do, and do well. You start pushing it beyond its limits and I can see how one can tear one up in a hurry.

Once you get a skid steer you find all kinds of jobs to do with it you never thought you would do. They just seem so much easier with one.

Also a dump truck, I bought one just because a buddy was selling one and hell I use it for everything :grinpimp::grinpimp:
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KB6Chris said:
I had been wanting a skid steer for a number of years to use on the farm and could never talk dad into getting one. Well last year we were needing a tax write-off and I was thinking about something older and maybe mid sized but dad saw some video's on full size SS's with mulchers on them and decided that's what we needed.

We found a 2018 Cat 299D2 XHP with the forestry package with low hours and a decent price during covid. It looked like it had 3000 hours but only had like 8xx on it. Guys used it in the city pushing snow etc.. Brought it, mulcher, bucket, grapple and forks home. Been happy with it now just over 1100 hours it.

I will say we had some issues with it but Cat has taken very good care of us. I guess there is a 5 year emissions warranty which covers the engine and entire emissions system. We had def issues as well as a turbo failure. Both instances were multiple thousand dollar repairs and Cat and our dealer took care of both of them for nothing in a very timely manner.

A 299 is a good sized machine but its not a bull dozer, nor is it an excavator. Its got a range of jobs that it can do, and do well. You start pushing it beyond its limits and I can see how one can tear one up in a hurry.

Once you get a skid steer you find all kinds of jobs to do with it you never thought you would do. They just seem so much easier with one.

Also a dump truck, I bought one just because a buddy was selling one and hell I use it for everything :grinpimp::grinpimp:
Snapchat-1158815303.jpg
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299 is more bulldozer than some small dozers. Yours steel or rubber tracked?
 
KB6Chris said:
I had been wanting a skid steer for a number of years to use on the farm and could never talk dad into getting one. Well last year we were needing a tax write-off and I was thinking about something older and maybe mid sized but dad saw some video's on full size SS's with mulchers on them and decided that's what we needed.

We found a 2018 Cat 299D2 XHP with the forestry package with low hours and a decent price during covid. It looked like it had 3000 hours but only had like 8xx on it. Guys used it in the city pushing snow etc.. Brought it, mulcher, bucket, grapple and forks home. Been happy with it now just over 1100 hours it.

I will say we had some issues with it but Cat has taken very good care of us. I guess there is a 5 year emissions warranty which covers the engine and entire emissions system. We had def issues as well as a turbo failure. Both instances were multiple thousand dollar repairs and Cat and our dealer took care of both of them for nothing in a very timely manner.

A 299 is a good sized machine but its not a bull dozer, nor is it an excavator. Its got a range of jobs that it can do, and do well. You start pushing it beyond its limits and I can see how one can tear one up in a hurry.

Once you get a skid steer you find all kinds of jobs to do with it you never thought you would do. They just seem so much easier with one.

Also a dump truck, I bought one just because a buddy was selling one and hell I use it for everything :grinpimp::grinpimp:
Snapchat-1158815303.jpg
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299 is a slow POS compared to a Deere 333.
 
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