The pros & cons of using a skid steer
Useful observations after using a Bobcat every day for a month
Last year we rented a Bobcat T770 skid steer for a month. By the time we were done we’d moved a gagoogalian pounds of dirt, burned a stupid amount of diesel and I’m not sure my hearing will ever be the same. So was it worth it? Here are a few observations to help you decide whether this beastly 10,000 pound box is the right tool for your next project.
The pros
We rented a powerful model and what we got wasn’t a tractor, it was a bulldozer. That torque laden Thor trundled through towers of dirt like a toddler throwing sand at the beach. The Bobcat easily pushed piles that would have had our tractor begging for mercy. All that power made leveling a breeze.
Also, without a dump truck we were hauling one load at a time and the Bobcat’s over-sized bucket capacity was pivotal. We tripled our dirt moving productivity compared to doing the same job with our tractor.
Finally, the tracks on our Bobcat allowed us to go places that the tractor would have gotten stuck in. We plowed through many a mud pit without encountering an involuntary cessation of forward thrust.
Other less significant pros include…
Zero turning radius - Easily get in and out of tight spots.
Air conditioned cab - Amazing! Makes a long day tolerable.
Big bucket - Useful for dirt and many other things too. We easily slid a small garbage dumpster in there and lifted it onto the truck.
The cons
The Bobcat chugs diesel like Hemingway puts down whiskeys at an open bar. Running it all day was costing us ten to fifteen gallons of diesel, she’s a thirsty one! However, the fuel consumption is only a light con because the expense isn’t so large relative relative to the cost of renting the machine. The more significant problem, for us amateurs anyways, was getting the fuel. We were doing near daily fuel runs to fill up our five gallon diesel jugs and this got real old, real fast.
The most significant con is that the Bobcat, especially the tracked version, will murder your grass. In a single hour the Bobcat achieved landscaping devastation that would have taken our tractor all day. Executing even one stationary turn is enough to turn everything under the machine into sludge.
Other less significant cons include…
Noise - The Bobcat is the nosiest machine I’ve ever used. You cannot operate it without ear pro. It’s a hilarious joke that they put a radio and speakers in this thing.
Weight - The T770 weighs 10,500 lbs. Get a load of dirt and you’re pushing north of six tons. You need to be sure that the infrastructure on your property can handle all that weight.
Visibility - From inside the cab you can’t get a full feeling for the topography, the view is way more restricted than an open cab bulldozer or tractor. I’m sure that experienced operators learn to compensate for the blind spots, but as an amateur I wasn’t confident doing finesse work.
Repairs - The Bobcat is a complex machine with a lot of mechanical gadgetry packed into a small package. There’s plenty to go wrong… Even though it was relatively new, our Bobcat had an overheating tendency and it burned a lot of hydraulic fluid for reasons unknown.
Conclusions
If you have a job that justifies the expense the Bobcat is a phenomenal machine. I never got tired of its near bottomless power and throwing around sedan-sized piles of dirt like they were bags of leaves.
The tracked version of the machine is the way to go. We never got ours stuck even though we had it in some fairly muddy conditions, and it took us up steep hills that wheels never could have managed. Your grass won’t survive the tracks, but you won’t get stuck either and that’s worth an awful lot in the long run.
Is it worth the money to rent? Yes, if you need to move a gargantuan pile of dirt. Or if you want to use one of the Bobcat’s many accessories to get your job done faster. And maybe this last point doesn’t totally justify the expense, but they’re awfully fun to drive! With two joysticks, 90 hp and a hyper-short wheelbase, it’s like being in a rollercoaster that accepts your input.
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