DIY SKID STEER. 1st REAL TESTS! 

📌Friends, if you liked this video, I would appreciate your like👍 and comment💛😊This is important for me and for the RU-vid algorithms▶

That’s crazy! Entire skid steer from scratch, what a neat project.

I have a lot of skid loader experience and some movement of the main boom is quite normal. I wouldn't worry too much about your hydraulics feeling sluggish, it was really cold so that's normal too. Also, if you go to load your skid loader again, most of your weight is in the back, so back up into your trailer. The machine won't buck so much and it will feel a lot better and more controlled. If I were you, I would get some tire chains on at least the back two tires if you're going to operate on much snow/ice, that would help a lot. I have to say though, that you have a very impressive build. It has been a lot of fun to follow along.

Well done. Huge achievement. It’s been a pleasure watching you build this. 👏👏👏🥂

I have been sad for your loss, glad you are back. 😊

Engine does sound like it's struggling somewhat under normal forward/reverse movement (non-digging rolling motion should be very easy work for the engine and hydro system). Very cold hydro oil might be a slight contributing cause, perhaps a winter grade hydro oil would be helpful. From the sounds I heard it's possible you are running system oil pressure too high, try adjusting the pressure relief at the valve body. Decrease the operating oil pressure to the point where acceptable work can be done, but no more. This will only decrease system pressure, not oil flow. A permanently mounted pressure gauge would be helpful with these adjustments. My guess would be that the machine will require only about 1000psi max system pressure to handle most work. One needs to be realistic regarding how much push work can be accomplished with limited horse-power. Usually low HP skids have quite narrow buckets to allow deeper penetration into dirt/gravel, peeling sod or moving very stiff snow piles. This is not to say that your machine is useless, in fact it will likely prove to be very useful, but heavy digging work will take more time than with a machine of greater power and weight.

For not being finished and your first working test I say it was a success.

I am for one completely impressed beyond words! That you BUILT THIS!! That's incredible! I'm so beyond impressed. The snow had no chance!!

Love your show. Love your accent. Was really sorry to hear about your recent loss. To that, I can only say one thing: Grief is the price of love. And, extreme grief is the price of extreme love. Please share where you're from? I'm thinking Greece, but not sure. Cheers!

I'm so glad to see you back, Lucia. I know you and your husband have had a lot to deal with recently. My prayers are with you both, always. What i found quite surprising was just how well your tyres coped with the snow. The moment i saw the snow, i thought to myself. I hope they have bought snow chains with them. Otherwise, it will be a wasted trip. Well, it's not wasted as you got to see your uncle.😁 About the jerking. As you said, you managed to control the little metal machine 2 hours later. We have a saying in the UK. Practice makes perfect. Simple when you think about it. The more practice you get, the better you will be. Once the machine is complete with all of the welding finished, and the glass is fitted, you will find it will operate a little better. Hydrolics can play up in cold weather too as with engines that won't start. But your engine did start, yippee.🎉 Your test trip was a positive one because you have already found some teething issues that are easily fixed. As for the muffler breaking as it did. Sadly, it happens all to frequently these days for two reasons. The first reason is money. Companies cut back using cheaper materials. Secondly, some people who work on assembly lines do not necessarily do their job well, and they often do not put down enough welds. Also, the bolts used are not always a good quality or tightened up to spec, resulting in a broken muffler. There is another reason. Skidsteers in general, no matter what brand they are, all suffer with one fault. I've driven many makes and the one thing they all seem to have in common is that they vibrate so violently sometimes, that its enough to shake things apart. Sadly, breaking weld joints is a common occurrence and has nothing to do with how good or bad your welds are as the breaks often occur next to the welds, not because of them. I am looking forward to seeing your next instalment. 😁🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚒️

Great build so far! I think for the hydraulics you should be able to dial back the system pressure enough that it won't stall the engine. I think an easy way to get to this setting would be to start with a very low set point for the pressure relief valve, run the engine at full speed, and then hold one of the hydraulic functions/controls at max travel so that the pump is forced to work at full (relief) pressure, then adjust the pressure up as high as you can without the engine stalling. I haven't done much work with hydraulics personally, so please get more feedback / opinions on the correct way to determine the maximum working pressure of your setup for your engine.

A lot of how easy you control a skid steer depends on how you sit in it. It helps to be able to lean back and 'fixate' yourself in the back of the seat. This makes it easier to balance the sticks in your hands. Allow your body to move as part of the vehicle while your hands follow the sticks. Eventually you will want to be able to work very precise, as well as very fast, which is one of the advantages of a skid steer. The jerking movement is caused by control hysteria, which you will eventually learn to control by getting the feel for giving continuous control input. After that, the jerking becomes a tool which is actually quite useful sometimes. One of the unique properties of skid steer is the ability to maintain directional control during a wheely, which in combination with the jerking move is an invitation for some very dynamic use. It allows for handling of loads well over its designed capacity.

You are amazing, congratulations on doing what 99.99% of the population, male or female could not do, that should make you very proud.

That engine may not be powerful enough for the task. Machines of that size are normally 35-40 horsepower. But I am impressed with the performance, capability and stability of the machine, that has to be one of the best built homebuild skid loaders out there. Congratulations on the first real test, well done!

I think you are doing an amazing job. Thank you for taking us along on your loader build ❤️

Awesome test today! Hey about the arms being raised a little while driving. Look at the older New Holland skid steer design. They actually have rub rails that the arms travel up and down on the cab. This uses the cab itself to help keep the arms stable.

In a previous video I commented, "you need a safety bar.""Not for safety, but to rest your forarms on, to operate smoothly." The boom movement should be minimal because the boom should pretty ridged. But some skid loaders will still have a guide welded on to the frame. The boom will set in the guide, when lowered all the way down.

I forgot to add. Having a counterweight on the rear of your metal friend will help with stabilising. It will also allow you to lift heavier loads as snow is not as heavy as sand or balast, for example.😁👋🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

For a first test I would be more than happy with the result. Well done. You’ve done such a brilliant job.

This project is so cool - in every way. Perhaps you can add a ballast-mount centered between the wheels lower than the axles. You could also build some caterpilar-drives (don't know the english word), that you can mount in exchange of the wheels if you need more grip. And perhaps you could use the temp of the motor for warming up the hydraulics-oil (bypass-pipe around the exhaust) in cold conditions. And a switchable reduction-gear for more torque on the wheels could help. You should be really proud of yourself!

Well done. Some of those engines might have an oil level sensor. Which could kill the engine if it gets tilted too much. Usually they can be simply unplugged to verify if that's the cause stalling the engine. But again, what a cool machine!!

You’ve done a really impressive job. My only comment would be that for light weight materials like snow it might be useful to have a bigger bucket.

I am sure I reflect others opinions...but we are glad you are well and continuing the family tradition of making awesome things!!!...and that looks like its so cold it could be Yakutsk!!!

Hello. What an amazing amount of craftmanship and skill you have shown in this build. I totally agree that with time you will become much more fluid with the controls. I own and have operated my own Caterpillar 248 skid steer for many years and it took me some time to learn how it would react with control operation. I think your stalling issue may be the lack of sufficient flow through your hydraulic relief valves which overloads the engine and causes it to stop. Make sure your calculations included potentially dumping most if not all hydraulic fluid past the relief at full working pressure and flow that you will produce with your pumps. This will be different for lifting vs turning the wheels with each having its own settings to prevent overloading the engine. You want to stall hydraulically not mechanically. In my opinion your solution should be a balance of pressure and flow. I look forward to more in this series. Best regards from Michigan in the US... by the way moving snow with the skid steer is something I enjoy too.

Yes the boom arms will wiggle when they are lifted and the machine is moving, as long as it's not excessive it's perfectly normal and should be expected. As far as the power of the engine while you are working it reducing your working pressure of the hydraulic system might help but you don't want to negatively affect the function of the machine by reducing it too much. You might want to consider a gear reduction between the engine and pump to give the engine better lugging ability... It all kind of depends on how you sized your pump vs the requirements of the loader. I'm sure you left some margin when you selected the pump, you'll just need to tinker with it and you'll figure out what it needs. Worst case scenario would call for a larger engine. I bet you can avoid that though.

Wow, another great video, thank you for sharing, always a pleasure watch your project, you are a great teacher and your explanation are nice and easy 👍👍👍👍

This is honestly the most impressive thing I have ever seen designed and built on RU-vid well done!

I can't understand why you don't have a ton more subscribers yet. This is one of the most impressive youtube builds ever. I would have been very uncomfortable without more rollover protection before my first test!

A very big congratulations on a successful trial run on such a large project. Well done.

What a fantastic example for my daughter and any young person to follow! She has set the standard for what anyone can accomplish with a desire to learn. I am so impressed with your skill sets. You honestly seem like genuinely good people. If people were as kind and genuine as you, most of all, our problems would be gone. What a wonderful ambassador you are.

An engineering challenge for you - add bucket auto-levelling to the hydraulics. I have an old 1986 backhoe (that leaks everything, everywhere) but it has the auto-levelling on the front bucket. A really great feature as well as a safety item so you don’t dump on your head. Awesome videos. I really appreciate the effort this project has taken as I’ve built my own CNC plasma table (5’x10’) from scratch.

A fantastic WELL DONE! It is easy to forget that you built the skidsteer from scratch.

Hello, thank you for the very enjoyable videos. I have many years experience running skid loaders in the USA. A couple things I note. No, I have never had a bucket that had side to side slop when traveling. When loaded it often would have the bucket bounce a little up and down, but very little, and only the bucket itself, not the arms. Secondly the roof should double as your roll over protection. You can see the roof wobbling side to side every time you hit a bump. This would crush on a rollover, but equally dangerous if you lift the bucket high and perhaps drop a rock on the cab it could easily crush the cab with you in it. I would recommend a much stronger motor, and much stronger cab section. Best wishes, and again thank you so much, my wife and I have very much enjoyed your build. You are doing so well!

Watching this video, you must have been so satisfied with how your creation performed. The exhaust is a minor setback, but overall all your work is proven to be top quality.

Your work and attempting such a difficult project just amazes me. It runs like every skid steer I have ever driven. Congrats!

Выдающаяся работа. Вы должны быть очень горды. Вашему мужу повезло. Поздравляем!😃

Congratulations on the near completion of your project. I'm sure you'll work out the bugs.

Glad to see you have it working. Some side to side movement of the loader is normal. Also happy to see you all doing well. I have several decades of experience running skid steer loaders and it gets easier with practice, you seemed to become more confident as you used it and more fluid with the use of the controls. Perfect timing for the video as I'm working on replacing the axle bearings on my skid steer loader. Love all your videos. Can't wait for the next video.

Good job. I miss the ciao cacao ending so much😂

Nice to see a new video and the progress you have made!! Пока Пока

This was an amazing build and even more amazing test you did. What a champ of a machine you created, WELL DONE ! Can't wait to see you fix all the little things, and make all the upcoming improvements... GREAT content !

Good to see it out. I suspect a cabin heater might be a welcome feature.

I have no doubt that you will have this dialed in in no time. Very good first outing.

Seems to be working well in general. Congratulations,well done.👍

I admire that you took on this complex project and brought it to life. WOW! It works, and actually works very well. I'd never have thought to make a Skid Loader from scratch. Beautiful accomplishment!

From one life ending sometime new is born, your Grandpa is VERY proud, minnor set backs that's what makes it fun. Great job from Minnesota.

It's good to see you back in the shop and back on RU-vid. I hope your family is doing well. There is nothing like building a machine and then making it come alive and operate. Making tools and fixtures is as interesting as the actual project itself, at least for me it is. You've done a fantastic job.

It is nice that you feel up to coming back after your hard recent time. For a first test the skid steer seemed to work very well. Perhaps you are pushing the system a bit with the size of your bucket. This will be something you need to work out as you move towards the final design. Just the fact that you were able to do all that you did shows that your design is a good one. I look forward to the improvements you come up with and the finish work you still have to do. Take care, keep safe and warm, jack, In The Valley of The Sun, Arizona, U.S.A.

I just love watching you take your talents and build things! Best to you and your family!

Looks really great. I really think you need a snow bucket.

First and foremost, Dear Lucia, husband & extended family. We all hope hope you have had some time to grieve and heal after the awful and tragic losses within your family. It's a pleasure to see you and your limitless creativity and engineering skills back on the channel. A brilliant real-world test of your machine and fabulous update. Big love from your UK 🇬🇧 audience ❤️

Glad to see you back working hard. Congratulations on your build.

So glad it all worked for you. Amazing build.

Really impressed by your build! Congrats!

Классный погрузчик! Классное получилось видео! Мне кажется понравилось! Круто Круто!!!👍❤️

Glad to see it working after all the hard work you put into building it.

I'm with a lot of people here, this is definitely an impressive build. You should be getting more RU-vid clout than you have already. Is it strange to anyone that I find seeing real life in Russia almost as interesting as seeing the custom DIY skid steer?

You have done what is called a lurning curve to understand how to operate your equipment. You actually did a great job building your first piece of equipment in that class. Love the update.

I'd say that's big success Lucia on building own skid loader it works very well congrats

great job

That cabin needs a heating system 😁 Some plug for a heater, so you can serve hot coffee or tea ☕🤤 Being serouss, try to choose another tyre more accurate for snow/ice. Close the cabin to avoid the wind, and enforce it, sems wak to lateral oscilations. Put lights to enable work early hours or at the night, that plus, make loader more beauty. Put position lights, reverse lights, to make it more safe in the work field. Put reverse mirrors to make more easy drive the machine. Add a cover over the wheels. You can attach any tools over it. And the best of all: paint it with your preferred colours. Then you can rent it 😁😁😁

Fantastic video and great test of your phenomenal machine!!! Wonderful ingenuity and construction!!! I highly enjoyed this video and your skill at creating something from the ground level to a working model!! Congratulations to you and I hope yourself and your family are all doing well! Looking forward to your next video!

It looks awesome! Better than anything you could buy. This is one of the coolest projects on youtube 💜

First, congratulations on a successful shakedown, that was awesome! I used to operate skid-steer loaders quite a bit in the past and yes, a bit of lateral play of the bucket is normal, but not a lot (a few cm). Keeping your bucket low while traveling is one of the major safety tips when working with loaders (particularly wheeled versions, they can get quite squirrelly with a load in the air while moving), so if a bit of lateral movement on your bucket has you wanting to keep the load low... I'd say that's a good thing! 😁 It did seem low on power, but it sounds like you have some thoughts about that. Looking forward to seeing it finished! PS: As a follow-on project after you finish the loader, you could look into making a set of tracks that go over the wheels. That would help with that wheel slip you were getting when trying to get the bucket to bite into the drifts. I've used equipment that had that style of track in the past and they help a lot in mud and snow.

Outstanding! The depth and breadth of your skill set is remarkable; to be able to not only engineer such projects but also single handedly build them is both impressive and rare. Having the pros and cons analysis at the end of the video gives insight into the kind of mindset that fosters continual growth and allows for overcoming ever increasing technical challenges. I might be sticking my neck out but I'm guessing you have a Mechanical Engineering degree?

I know this is now 2 months old but I’ll give you my opinion for engagement. I’ve been a mechanic for many years and have messed with a few different skid steers here in the US. You’ve built a really decent example and it looks like it works pretty well for a garage build. My only advice is to consider using a small industrial diesel engine. Every skid steer I’ve ever seen is diesel. The little gas engine you have doesn’t seem like it makes enough torque to keep all the hydraulics running under times of heavy load. Like when you were trying to drive into the trailer. A diesel would make the same horsepower as the gasser but at least double the torque. And be more efficient at the same time. Not to mention adding some extra weight to the rear if you ever have to lift something heavy in the bucket. I love what you’re doing. Your channel is what more young girls should be watching.

Like others have said, I'm glad you're back! And that machine is awesome!! And I can see how you got more comfortable with the controls, and movements of it the more you used it! Great job!

Very nice Lucia, your project works very well ❤

Lucia one admires your skill and intellect to produce such an ambitious handler. I notice that the muffler was loose while the cold start was being done and you showed it finally running after a false start! This led to the fatigue of the remaining connection. Also visible is the flexibility of the cabin which is an operator protection zone and will in futuer be boxed and otherwise reinforced to add rigidity to the chassis tub also giving protection from load spill to your operator. Last The bucket lift arms appear to bee absent of the large boxed heavy crossmember at the chassis hinge. Up there or alternatively in front of the drive station all Bobcat type machines have this which eliminates flex and variation in the height or pressure on the two arms. This has been an emotional journey as I see you begin this outlandish task and follow through to the test phase. You did wonderfully this far and soon the loose ends will likely be tidied up , paint and glass installed. Good research with the drive binding. System pipe diameter could be something to review? You are a World Beater young woman, a king among men (or a queen). Also the engine looks very small and modest? Oh! before signing off, my machines have two layers of 1/8" steel to build each layer of the bucket. I am not familiar with how you built yours.

Interesting video to watch and great to see it working. Excellent job.

I found your channel when you first started this build, and enjoy watching the machine being built.

Awsome, so enjoy this build

Glad you are back, and this is awesome project you are doing :)

A big step forward! Can't wait to see you finish it. These shake downs sometimes are a bit disappointing, but they show you what to fix, so when it finally is done, it ALL works! Keep up the great work! 😊

Lucia, a BIG THUMPS UP. Your skill sets always amazes me.

So happy for you Lucia such wonderful job God has blessed you much. Good videos

Lucia, it’s great to see you back. Your machine works great, especially for its first test. Looking forward to seeing what improvements you can make. 👍

Be proud of your self. You have done an amazing job building your skid steer. You are a women with a lot of talent. Well done Lucia. 👍💛 From New Zealand

All I have to say is great Job! Even a manufactured skid steer has things that need to be adjusted for you to make your own plans and get it that good is something else.

Your are the only woman i ever seen tackle such a huge project. And practice will make it oparate even better. You learn its sweet spots and what its not capable of. Congratulations on a fine build. Ready to see it painted

Great job. Thank you 😊

Enjoyed it, thanks.

This was an exciting test. You must super proud of this. Well done!

Great results, well done!

Great job! Thank you for keeping us updated

YES! going to watch this after work!

Wow! It’s looking awesome!😮

Brava Lucia! Nice work! Love your channel and love your work.

Nicely done. Looks like your husband is going to love the little machine more than you. 😉 Good job working out the geometry on the lift arms. Stellar first performance. 👍

Awesome job

Guauuuu Lucia. You did a great Job. That's a good machines. I like that sound without muffler. LOVE V twins forever ✌️✌️✌️✌️

Very cool! Congratulations on the test run!

You have amazing skills and determination! Can’t wait to see it fine tuned and completed 👍 👍👍👍

WONDERFUL Lucia Bravo

Great JOB!!!!! Built from scratch!!! awesome!!

It’s common to have shims to take up space where pins have some movement. May help with your bucket slop.

YOU ARE AWESOME YOUNG LADY.....CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SUCCESS!

great work thanks for the video

(ATF) Automatic transmission fluid. I'm not sure if anyone else has suggested this yet, but ATF is much better for colder temperatures than regular hydraulic fluid. Outstanding progress so far. You and your supporting team should be extremely proud of this achievement. 🍻 Not just this skid steer project, but the RU-vid channel as well. I wish you continued success

Great video, I've really enjoyed watching your build series of your skid loader. GOOD JOB!