It's always puzzled me why conventional skidsteer loaders are not as popular in the UK as they are in the USA. I want to find out why and so kick off this new series by looking at the Gehl R165 Merchandise at www.lordmuckshop.com
I am a retired merchant navy office, On bulk carriers in port the skidsteers are loaded to clear out the residue cargo out the bottom of the hold .Small easy to lift in and out and efficient. Nice piece of kit !
You mentioned this topic awhile back and it started me thinking about it too. I subscribe to Tom Pembreton and his gang and I see just how tight and little space he has to maneuver around which lead me to think a skid steer would work amazing in his operation. Here in the states we had one since the late 70s. It made cleaning cattle sheds so much easier. Trying to wedge a Farmall 450 and loader or Ford 8n with loader could be hell, so we bought a little JD skid steer and never looked back. We had much more space to move around compared to some of your operations. But the that little John Deer just made quick work of everything. Great video, thanks very much.
Ha bought a Diesel Creek inspired "will it start" old skid steer with a broken drive chain which wrapped around wheel cog so stuck, parked up in a corner on the to do list, moved out of way by my trusty Merlo multifarmer. Friend up the road uses 3 Bobcat skidsteers on there beef farm. Great demo 👍
We went from a small bobcat to a small pivot steer, wouldn't go back to a skid steer. We have to pull a muck scraper around a 90 degree corner, as soon as the concrete got slippery the bobcat wouldn't pull the scraper around the corner because of having to stop drive to one side. It's never stopped the pivot steer loader. The pivot steer can get everywhere the bobcat could, it is a million times easier to get in and out of and it's better off the concrete. Each to their own though 🤷🏼♂️
Your opening comments were really amusing. Because as a US farmer I adopted skidsteers decades ago starting with a Bobcat 610, then NHL35, NH775,Bobcat,943, But the last one Had to come from the UK . JCB 1110t . BECAUSE OF THE SIDE ENTRANCE!!! Working by yourself there are times you need to exit the machine with the boom up for adjustment. Brilliant JCB!!
Skid steers are a great piece of kit in the right environment. Great on a nice concrete yard, useless in a wet field unless you have tracks. Tracks are brilliant in wet conditions but are a rough as hell on a dry hard surface, and the running costs on a tracked machine are really expensive compared to wheels. (I know cause I’ve run every kind known to man). The biggest issue I have found with the tracked ones is that the under carriage is taken from a small excavator which will move maybe a hundred yards a day where as the skid steer will move maybe miles in the course of a days work and the tracks and idlers don’t last very long. For me the best tracked machines from an undercarriage point of view is the Caterpillar. Bobcat are the only manufacturer to use a central chain case and nice long drive shafts with bearings at each end which spread the load more evenly. Unfortunately Bobcats Achilles heal is the electronics which are unreliable in an agricultural setting cause the don’t like the wet and they don’t like the muck. All manufacturers use that valve block like is on the boom arm on the Gehl and it’s a great system until some idiot doesn’t take the time to back the pressure off and uses a hammer and pin punch to push the inner sleeve back to ease the hydraulic pressure so then it’s mega expensive to replace those. Gehl and Mustang are owned by Manitou, Case and New Holland are the same machine with different paint and both use the really poor Perkins Sheboura engines which love to chew on head gaskets. Caterpillar are great but daft expensive. Bobcat are owned by Doosan and have been around since Noah cleaned the ark out. JCB/Volvo are much better machine now that they have had the sense to use a tilting cab and the tele boom is a great idea. Deere make a great machine but they aren’t sold in the uk, and the new kubota machine is going to give everyone good value for money and reliability.
Definately on tracks, less ground pressure for use throughout the year. Loving that hydraulic spool block idea - so simple but like you say so effective
Went for wheels.. it’s cleaner around the farm, and if damp it’s more smooth…we changed our scraper tractor for a skiddy ( bobcat then) now a gehl years ago and never looked back.. they can do any job, no hassle and use very little fuel..👍🏻👍🏻💪🏻
"Merica" here, I have tiny hobby farm and we have a Daewoo DSL601. Its very handy easy to work on. Clearing brush to moving things. Its very nice. Cheap way to used it offroad, have metal tracks that go over the tires.
I liked the look of the JCB Teleskid on tracks in one of your previous (and very popular) videos. To me it seems the most versatile skid loaders available with the extra reach, and being able to access the cab through a side door makes total sense.
They were very popular at one time, in the eighties! Every hire shop had one, and Bobcat had a huge depot in Leeds. One of the.reasons i was given for them leaving the hire market was that the farmers did hire them, got baler twine wrapped round the axle shafts and wrecked the hydraulic motors (in the days when there was a motor at the back of each wheel) I loved them and we used to do 30 minutes each so we didnt fight over whose turn it was! The Gel looks brilliant!
We use skidsteers a lot in construction here in Canada. The tracked ones are the most popular. But you still see a lot in farming, particularly on livestock farms. Considering how well they work in tight spaces I’m surprised they aren’t used more in Europe. Telehandlers are catching on more over here. Again a huge amount of them in construction. The one thing we don’t use over here and I think we should is the front dumpers that are everywhere in construction in Europe . And to answer your question, tracks all the way. I run tracked ones at work and there’s no comparison. Wheels are ok if you’re always on concrete 👍
The mechanical bay on that is laid out way better than my boss’s Bobcat T190. That thing is a nightmare. Lots of hoses where there should have been tubing. Valve components where they can’t be accessed. Even some of the general service points are a pain to access. Every time I have to pull it in the shop I want to throw a stick of dynamite in it and walk away. If I had to get one it would be just about anything but a bobcat.
It's fairly obvious with any machine really which engineers spent at least some portion of their working lives turning wrenches and which engineers couldn't be bothered by how easy or maddeningly difficult it is to work on that machine.
When I was a younger man ….& that wasn’t last week , I worked for a plant contractor who had a bobcat 543 skidsteer, that was in constant use , even over the top of the small mini diggers, that could of been used 😮When you see an experienced operator with one you just see what these machines are capable of, a lot really with the attachments, I wasn’t keen on the digging arm that could replace the front bucket to dig with, compared to a mini diggers arm 😊. Really good for loading lorries to a degree &!moving aggregate stone & levelling. I was a fan of bobcat equipment until Doosan took them over & mucked about putting their engines in the equipment 😩😩😩😩😩Thanks for another great video 👍👍👍😊
Greetings from Sweden! My neighbour recently got rid of his backhoe loader and got a bobcat instead, main argument was to be able to muck around inside the barn/stable (literally). Having messed around with his loading some gravel I see the point, manoeuvrability is amazing (turns on a penny) and I agree with everything you said in this video. There’s one downside however, and that’s also something that was overlooked here. While the front view is amazing, visibility to the sides and back is shit!! (Nightmare in a tight space). So because of that I would say the one thing that would be essential to make this set-up complete is a rear mounted camera (maybe newer models already come with these?), because you really have no idea what’s going on anywhere except in front of you.
Ya can tell it's Sunday my favorite Englishman is on farm or construction equipment Mucking barns ,or just Mucking about ,Lord Muck is your man ,Brilliant he is, Skid steer on tracks
My preference for the land is a tracked skid loader with a telescopic boom. I think it's GEHL who has designed one, to me it's the best of all worlds. I couldn't get one so I opted for a 5 ton excavator, until I can get one here in Australia 😁Awesome vid
Geoff here in Australia Yes we have skid stears every were too I have two on tracks, I've used both and the tracks run rings around tyres every time they go through heavy sticky clay and soft white sand like we have here in WA . The tyres really struggle. Have a good day mate & keep the good moves coming 😂😂 .
@Lord Muck, I saw a Gehl at Lamma 18 and spent 35 with the rep talking about attachments for logging As soon as he said it was better engineered (inline engine)than Bobcat (transverse engine🤣) harder to work on, less drive chains (wheeled) Like a kid in a sweet shop! Tracks every time- Winter time easier with tracks screw in studs if it gets that bad Gehl- part of the Manitou family 🥰🥰🥰🤞👌👍👍👍🇺🇸🇬🇧
I would definitely be lost without my skid steer. Just saw where you subscribed to my channel. Thanks for that and looking forward to watching your vids as well...new subscriber...Loved that pup at the end... Sam from Tennessee in the US
I’d go track machine personally, I think why we don’t use them in construction so much is they would struggle to load into wagons for muck away etc, however they probably do have a place considering diggers are getting a lot more a attachments nowadays
We have been running a new holland lx665 for 20yrs,couldn't do without it,plus it has parallel lift so has more reach at hight,its on wheels but would rather have tracks for field work
Interesting Vid...We use a lot of skid loaders on the dairy, mainly because of the tight spaces and size of our silage bunks. Not as practical for turning a telehandler around. That being said we burn through tires pretty quick on the concrete with the 360 turning... I bet a telehandler preserves the tires since you're doing wider sweeps and multipoint turns.
Back in the late 80s early 90s, me and my father used to build hardcore tennis courts. We used to use a mechanical barrow to do all the loads of stone & tarmac. That was until we discovered the Bobcat ! Was a great thing to use, it cut the time down to load out 40tonne of stone & then 35 tonne of tarmac , by days! In to the pile of stone/tarmac. One full bucket, then back to the levellers in 2 mins tops. It transformed how much work we could get through. As for tyres or tracks, that was the one big problem with them, we used a tyre one & we’d ALWAYS get a puncture. Not that, that stopped us, just balance it on the three wheels! It was & is one of the best bits of kit to have around. Especially now with all the attachments you can get for them.
In a previous job we had a Ditch witch we used for moving trailed wood chippers logs machinery about only a small tracked one but it was an absolute beast to drive had so much power for what it was and could get into some very tight situations and the joystick was so smooth too they certainly have there uses
There is a similar problem with skid steers and compact tractors that do not have a front linkage. The salesman does not suggest them because the customer does not ask, the customer does not ask because the salesman does not suggest, Salesmen have to turn over ££s for their company's target, if an item is of lower value it may get left by the way side. . Excellent vid, this skid steer looks stunning. Thanks again for your incite.
Evening Mucka awesome video as always so informative and eye opening as you say we as a country as a rule never give them a thought. Got to be honest I would go for the tracks 👍
Ooohh I do love a skidsteer!🤩 Cracking video M'lod, and great thought been put in to the operator and servicing, well handy that de-pressurize feature. I'd have one on wheels because it probably won't see too many muddy boggy conditions. Your frostbackistanian friend is quite keen on them too😜 Great stuff as usual and keep it up! Cheers, Mike
Would say tracks because they look cool and better for compaction, however wheels would win for yard/digger site work. Looking back to Welker farms they had a tracked machine and have now gone to a wheeled one because of the speed and comfort going down the roads ect.
We've got a few bobcats at work. We tried tracks but the was awful inside ships but spot on up and down the train tracks. Bosses ended up with the wheel ones. Got some good attachments for it including pushing blades and a backhoe that mounts to the front of it. Its the sites work horse
As a “Mercian” skid steer owner, non farm either. Hard to beat the flexibility and attachments. I also own bigger JD tractors as I do maintain food plots for deer and turkey. I own an older Bobcat that I dump some cash into every couple years to keep it up. Would not be without it, soooo handy!
I bought a new MF 506 skid steer new in 1989 new for a job in Kensington park Hotel in the High Street. I used it for loading my Foden six wheel tippers with muck (clay) that we were digging out from inside the hotel. They were fitted with greedy board's so they were high to load. But the machine done the job easily spinning round on the spot to go back down the ramp to get another bucket full. The only drawback was when we wanted to move pallets of engineering bricks back down into the basement. The bricks were a bit heavy and caused be to picth forwards, but a counter ballance hung on the back sorted that out. 😊
Got one of each. Tires with chains for snow removal, tracked to keep people happy when you work around/on their nice lawn. Like you said though you can run tracks on your wheel skid steer for added traction in mud/poop and soft ground. Bobcat 864G and a Bobcat T590
Had ours 11 years now, use it probably every other day year round for something , just so handy can see the pallets with the forks and you can lean forward and reach the headstock latches without getting out , only 2 controls so better than any sort of power shuttle setup in anything else, we actually could nearly finish with the loader tractor as it doesn't do that much anymore loader wise. If i had a blank Cheque from your book mucker 😉 I would be looking at a Teleskid only bother with ours is the forward reach loading muck spreader/ pushing up the muck heap
Tracks, and instead of the swing door I like the roll down door that stows in the ceiling on tracks in nice weather and then just roll it down for heat or air con environment. It gives you a nice option of door or no door.
Very good point mucker. Would be a very good bit of kit for dairy farmers with low buildings, tight alley ways and a wide variety of attachments. If I was to have one it be with wheels
I used to work for a poultry unit cleaning firm as an hgv driver. We had several skid steers. Ideal kit for the low roof buildings. A couple of Belles. 1 Case and a Clark Bobcat.
I've currently got 2 bobcat skid steer loaders both with wheels. I looked at getting one on tracks but the maintenance cost just didn't pencil out for my operation. I do have over the tire steel tracks that I put on in the wetter months for feeding cattle and cutting wood. I feel these are far superior to rubber tracks because they don't fill up with mud and become slicks. Over 9k hrs on the one skid steer and the other just over fifteen hundred. Prior to buying the second unit I looked for a telehandler. But wasn't able to find anything in Mt price and criteria range. I do fair amount of small square bales and would have really liked one for that application. As you said just not a very popular machine in the U.S. market currently. Thanks for the video really enjoyed it!
I watch Farmer P in Gloucestershire he has a mustang skid steer and he says its his main machine and would be lost without it. Don't know why more farmers use them in small cattle yards they are ideal. Another great video mucker
In central Scotland case skidsteers were common or ye olde NH775 with the Deutz aircooled engine (literally bombproof) but main death blow was dealt by Matbro pivot steers, everyone got used to the higher lift capacity so they then got replaced by tractor loaders when they needed higher lift height for tub feeders but dads old boss fed 180 cows for years with a skid steer and a schuitmaker side discharge feeder could see them making a comeback especially with costs rising for smaller farms
I haven’t used one with tracks but with tracks it should have a lot more traction and run over soft ground a lot better. There are a lot of them here both on farms and on construction. Good fencing machine with a hydraulic post hole digger. You can move it from job to job on a trailer. I was using one with a 4 in 1 bucket one day and managed to fill the cab with horse shit. I really enjoyed that. The hyds are very fast. Always put the seat belt on, you only have to hit one immovable object with the bucket at the speed they go and you will see why. Jeff
Great review 👌 only one farm I worked on had one that was a Bobcat can't remember the model but was conventional feet an hands controls great machine with one drawback in our situation when loading our 10 ton rear discharge muck spreader was sadly short of reach and if not careful front wheels nipped the valves of the spreader wheels 😳 unfortunately it was the only loader we had so had to be used🤔 think wheels would be my choice as I think there would be less drag when manoeuvring an less chance of digging holes on a soft surface 👍
Thanks for the video, those Gehl machines have been round for a long while and seem to of kept things fairly basic like all brands were at the start. I don't work on any of them here for customers, but listen to guys that do and they hate working on most of the newer ones. I've looked at a couple newer machines in passing and figured they are basically 10KG of Shyte jammed in a 5KG bag, with what they are trying to get in a machine to make it run. Then get high output for working capacity with half or less of the footprint of a decent sized tractor/loader, or a tele handler. Take care
I personally have never seen sat in or worked on one of these gehl skid steers but if someone brought me one to work on I would say thank you I have worked on other brands I will not do so again tgreat idea on the hose release big thumbs up to that
I remember when I was a kid seeing Bobcat skid steers on UK road work sites. They seemed to have disappeared since in favour of JCB 2CXs. I'd say for road sites a wheeled machine is probably more suited, but for farming surely tracks would be better.
I’ll stick with wheels but I’d love to try one on tracks ours on wheels is great on hard ground and concrete but on soft ground it’s hopeless. I’ll try a tracked one when we look at changing ours but that’s going to be a while as we need to build up to it. We’ve just upgraded our tractor and semi retired the old DB 995 and bought a 12 year old 110hp 4 wheel drive loader tractor which has been a revelation but I’m contemplating putting a euro headstock or adapter for the skid steer to make the best use of our attachments as the loader ones are suitable for the skid steer afloat 8 grab on the skid steer will be useful our old stone barns. Great video and totally agree with the sentiment that we don’t use skid steers here is a culture thing
Great video m'lord, I drove a bobcat skid steer for years, get the one with wheels, when they slip a trac of, they are a ball ache to put back on again!!!!!
I been on my Bobcat 610 today, very small and basic, was doing Ok till a front tyre popped off. Which happens occasionally, Easy fix with some brake cleaner and a blowlamp. Turns on the spot and gets through most doors and as the working end in front and the amount of tools available a real useful tool.
Great bit of kit. You said that each wheel has a chain so you always could get back to the farm/yard. I would think that the track version will only have one chain per side. If that is the case then the wheeled one would take my vote. As you also said they are hugely popular in the US, but with more UK viewers watching American RU-vidrs that might help change their minds to the versatility of it.
That's a well thought out and well engineered machine . The Yanmar engines are excellent. Looks nice and robust too. As for wheels or tracks , Tracks are better on soft ground and do give more grip . Wheels are better on rough stony ground as tracks can get cut and damaged by rough stone. Excellent video .
Good day to you Mr Muck The first skidsteer that I ran was a gehl 4610 and old red one with the gray and black pin stripes. I have operated a number of different brands in the last 25 years but not enough to say from experience which brand is my favorite I will say that most of my experience is on older 90s Deere and Newholland machines as for tracks or wheels I only have minimal experience on tracks and loved every minute of the tracks experience. From listening to the first hand experience of others tracks can be a royal pain if used in winter during wet mucky/wet conditions and then parked for multiple hours and the temperature drops below freezing. There is one brand here in the states that I’ve discovered because of RU-vid but haven’t operated yet but after watching many videos I think that it’s over looked and that’s the ASV Brand. If it’s available in the UK I would love your opinion of the brand. They have track machines starting at 25hp all the way to 132hp and a 75 hp wheel machine with both vertical and radial lift configuration, happy comparing.
Never used a tracked one , but i can imagine that they wear less on the rubber as they could rip tyres up on hard going! I have driven several different makes, but my favourite machine was an Owatonna, which was Canadian i think. They will do a tremendous amount of work in a few hours, and in tight spaces too! Phil
I'm a big advocate of the skid steer, it alway surprises me that we don't see more over her considering. I think a lot of people who don't know think that they are hard to operate and that maybe puts them off? Also there's a myth about their stability. I've been seriously considering buying one for a while.
We purchased a stand on the back skidster mx10 loader last year what a game changer absolutely brilliant machine for all sorts of jobs. Not sure on tracks or wheels really depends on the type of work your doing really. We do a lot of driveway and grass work so turf tyres are handy on our machine it did have agri tyres but it making to much mess on the lawns probably down to user error 😂 so in my case tyres 👌
I've a caterpillar 236 ,60hp , twin speed ,heated cab with radio mainly use it for snow plowing / snow clearing in the winter time , Twin speed which is 11.5 mph is a game changer . less loading on a trailer , great traveling between jobs .
A useful machine Mucker. With the different jobs you do I should imagine you would need a few attachments. In answer to your question, I reckon tracks are the best option.
Tracks... And Wheels? We have both, a Cat 279c and a Bobcat 773 and they’re both indispensable. Tracks are great in the soft stuff, but one minute of operation can require 20 minutes of pressure washing! We use them commercially, so they’re trailered frequently. I expect them to be clean at the end of a shift and prior to transport. Almost every US farm has a skid steer, typically only our large dairies run telehandlers. I’ll definitely look closer at the Gehl when it’s time to turn either one ours over. Thanks Bless’ns to ya, Tedd
In my area off the netherlands, every almost every farmer has a mini wheelloader. As almost every north american farmer has a skidsteer. I have a bit of experience on both kind of machines. And I personaly like mini loaders better because they are longer and overal can lift higher. They steer insted of skidding and rutting up the ground witch is a big pro for me and makes them operate smoother and about that. 1 of the axles can always pivot so you have better contact with the ground. And because they pivot in the midle you can use that to your advantage too. Also a big plus point for me is that you can hop on a mini loader and use it. For example; you are pulling posts from your fence out the ground and need to put the chain over it. A loader: drive it near, hop of, put the chain over the post, hop on and lift. As with the skidsteer there is a lot more hastle involved in climbing in and out, especialy with the boom lifted more than 2 feet😅
When I was a kid a family friend used to store his Bob cat at my parents small holding was a cracking machine to play with but the lack of reach and rear visibility was always a down side to them aswell as they always tended to chew up the yard more the our main loader
We run a Thomas 153 skid steer it’s 20 years old this year been on farms since new 3300 hrs on it for cleaning out poultry sheds excellent bit of kit for cleaning sheds out but I hate the getting in though the front would love to try the JCB version out with side access
Wheels, i used to drive a case 1845c skidsteer, and the ride in that compared to a hired in bobcat on tracks was a lot nicer, and zero risk of pulling a track off on uneven ground
I live and work in US where as part of the toybox we have a tracked Bobcat. Biggest problem with it.....if the load is off the ground you can't open the door to get out. Opening a gate, cutting off net wrap......major pain in the backside!
Welly time to shine. I own multiple skid steers and one compact wheel loader. What is best when it comes to tracked or wheels all depends on how it will be used. If you are out in muddy conditions the short coming of a wheeled machine is getting stuck. Just last month my uncle was looking for a JCB either telehandler or skid steer because he is old and one of those would be far easier to get in and out for him. The wheeled 270 was $64000, the tracked model the 270t was $74000, the teleskid equivalent wheeled is about $74000, tracked was about $85000, and the 525-60 agri was $105000. So if you're use case doesn't require tracks they are more expensive. If I had to compare my small wheel loader to a skid steer it is equivalent to a large skid steer with a smaller engine using less fuel, less likely to get stuck, the tyres were just replaced with 9400 hrs, I don't think the skid steers lift arms would hold up for production use like the wheel loader has, but a lot easier in tight spots with skid steers.
I remember the first one I saw - bobcat on wheels. I thought what a crackin’ little machine. And they’ve come on so much. The way you were throwing that Gehl about was a great advert for what they can do…. You can do the job a telehandler could do in half the time, even though it’s a smaller piece of kit. Wheels or tracks depends on the work you’d want it for I guess. I like them on wheels, but on soft ground tracks would be useful. Answer to that would be wheels with removable tracks!
It was only the other day I saw a film on you tube about the history of the skid steer with the two inventors interviewed. The very first one had six horse power and only three wheels.
Interesting hearing the comparison with telehandlers - now that teleskids are also available maybe they will catch on here in the UK. I would probably go for the tracked version for better traction, though doubt you can spin them around quite as fast as the wheeled version.
