Both will be cab with high flow. The kubota comes in around $78,000 the kioti comes in $10,000 less, at $68,000. Would I regret buying the kioti? They’ve only been around 3 years. The price is appealing. Any thoughts or info would be appreciated.
I’m 20 and located in Central Texas. I currently run a small handyman business, but I’m trying to shift toward larger outdoor/property work like brush clearing, fence line clearing, overgrown property cleanup, debris removal, grading, and eventually light excavation.
I’m trying to avoid the mistake of financing a bunch of equipment before I actually have enough work to keep it busy.
Here’s what I already have:
- 2025 F-350 4x4 long bed, 7.3 gas, gooseneck equipped
- 5x10 utility trailer
- 16 ft utility trailer with ramps
- 23 ft equipment trailer, 10k capacity with ramps
- 12k electric winch
- Chainsaw
- Pole saw
- Blower
- Straight shaft trimmer
- 3600 PSI pressure washer
- Normal hand/power tools
- Welding/fabrication experience
I’m comfortable towing, hauling, physical outdoor work, fabrication, cleanup, and operating equipment.
My current thought is to sell the job first, then rent whatever machine/attachment is needed. If I start renting the same setup constantly, that would give me a pretty clear indication of what I should buy first.
The combination I keep coming back to is a skid steer or CTL with a brush cutter, since I could see that being useful for:
- Brush clearing
- Fence lines
- Overgrown lots
- Trail clearing
- Small tree/sapling removal
- Property cleanup
- Light dirt/gravel work
For those of you who actually run skid steers for a living:
Would you rent machines at first and build the customer base before buying?
If you were trying to start doing land/property work, what size skid steer or CTL would you want?
What attachments actually make you money most often?
Do brush cutters get used as much as I’m thinking, or am I overestimating how much demand there is for that kind of work?
And at what point did owning the machine start making more sense than renting?
I’m not trying to become a full-blown excavation contractor overnight. I’m mainly trying to figure out the smartest way to build into equipment work without putting myself under a huge payment before the jobs are there.
Any advice from guys who started small would be appreciated.
I am looking to buy a used Bobcat 773G from a friend. It has ~1700 hours on. It came with the house he bought a year ago, so he has limited knowledge about it. He also is not very mechanically inclined. He had a full service done at the dealer a year ago and had anything they found fixed. It runs great.
The only thing that gives me pause is I noticed some oil film on top of the chain case when I lifted the cab up to inspect underneath. Didn't see any weeping or dripping hoses. No source of the oil stood out to me.
Maybe a seal is letting some fluid mist blow by, or maybe a clogged vent causing pressure?
I'm not well-versed in skid steers and any advice is appreciated. I just don't want to end up with an immediate large bill if I need to bring it to the dealer.
I'm very mechanically inclined, but these things are heavy and there are lots of tight spaces.
My crew has a CAT 259D3 (high flow) skid steer that we have to loan out to other crews as needed. Unfortunately, whenever we loan it out, it always seems to come back with issues…
A couple of weeks ago it was dropped off by a crew, sat in our yard for two weeks, and another crew came by the other day to pick it up and borrow it.
I’m pretty religious about my pre-checks before I use our machine, so I was checking the fluids before it was loaded on the trailer, despite the other guy giving me shit and saying he never bothers to do that.
When I checked the sight glass for the hydraulic oil, it was maxed out in the red on the overfill side. I let the guy know I had to do some investigating and that he might not be able to take it with him. He didn’t even know where the sight glass was. 🤦🏻♂️
When we opened the cap for the hydraulic oil reservoir, the oil was a milky pink color. Our mechanic confirmed that the oil was contaminated. The other guy was still wondering if he could take it, and I said hell no.
Our mechanic said it could be water or possibly another incompatible hydraulic oil.
I wanted to see if anyone here has run into something like this before.
Some possibilities I’ve been running through my mind:
-Condensation buildup from temperature fluctuations?
-An issue with the hydraulic reservoir breather allowing moisture in?
-Contamination from a hydraulic attachment that had incompatible oil in it and was previously used on our machine?
-Someone accidentally putting diesel into the hydraulic reservoir? The fuel gauge was at 1/4 tank, and I could have sworn that when the machine was dropped off, the other crew had topped it off with diesel…
The machine had been sitting for about two weeks before I found this, and fortunately I caught it before we started or operated it.
Thoughts?
Edit: Thanks to a commenter I also just realized that our mechanics may be stocking replacement oil that is plant based, ie: CAT Bio HYDO Advanced oil. I do not know whether this skid steer was sold to us from the dealer with the typical petroleum (mineral) based oil, CAT HYDO Advanced 10 or the Bio HYDO.. I know that they cannot be mixed. The HYDO Advanced 10 is listed on the SDS as red, the Bio HYDO is listed as amber. The mechanic said the oil should look clear amber, which indicates they are using the Bio HYDO. I’ll have to ask them what they stock and what the machine was ordered with.
I mainly use my mini skid for clearing snow.
I have a 48" shovel attachment that I use but I am considering getting a plow attachment.
Anyone have experience with both and care to share the pros and cons?