wheeled or tracked cat... please help

Have a small ranch, with a good amount or berries and brush to clear to fence off more pasture. Also looking at re-doing my septic in the near future, and have a ton of water line to run. That being said looking at purchasing a small skid steer. Figured down the line I will want a back hoe attachment and probably a auger for putting in fence post holes. I am looking to spend around 15k on a skid. My local Cat dealer has 2 used that caught my attention, a 2001 226, with forks, and a 4-1 bucket, 1300 hrs, new tires and looks pretty meticulously cared for; they are asking $13,500 for it. The other option is a 2003 257, tracks were replaced about 100 hours ago and look in great condition, also did the idler and rollers. It has 2500 hours on it, inspection report shows the left side control has a slight hydraulic leak, and the fan is believed to have a slight leak because it was collecting some dirt around it. It also comes with a 4-1 bucket. Asking price on it is 15k. Im leaning towards the track just because I have some hills and my dirt up here when it rains turns into lovely stick slick red mud. Plus I get occassional snow storms a couple times a year and while my trucks are fine, the misses sedan cant make up the driveway unless I shovel (and its a long freakin driveway)... Other thought would be to buy the 226 and then save up a little bit and try and find a used set of VTS tracks should I need them down the road... Other things to mention. I have operated a bobcat once, and much prefer the joystick controls over the foot controls. Looked at some used TL130's but the nearest one in my price range would be a rental unit with 2500 hrs and is about 1200 miles away.... So... any advice?

I purchased a Cat 257B to use on my farm this past October. It had 1500 hrs on it and I paid $26,000.00 for it with a bucket, bale fork and stone fork. I have had to replace one idler bearing and one complete idler assembly. Other than these issues, I have been very impressed with this machine. The 257B practically floats over mud and snow. It is used to feed corn silage and hay every day and has been moving snow multiple times every week so far this winter. I also use the machine to clean out barns and like it, but would not want anything with a larger footprint. The 257B has way more hydraulic capacity than my 65 hp loader tractor. I was initially very concerned about track maintenance as I'm in a lot of snow and the machine is not stored in a heated environment. I developed a routine that takes less then 10 mins with a wrecking bar to clean out the track area and squirrel cage and have not had a freeze up even at -30 Celcius. My recommendation would be to have the dealer make all repairs required at the price he is quoting you on the track machine. If the idlers and bearings have been replaced, it should be a good machine, otherwise plan on having some undercarriage work to do. I think that this undercarriage is very good for farm use, but I think that some industrial environments would be very hard on it. I see that Ritchie Bros have a Cat 257 in their auction in Bolton ON on March 20th.

HSVSkidSteer said:

I purchased a Cat 257B to use on my farm this past October. It had 1500 hrs on it and I paid $26,000.00 for it with a bucket, bale fork and stone fork. I have had to replace one idler bearing and one complete idler assembly. Other than these issues, I have been very impressed with this machine. The 257B practically floats over mud and snow. It is used to feed corn silage and hay every day and has been moving snow multiple times every week so far this winter. I also use the machine to clean out barns and like it, but would not want anything with a larger footprint. The 257B has way more hydraulic capacity than my 65 hp loader tractor. I was initially very concerned about track maintenance as I'm in a lot of snow and the machine is not stored in a heated environment. I developed a routine that takes less then 10 mins with a wrecking bar to clean out the track area and squirrel cage and have not had a freeze up even at -30 Celcius. My recommendation would be to have the dealer make all repairs required at the price he is quoting you on the track machine. If the idlers and bearings have been replaced, it should be a good machine, otherwise plan on having some undercarriage work to do. I think that this undercarriage is very good for farm use, but I think that some industrial environments would be very hard on it. I see that Ritchie Bros have a Cat 257 in their auction in Bolton ON on March 20th.

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I would opt for the 226A series and get steel tracks for it if you need the flotation. The 257s are good machines, but the undercarriage can get spendy. The A series both had the 3034 engine, much better than the 3024T in the B series-more power and you didn't have to wind it out to get performance. The 3024T in the 226B worked fine, but was a little small for the chunky 257B.