G'Day Friends First time poster long time reader. I am totally new to skid steer machines and on a steep learning curve, being this my first machine. I'm an Engineer /builder who has scaled back to just doing maintenance jobs, but have found myself lately building cnc machines, not sure how that happened? Well needless to say it was not bought for work purposes. The main reason I purchased the little skid steer was to simply help me move things around the yard and get items on and off my little truck. I looked at a manual side hoist but for the 2k that they were asking was just a rip off, and a forklift is just not practical in my yard, so here I am. I plan to make a set of small pallet forks for the front, now before all the comments come flowing in about using this size machine for this purpose, I do realize a larger machine would be so much better, but I'm governed by two factors. Firstly is trailering the unit, I wanted to keep the GVM of bobcat and trailer under the 2t mark, if over that things become complicated and extremely expensive, and probably not worth it to me. The other thing at present there is a rather large boat being rebuilt in the middle of my yard and access around it is very limited indeed. Now the largest item that I would be attempting to move off the truck would be a 44gal drum full of Veg oil, approx 200kg or 440lb, other things would be fridges, washing machines, generator compressor, basically items to large or awkward to be done by one person. When I started looking I was either after a 463, S70 and even looking at a Toyota 4SDK4, but I found a little 453 with only 740 hours on it on an auction and before I new it I owned it. Now being totally green and more keen than anything has already taught me a few little lessons with this machine, don't try and drive onto a trailer without using proper ramps and forward is not the right way to go unless you want a little excitement! Now I'm interested in hearing of other don't s that may help me stay a little dryer as well. A few questions, I have read that foam filing tyres may help with stability and loading capacity, is it worth it, or will they make the machine more tippy when its used normally? What would be say the approx max incline you would consider traveling up forward , and in reverse also. I am planning to service the unit, change all the filters and fluids, would you also change all the hydraulic fluid/lube as well? and if so what be the choice fluid/lube to use? Can you use Marine triple guard grease for the pinion,s or is there a special type of grease to use? I wanted to upload some pics but cannot find how to do that. Thanks for reading, Cheers Katoh