Visit our tractor and agricultural equipment communities:

Ingersoll Forum Case IH Forum Combine Forum Hay Forum

JCB Forum John Deere Forum Kubota Forum Mahindra Forum

Massey Ferguson Talk New Holland Forum Valtra Forum Yanmar Forum

Zetor Forum Farming Forum

Reply to thread

Help Support SkidSteer Forum:

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eric" data-source="post: 1635" data-attributes="member: 108">Well I'm finally getting to my first review after I suggested we add the review section to the forum. About 5 months ago I rented a 463 bobcat from my local bobcat dealer. It was pretty new with only 175 hours on it. I ran this machine for about 5 days removing a small hillside from behind a house. The reason for the hillside removal was for a swimming pool. In order to squeeze the pool I had to cut the hillside for a retaining wall. I removed about 190 cu. yards of rocky compacted dirt. It wasn't easy but I got it done. It was hot and the machine handled pretty well for the conditions. I was pushing it to its limits. After I would dump a scoop of dirt in the front yard I would fly to the back yard full speed railing the burms in the front lawn like I was Ricky Carmichael on crf 450 in motocross at Glen Hellen. The guy I was working for at the time thought I was gonna nail the house or the wall on my reentry to the back yard. I was getting really confident on this little machine until on the fourth day I learned a lesson. At the end of the fourth day I was headed to the back yard to park the machine for the night. As I was approaching the parking area at a medium pace I hit a 8 inch rock (I did not see) with my left front tire. The ground was uneven leaning the machine slightly to the right. This collision with the rock slowly tipped the bobcat all the way over on its right side. I quickly shut the machine down and assessed the situation. What a mess. I had to borrow a bottle jack from the home owner and concrete wall blocks to tilt the machine back up. It took about 30 minutes. So I let the machine sit overnight before attempting to start it. I heard that if you flip a bobcat over, don't try to restart it right away because if oil fills up the top of the engine it will blow the head or bend a rod. The next morning I attempt to start it with no luck. After about an hour trying to figure out why it wont start I called the dealer. The tech said If the right handle gets locked into the auxiliary hyd. on position it wont start and thats what it was. When I fell on the right side in the machine my right leg locked hit the lever. If you lift the cab there a pin to lock it in neutral. This was the first time I had ever flipped a bobcat and the last I hope.Overall I would say this was a good little machine for what it is. It sure beats manual labor! If you are not very skilled on a bobcat I say you will have a hard time on this machine. Like all bobcats when compared to other larger heavy equipment (wheel loaders, backhoes, etc.) you must be a master manipulator to use every horsepower you have to get the job done. I'm not talking about moving a pile of sand, I mean digging in really hard dirt or concrete demo. You know what I mean?! My point is that when you step step down from a 863 to 463 all those skills really matter to get the job done on this little machine. Here are some photos of the job. Here is a link to all the photos in the forums gallery.<a href="https://www.skidsteerforum.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=52&gallerypage=0&path=463%20Bobcat%20Action" target="_blank">http://www.bobcatforum.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=52&gallerypage=0&path=463%20Bobcat%20Action</a>!<img src="https://www.skidsteerforum.com/skid2/file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Eric/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Work%20Photos/463/Resized%20800x600/IMG_6217%20(Medium).JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://www.skidsteerforum.com/skid2/file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Eric/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Work%20Photos/463/Resized%20800x600/IMG_6231%20(Medium).JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://www.skidsteerforum.com/skid2/file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Eric/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Work%20Photos/463/Resized%20800x600/IMG_6243%20(Medium).JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://www.skidsteerforum.com/skid2/file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Eric/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Work%20Photos/463/Resized%20800x600/IMG_6315%20(Medium).JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://www.skidsteerforum.com/skid2/file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Eric/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Work%20Photos/463/Resized%20800x600/IMG_6229%20(Medium).JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

Verification