looking to own...anyone have advice?

[Flagman]

I have several acres of recently cut timber land to clean up. What advice could you gentlemen give in regards to wheel or track, horsepower, grapple bucket, etc? I will use the machine afterward for general farm work. My budget may prevent a CTL. Any advice, experience, horror stories will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Tazza]

I guess it depends on what sort of land you have and what you want to do. Are you just cleaning up brush/moving trees?
Type of soil will dictate if you are best to go with tracks or tyres. Tyres are cheaper to run, tracks are far better on soft soils.
How much are you looking at lifting? The mid sized machines are rated to lift about 700kg/1,500lb. You can generally lift twice that, but your machine will want to tip.

 

[Tman0001]

You really need to considere how your going to use the machine i.e what type of work and what tghe expected and unexpceted conditions will be. Personally I thiunk if your going to be offorad alot your far better off withthe track machine..you could end up loosing alot of time in productivity getting stuck with a tire machine v.s track in off road apps. TRack machine are a real pain in the ass to work with for service so IF your planning to do your own service work I would reccommend that you study the machine before you buy for ease of maintenace issues i.e easy access. I have found from my own experience the bobcats trac k load is effective in productiveity but a serious pain in ther ass to work on..nothing is easily accessable. U can go to UTUBE.com and compare videos which may give U some insight on each machines performance and maintenance. I intend to get away from Bobcat and switch to terex or asv myself because of the maintenance accessability issue and performance. Also take into consideration how many dealers are near your location for parts and service. in my area we only have one to cover a 100 mile radiuus..and they know it..try getting discounts on parts etc..FORGET IT!!! Good luc in your choice.

 

[Bobcatdan]

You really need to considere how your going to use the machine i.e what type of work and what tghe expected and unexpceted conditions will be. Personally I thiunk if your going to be offorad alot your far better off withthe track machine..you could end up loosing alot of time in productivity getting stuck with a tire machine v.s track in off road apps. TRack machine are a real pain in the ass to work with for service so IF your planning to do your own service work I would reccommend that you study the machine before you buy for ease of maintenace issues i.e easy access. I have found from my own experience the bobcats trac k load is effective in productiveity but a serious pain in ther ass to work on..nothing is easily accessable. U can go to UTUBE.com and compare videos which may give U some insight on each machines performance and maintenance. I intend to get away from Bobcat and switch to terex or asv myself because of the maintenance accessability issue and performance. Also take into consideration how many dealers are near your location for parts and service. in my area we only have one to cover a 100 mile radiuus..and they know it..try getting discounts on parts etc..FORGET IT!!! Good luc in your choice.

I think the OP would do fine with a wheel machine with over the tire tracks for the sticky stuff. Too many people make the mistake of buying a track machine when they really don't need one. Tracks add a hefty added cost with undercarriage repairs. Most guys working in the woods perfer OTT tracks to a ctl as working in woods is hard on the track. Plus 90% of the time you don't need the floation of tracks, you can take them off. My $.02, stay away from asv's. awesome machines when they work, ungodly expensive to completely rebuild the undercarriage every 800 hrs.