Moving a dead skid steer.

[de03x7]

This idea was brought up by USA#1 in the Repairing a burned Bobcat S250 thread.
I used this chart http://www.tracksandtires.com/skid-steer-tire-sizes.html to get an idea of the wheelbase range that I would need to deal with. It looks like 35" to 50" will cover most anything I would be working with. There are some smaller machines and some larger but they are outside the window that I would be interested in. Some modification could be made to work with the others if that is what you have.
Here is what I have in mind. Hopefully you can see what I am thinking between the description and the picture. If anyone sees something that they think will be a problem bring it up so it can be worked out before it is built so it doesn't have to be redone. The round would bolt to the hub of the machine. It could be cut from some steel plate or be made from an old wheel. The piece coming from the round to the square to stand it off would be 6-8 inches and made from either pipe or square tube, I would use whichever one I had available. The hub would bolt to the square. Between each of these I would run two pieces of pipe or tube that would slide together to keep the hubs squared. They would adjust to whatever wheel base you were dealing with and could be clamped together with a couple T handle bolts, the arrows in the picture.

The hubs could come from trailer axles or rear hubs from a front wheel drive car. I don't think it would have to be extremely heavy duty as this would only be used to load a dead machine on the trailer or to move it into a shop.
I have at least five months before I can even hope to start this so I am open to any thoughts you may have. It has been 30-40 below zero here for the past week and a half so I wouldn't be messing with it now even if I had the stuff to do it. It has warmed up to 20 below tonight but still a long way from messing around outside weather.

 

[mahans7]

Looks interesting. Having trouble visualizing what the square block does and how it would roll. Sounds like you have the same work area as I do, my driveway. Today we had 70's/rain and it would be rough trying to work at 20 below!

 

[SkidRoe]

Few things come to mind: The hub adapters would have to be able to rotate in order to have them align with the wheel studs; even if you were to get one to line up, chances are the other one would not. The other thing that I was thinking is you would need some sort of tow bar to connect to the machine to tow and maneuver it. Pushing by hand or pulling it with a chain will be difficult if not dangerous. Once you have it where you want it, you would definitely need to chalk the wheels. This rig would have a real chance of getting away from you if you didn't. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good idea, just a few things to address.

 

[jerry]

Few things come to mind: The hub adapters would have to be able to rotate in order to have them align with the wheel studs; even if you were to get one to line up, chances are the other one would not. The other thing that I was thinking is you would need some sort of tow bar to connect to the machine to tow and maneuver it. Pushing by hand or pulling it with a chain will be difficult if not dangerous. Once you have it where you want it, you would definitely need to chalk the wheels. This rig would have a real chance of getting away from you if you didn't. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good idea, just a few things to address.

I don't see any reason to connect the front wheels to the rear . May only need to put the devices on the rear axles , after you take the bucket off there is very little weight on the front wheels so just drag them or if you do make 4 devices also make a trailer hitch adapter to clamp onto the bucket to push,pull and control the whole operation with. It might be easier to just modify a car hauling dolly, extend the tongue long enough to reach the front end and put the dolly under the rear . Pick up the tongue with another machine move or slip a caster wheel on it so it can be rolled.

 

[de03x7]

I don't see any reason to connect the front wheels to the rear . May only need to put the devices on the rear axles , after you take the bucket off there is very little weight on the front wheels so just drag them or if you do make 4 devices also make a trailer hitch adapter to clamp onto the bucket to push,pull and control the whole operation with. It might be easier to just modify a car hauling dolly, extend the tongue long enough to reach the front end and put the dolly under the rear . Pick up the tongue with another machine move or slip a caster wheel on it so it can be rolled.

mahans7, the square plate would be for bolting on a hub. The round section would bolt to the machines hub and everything to the square plate would be rigid. The hub would then free wheel so the machine could be rolled around.
SkidRoe, A tow bar is a good idea. I would winch the dead machine onto the trailer and could control it coming off but once it was on the ground I would need a way to safely move it around.
jerry, I don't know if I would need a brace between the two either. If I made the standoff from pipe I could make a brace that clamped around it later if needed.
I would welcome any other ideas, if anyone has tried this before and knows what works and what don't it would save me the trouble of making the same errors.

 

[ancomcabs]

mahans7, the square plate would be for bolting on a hub. The round section would bolt to the machines hub and everything to the square plate would be rigid. The hub would then free wheel so the machine could be rolled around.
SkidRoe, A tow bar is a good idea. I would winch the dead machine onto the trailer and could control it coming off but once it was on the ground I would need a way to safely move it around.
jerry, I don't know if I would need a brace between the two either. If I made the standoff from pipe I could make a brace that clamped around it later if needed.
I would welcome any other ideas, if anyone has tried this before and knows what works and what don't it would save me the trouble of making the same errors.

The idea sounds good but unless you are in the business of moving dead skid steers around often it seems like a lot of work. I've had equiptment (woodworking) delivered and moved around the shop many times by flatbed ramp trucks and equiptment dollies, a lot of it over 5000lbs and it is not that difficult. That said once inside it is on a smooth concrete floor and things roll pretty easily. I think the biggest hurdle would be moving it on rough or unpaved ground.
I know that everyone does not have this luxury but when I was cleaning/painting my 630 I left the wheels off and was able to move it with my small fork lift in and out of the building, I think it weighs in at about 3700lbs but with the ROPS and wheels off probably closer to 3200

 

[want2wheel]

The idea sounds good but unless you are in the business of moving dead skid steers around often it seems like a lot of work. I've had equiptment (woodworking) delivered and moved around the shop many times by flatbed ramp trucks and equiptment dollies, a lot of it over 5000lbs and it is not that difficult. That said once inside it is on a smooth concrete floor and things roll pretty easily. I think the biggest hurdle would be moving it on rough or unpaved ground.
I know that everyone does not have this luxury but when I was cleaning/painting my 630 I left the wheels off and was able to move it with my small fork lift in and out of the building, I think it weighs in at about 3700lbs but with the ROPS and wheels off probably closer to 3200

Would you be worried about the center of gravity? I think that I would just buy a set of wheel dollies. There are several types, and they can be cheap or they can jack up the wheel with a lever. Like these: http://www.completehydraulic.com/wheel-dollies-jmwd12003.html http://www.completehydraulic.com/wheel-positioning-jacks-jmvp12001.html These are just some ideas. They can be purchased cheaper. This was a quick search.

 

[mahans7]

Would you be worried about the center of gravity? I think that I would just buy a set of wheel dollies. There are several types, and they can be cheap or they can jack up the wheel with a lever. Like these: http://www.completehydraulic.com/wheel-dollies-jmwd12003.html http://www.completehydraulic.com/wheel-positioning-jacks-jmvp12001.html These are just some ideas. They can be purchased cheaper. This was a quick search.

One problem with the dollies are the small wheels which probably wouldn't roll well in dirt, muck or snow.