New Bobcat Owner from California

[ryantowry_81]

Hello all!! My name is Ryan and i recently purchased a old Bobcat 530. I purchased it for 3500 running with 1100 hours. came with forks and a 60" toothed bucket. recently repainted to hide a lot of corrosion that i did not see at the time of purchase but still operable. here she is loaded up coming home: guy i purchased it from said it originally had a 48" bucket but someone stole it and that he bought it from the original owner that used it with a backhoe attachment on the coast, hence the corrosion. To be honest i did not really pour over this machine like i should have when buying because i got in it and started driving and was so excited i forgot about anything but taking it home. I am a mechanical Engineer/ Project Manager for a living specializing in food and beverage piping. My main goal for this machine to maintain the 2.5 acres we have in Grass Valley CA. I have alot of bushes to remove, drainage paths to regrade and concrete to rip out and replace so i see me using her quite a bit on weekends once i get it all tuned up. I am a hobbiest fabricator also so i am really excited for the range of new gadgets i can build once i get the AUX hydraulics back in working order. Thanks for having me Guys and Gals!!! i am excited to start picking peoples brains and actually be able to contribute to the conversations i have been reading. Cheers!!!

 

[Tazza]

Welcome to the site.
The machine looks nice.
Any ideas on the attachments you plan on building for it?

 

[ryantowry_81]

Welcome to the site.
The machine looks nice.
Any ideas on the attachments you plan on building for it?

thanks for having me. long term i would love to put a grapple on the bucket to help with removing bushes and picking up random rocks/logs etc, build a log splitter, and some type of small brush/ lawn mower. Unfortunately i have a fulltime job and three daughters under 5 so not as much time for fun projects as i used to. I do have a old non running lawn tractor with a 42" deck sitting on the side of my house i have been contemplating trying to find a hydraulic motor for but i wish it was 48" so it could cover the track width of the tractor.

 

[Tazza]

thanks for having me. long term i would love to put a grapple on the bucket to help with removing bushes and picking up random rocks/logs etc, build a log splitter, and some type of small brush/ lawn mower. Unfortunately i have a fulltime job and three daughters under 5 so not as much time for fun projects as i used to. I do have a old non running lawn tractor with a 42" deck sitting on the side of my house i have been contemplating trying to find a hydraulic motor for but i wish it was 48" so it could cover the track width of the tractor.

Yeah, i can see that limiting your time.
You can get a motor to adapt the slasher, just be warned that getting enough torque can be an issue with a smaller machine. You need to have enough flow and pressure to get enough power to it to cut well.
The grapple is an easy one that will be very handy.

 

[ryantowry_81]

Yeah, i can see that limiting your time.
You can get a motor to adapt the slasher, just be warned that getting enough torque can be an issue with a smaller machine. You need to have enough flow and pressure to get enough power to it to cut well.
The grapple is an easy one that will be very handy.

yeah after running some calculations i figured a normal brush cutter might be a bit much but a smaller cutting deck of a riding motor with triple blades would be alot shorter and require less torque to keep spinning under load and still be wide enough for my little machine. the grapple is definitely first on my list though after pulling out some black berry bushes the other day.