Newbie skidsteer and attachment questions

[djphelan01]

I'm new to skidsteers and their attachments. I bought a Bobcat S185 mostly to play with on my property and to clear snow from the driveway in the winter. I will be using it to maintain a motocros track and whatever other projects I can find and use it for. So far I have a snowplow, pallet forks, toothed bucket and a backhoe attachment. I was planning on getting a smooth bucket and some type of grapple to carry logs with instead of moving the splitter to the logs. My question is, what attachments have been the most bang for the buck for just residential use and are there certain brands of attachments to stay clear of or ceratin ones to look for? Another question my skidsteer only had 400hrs on it when I bought it are there certain things with this model I should watch for?

 

[Mr_C]

I have found that one of my most used attachments on my farm is the pallet forks. I use them for a lot of things i never thought of before I got them. I bought it just for moving pallets of stuff, but recently I have used it for digging/hauling big slabs of concrete, digging out roots, moving car chassis, etc. I agree you will want a smooth bucket. You might consider looking for a 4 in 1 bucket, as it would serve the purpose both being your smooth bucket and could be used much like a grapple to move logs around (although only one at a time). I think you would also find some of its features very handy when working on the grade on your MX track. I recently purchased one and found that it allows me to do some more precise work that I wasn't able to do with just a normal bucket.

 

[frogfarmer]

I have found that one of my most used attachments on my farm is the pallet forks. I use them for a lot of things i never thought of before I got them. I bought it just for moving pallets of stuff, but recently I have used it for digging/hauling big slabs of concrete, digging out roots, moving car chassis, etc. I agree you will want a smooth bucket. You might consider looking for a 4 in 1 bucket, as it would serve the purpose both being your smooth bucket and could be used much like a grapple to move logs around (although only one at a time). I think you would also find some of its features very handy when working on the grade on your MX track. I recently purchased one and found that it allows me to do some more precise work that I wasn't able to do with just a normal bucket.

I have a farm and the same equipment and the only attachment I am considering is a rotary brush cutter (Bush Hog). I use my forks more than any other attachment on the farm. I seldom use the backhoe because I have a fullsize dedicated machine. My vote is for a brush cutter.

 

[jkwilson]

Although I don't own it, one of the handiest attachments I've ever used was a log splitter. It was way handier to move the splitter to the logs. All the mess stayed in the woods, and we never had to lift anything bigger than a quarter log. This one mounted to the quicktach and could be mounted splitter down so you could set it on a log section, or it could be moved 90 degrees right and or rotated splitter up or splitter forward.

 

[Mr_C]

Although I don't own it, one of the handiest attachments I've ever used was a log splitter. It was way handier to move the splitter to the logs. All the mess stayed in the woods, and we never had to lift anything bigger than a quarter log. This one mounted to the quicktach and could be mounted splitter down so you could set it on a log section, or it could be moved 90 degrees right and or rotated splitter up or splitter forward.

Not to hijack the thread, but how much did you really use the rotating feature on the log splitter? I have a log splitter set up as a small trailer, but only use it with my skidsteer so I am considering putting it on a plate and taking the axle off of it. I have been considering the idea of making it rotatable as you discribe, but haven't decided if it was really worth the effort or not. Do you think so? Anything else you would change to make it better?

 

[jkwilson]

Not to hijack the thread, but how much did you really use the rotating feature on the log splitter? I have a log splitter set up as a small trailer, but only use it with my skidsteer so I am considering putting it on a plate and taking the axle off of it. I have been considering the idea of making it rotatable as you discribe, but haven't decided if it was really worth the effort or not. Do you think so? Anything else you would change to make it better?

We used it quite a bit. We had an opportunity to cut several very large hickory trees that had been knocked down by a storm in a park. These things were 2 to 3ft diameter with some splits and twists. We could just cut the log into stove lengths, and drive along with the skid steer and split them on the ground by lowering the splitter over the wood. We only had to roll the big sections or turn them 90 degrees. Way easier than lifting. Once they were down to quarter sections, we rotated the splitter back to normal to finish the job. The splitter had a joint made from about 4" square tube that had holes on all 4 sides for pins. The coupler was a solid steel bar that fit inside the tube and had matching holes to allow the thing to be connected in any direction, then the whole thing had a pin similar to a tractor rear blade to allow for swiveling. I believe he unpinned it to allow mounting just the plate so he didn't have to hold all the weight to get it aligned.