I've been shopping for skid steers, for a lot of reasons. Helping collect logs for milling would be one of them. I also keep buying houses and often have projects involving regrading a lawn, or putting in a gravel driveway/parking spot, tearing out bad concrete walkways or patios, etc... I could also see using it to move heavy woodworking machinery. I have some other friends that own a lot of properties too so I could see lending/renting it out. At the end of the day though, it will probably see very low hours per year. I would plan to baby it and keep it nice.
I've been looking closely at the Bobcat A300 since it has a good 3000lb load rating (and I've read, may be able to lift double that), and most significantly, has all-wheel steering. I think this is important because I'll be using it in a residential area, and the all-wheel steering will do less damage to lawns, and also less likely to leave rubber skid marks on pavement.
I guess I'm just wondering how to go about shopping for a skid steer. There isn't a lot available in my area, so I'm mostly going to have to shop long-distance. There's an A300 available from an outfit in PA: http://www.luckysautosales.net/vehic...01091&s=111016 for $23,850 It's 2002 so pretty old, but only 1317 hours and it looks stellar. It's the lowest priced A300 I've found online, but I still don't know if it's a good deal. What would you do here, find a guy in PA and pay them to go inspect it?
I also plan to buy a dump trailer which can be used to transport the skid steer.
Thanks for any help!
Reply With Quote