Looking to buy a mini

I'm in the market for a mini skid steer. Something that has a 1000lb lift capacity like Bobcat or any other major brand. Any info on which ones to stay clear from or which ones are reliable. I see they alll seem to have there own down falls in there own way. Anyone that currently owns one or has ran many different brands please let me hear your feed back. Thanks

I have used Vermeer, Toro, Wacker, Ditch Witch and Case. I liked the Wacker the best of those. I use them to spread gravel in the bottom of basement foundations. So for me the hi drive system works best keeping the rock out of the drives. There is a lot of info on You Tube of guys comparing them all. At some point I will need to buy one as well. It will be either the Wacker or the Case. The Wacker has ride control which is a great feature on these.

The walk behind, ride behind min skidsteer track loaders are led by pretty much Toro and Ditch Witch. Machines in the last several years have become bigger and heavier and some are in the same size range and cost as small compact loaders. The ones that can sneak through a 4' wide gate can lift up to about 800lb just off the ground, but not lift that weigh to truck loading height. How much do you want to spend, what are you moving and doing, how wide can you go? How will you tow it? I've been happy with my Toro Dingo TX425 and take it to most of our job sites. Kubota makes great stuff.

PeterG said: The walk behind, ride behind min skidsteer track loaders are led by pretty much Toro and Ditch Witch. The ones that can sneak through a 4' wide gate can lift up to about 800lb just off the ground, but not lift that weigh to truck loading height. Click to expand... An error here, 800 lb cap is correct for smaller legacy ditch witch or Toro dingo, however those machines are 36" or 3 ft wide, not 4 ft. Also, a machine can absolutely lift its rated capacity to full height. The Wacker Neuson and Case that KSSS mentioned both are 36 in wide, and are rated at 1000 lbs. they are also available in 42" wide versions for better stability, and that boosts the Wacker to a 1200 lb rating. I do agree, Toro did start the whole"Dingo" thing, and Ditch Witch machines are second to none(at a premium price. . .). Try to rent or demo if possible. My guess is Case, Ditch Witch, Wacker, possibly Toro and Vermeer will not disappoint to operate. Dealer support will be one of the bigger considerations.

My experience is strictly rental so your exposed to a machine that obviously has been beaten. The Toro machines just don't seem to handle that very well. I had machines that had about 400 hours so hammered out that I couldn't hold grade with them. Having the lower drive, really doesn't work well when dealing with moving rock. The Ditch Witch haven't been perfect either. I have had to return them because they wouldn't run. I really don't like the two stick controls for movement. One of the places that rents WN also has Toro. You have to call well ahead to get your name on a WN. They are the most popular for them for rental. I like having the ability to have wider tracks, however when you rent, you get what they got. I don't need the 36" width, stability means more for my use.

So I'm not sure how "mini" you are talking, but I have an ASV RC30 and absolutely love it. It is 4' wide and under 6' tall and lifts 800lbs. I'm 5'10" and 230lbs and fit very comfortably in the operators seat, and don't feel cramped while in there. The ride is pretty good and the pilot controls are easy to get used to.....took me about 10 Hrs to get comfortable with them....(I came from Bobcat with foot and hand controls.) The machine is very maneuverable, pretty powerful...it's amazing what you can do with only 30HP. I moved and distributed about 36 yds of 1" rock around my neighbors yard in about 11/2 hours, so that gives you an idea of productivity. The big concern with these ASV units are the undercarrage. They are expensive to replace and can get chewed up in a hurry if your running around in rock. I was very careful in the above job and only did by turns on dirt areas, any maneuvering on the rocks was done gingerly with small corrections. I also don't run my machine wide open, using about 3/4 throttle works best for me as I'm easy on my equipment. If your able to rent one you should try it. Find yourself a low hour one, with a good undercarrage and you'll be pleased. Edit....I thought I should add That I'm currently replacing a drive sprocket and motor on my machine. I'm not so sure the the guy I bought it off told me the whole truth....I'm pretty sure it wasn't 100% when I bought it, but that's my problem now. It will be about $8000 Can to fix it....depending on Tariffs? Otherwise great machine.

We have a RC50 and I agree with everything OMF just posted (Good write up!). Given this type of undercarriage, these units are probably best used in an owner/operator situation. I find by doing careful sweeping turns/gentle multi point turns ground disturbance is minimized and at the same time very little 'material' finds its way into the bogie/track area. I have run a lot of tracked machinery and was quite surprised at the lack of material build up in the undercarriage. Ride & floatation is really outstanding! We also have a larger John Deere hand/foot machine; really like the pilot joystick controls on the ASV. (OMF: hopefully you can source out some less expensive options...)

OMF said: So I'm not sure how "mini" you are talking, but I have an ASV RC30 and absolutely love it. It is 4' wide and under 6' tall and lifts 800lbs. I'm 5'10" and 230lbs and fit very comfortably in the operators seat, and don't feel cramped while in there. The ride is pretty good and the pilot controls are easy to get used to.....took me about 10 Hrs to get comfortable with them....(I came from Bobcat with foot and hand controls.) The machine is very maneuverable, pretty powerful...it's amazing what you can do with only 30HP. I moved and distributed about 36 yds of 1" rock around my neighbors yard in about 11/2 hours, so that gives you an idea of productivity. The big concern with these ASV units are the undercarrage. They are expensive to replace and can get chewed up in a hurry if your running around in rock. I was very careful in the above job and only did by turns on dirt areas, any maneuvering on the rocks was done gingerly with small corrections. I also don't run my machine wide open, using about 3/4 throttle works best for me as I'm easy on my equipment. If your able to rent one you should try it. Find yourself a low hour one, with a good undercarrage and you'll be pleased. Edit....I thought I should add That I'm currently replacing a drive sprocket and motor on my machine. I'm not so sure the the guy I bought it off told me the whole truth....I'm pretty sure it wasn't 100% when I bought it, but that's my problem now. It will be about $8000 Can to fix it....depending on Tariffs? Otherwise great machine. Click to expand... I used to service the RC-30's and RC-50's. They were a Home Depot Tool Rental staple about 20 years ago. Tough little machines. If you are replacing the roller drive sprocket, that sprocket has to be loctited on with a special green locktite. I don't recall the loctite number right now. It is just one bolt and a tapered shaft coming from the drive motor. The tracks give a decent ride, but are they ever a bear to change.

TXRweather said: I used to service the RC-30's and RC-50's. They were a Home Depot Tool Rental staple about 20 years ago. Tough little machines. If you are replacing the roller drive sprocket, that sprocket has to be loctited on with a special green locktite. I don't recall the loctite number right now. It is just one bolt and a tapered shaft coming from the drive motor. The tracks give a decent ride, but are they ever a bear to change. Click to expand... Not enough travel on tensioning 'rod' to slack tracks enough?

BC Placer gold said: Not enough travel on tensioning 'rod' to slack tracks enough? Click to expand... Nope. You have to pull the front wheel off, let the new tracks sit out in the sun for a day, grab a couple of cans of spray silicone lube, a long handled 8 pound sledge, 6' pry bar, a come-a-long, a bunch of wood blocks for shims and to pound on, 2 guys and an elephant that knows a bunch of spicy swear words. I went to ASV maintenance school back in the mid 2000's. One of the instructors bet us he could put a track on in under 30 minutes by himself. We all laughed out loud and disagreed and bet him a steak dinner he couldn't do it. Needless to say, 2.5 hours later and 8 guys helping him, the track was finally back on and we all got a free steak dinner that night. Does your RC-50 have the Perkins Diesel in it?

Appreciate that detailed info, now I know what I have to look forward to! I went out after I posted that question and looked closer at the undercarriage; I think I understand the problem now! Unfortunately…yes the Perkins. Based on the serial number breakdown I believe this one was made in the US so fingers crossed it will be okay…

BC Placer gold said: Appreciate that detailed info, now I know what I have to look forward to! I went out after I posted that question and looked closer at the undercarriage; I think I understand the problem now! Unfortunately…yes the Perkins. Based on the serial number breakdown I believe this one was made in the US so fingers crossed it will be okay… Click to expand... Just had a machine that appeared to half a lot of blowback be a blown head gasket, was pushing compression into the pushrod cavity. The undercarriage have their problems, I wish they would use a cotter pin and castle nut instead of those lock nuts. The tensioners were pretty stuck so we had to pull them and free them up with heat in the vice before compressing tracks. I think we took the inner rear bogie off to get the tracks on but it was still a pain

TXRweather said: I used to service the RC-30's and RC-50's. They were a Home Depot Tool Rental staple about 20 years ago. Tough little machines. If you are replacing the roller drive sprocket, that sprocket has to be loctited on with a special green locktite. I don't recall the loctite number right now. It is just one bolt and a tapered shaft coming from the drive motor. The tracks give a decent ride, but are they ever a bear to change. Click to expand... Yes, Locktite 680 and the primer as well. I think the guy who sold me my machine had the key break and then that allowed the sprocket to rotate on the tapered shaft. Once he discovered that, I think he replaced the key, got out his 20' snipe and tightened the **** out of the castle nut.....which kept it together long enough for him to sell it to me. After about 25-30 hours, it the started making grinding noises and after taking it apart I found lots of damage.