I have never rented one of these before, until now. I had it for seven days to use it on my farm. We made a list of things to do with it and got most of them done. Using it to drill post holes, move around mulch, dirt and other debris it really came in handy. I called my local equipment rental and they got me all set up with what I needed to do some work on my farm for a week. They delivered the buckets, drill and skid steer on a trailer and unloaded it for me. And showed me the basics of how to drive it and to operate the buckets. We talked about the fuel and how to operate when cold and then we got to work once we felt confident in how to operate the machine.
Drilling over 40 holes in just one afternoon it really proved itself quickly. Only took a minutes which would probably 45 minutes each hole.. And doing 40 of them would take much longer without the skid steers help.
Laying the way to build the solar panel posts and deer fence corners/gates. I concreted in those posts with four 80 pound bags of concrete. Will be quite strong vehicle gates and corners for the 1/3 acre garden.
And the bucket attachments were great too. They gave us too kinds to use, one with teeth and the other a flat bucket.
Honestly we just used the flat bucket for everything and the auger drill bit for the holes. They detach using a clamp system all operated inside the cab. So you could technically not get out to do a tool change on the skid steer.
It moved dirt like a champ and after a few dozen loads it got a nice wall up by my workshop where we needed some more dirt.
Clearing the forest road was quite easy, and made quick work of little mounds that were blocking truck access. We could also push over stumps and such.
forest road before skid steer above, lots of tree stumps still in the way along with large trunks right on the side of the road.
forest road after skid steer above, moved the stumps, smoothed out the ground driving the skid steer over and over again on the forest road and got rid of stumps.
Though deeper into the forest road nature got its revenge and knocked the tracks off one side of the skid steer.
We called the rental company and they offered to walk us over the phone how to reattach the track. Alternatively they offer onsite help for $75 an hour, so we opted for that.
The same guy that delivered the skid steer earlier in the week was also the guy to come out and fix it.
He used blocks to get the tracks off the ground, and at one point climbed under the boom.. Hah no thanks!
With the skid steer up in the air he could work on it now. Watching him work was something else, and later on when I we had to try to put the tracks on again when they fell of he made it look so easy.
We cleared out some of the trees next to it so he could get better access.. Really broke down in a bad spot. Luckily it was not too muddy, just a bunch of downed trees around us we were clearing a the time of the break down.
After loosening the track he put these metal bars inside to help him align it back.
I swear he made it look so easy.
He drove an old 4x4 Ford Ranger pickup, it was a manual too.. pretty bad ass.
Here are the two buckets, the flat one is good for moving dirt while the toothed one is good to knocking out stumps and roots.
It is pretty comfortable to sit in, but once you get moving its quite shaky. The slower you drive it the more smooth it rides. It has a few speed modes so you can find what works well for you. Sorry about my thumb in the picture...lol
The controls on the side, I use two joy sticks.. One for moving and the other to operate the arm controls. The idle speed of the vehicle will change how fast these controls move the parts. Its best to turn down the idle speed otherwise it can make for very jerky movement of the bucket.
It even has a built in stereo, but I found wearing headphones works better. Since its already so loud inside the cabin you really have to look around to know what is going on otherwise you would never notice someone behind you with all the noise it makes. It is important for those working around skid steers to stay away and be aware of them as the driver may not be aware of you.
We destroyed an old tree stump that was in the way of where we wanted to drive. Took a few minutes but eventually it got flattened and pushed out of the way. Before renting we tried to dig it out but we just not really going anywhere. So another job the skid steer finished off for us.
Using this machine was quite the experience. And for anyone that can afford $1500 and needs to some major work on their property it may just be worth it. We got close to 40 hours of work out of it, and really shows around here. Saved us logs of digging, and got rid of stumps we could not have done much about besides chipping away slowly. Some jobs the skid steer did in 5 minutes that would take us hours.
Looking forward to buying my own, but I need a place to store it. Though many keep them out in the elements I would rather garage a large investment like a skid steer, so I will wait for my work shop to be finished and then I can consider buying one of my own.
