Skid steer lifts more for similar dollars. Probably pushes more too. Not so sure on traction, but with chains (if a wheeled skid steer) is probably a wash.
A tractor is a lot more versatile, but if you're limiting yourself to only tasks that a skid steer does better, then a skid steer will be better. I guess maintaining gravel arguably a tractor would do better if you use a 3 pt implement for it, rather than using the bucket.
I would have thought the secondary uses are actually the reason you'd look at a tractor instead. (Assuming those are mostly uses that a tractor would do better)
The secondary side of this saga is like 50 shades of tractor. But Im home now and I will elaborate more just so that ive covered it in my head.
The simple solution would be for me to sell my shops, 4 of my properties and move to a mental institution.
The solution for my issues and needs requires some background. I own two automotive shops a small towing business 5 properties one of them is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and in the jungle. The others are in an area that can go three years without a winter then it snows starting in October we get a foot or two at a time its wet then freezes then melts a bit then we get another foot or two and this can go on until the end of April. I own two tractors with many implements to handle this all open cabs. I no longer care to move snow while soaking wet ever again. So I need a unit with a cab and heat and since it will be enclosed it will need AC.
My larger tractor is almost ready to ship to Hawaii and I am concerned because my search for the solution which started two years ago is about to be at a crossroads. I also was reminded tonight why I need equipment. Last nights wind storm knocked a 40 foot section off a huge pine tree and its laying on roof of my shop which is partially caved in along with the side of said roof. I cannot be without some sort of equipment. Tomorrow morning me and the grapple will cut it off the roof and drag it free from the building.
What I need in Hawaii is a 50 plus HP excavator a 60 HP skid steer and a 20 HP tractor. Of which if I just retire and sell three or four properties I might just make the Kubota dealers day and order up exactly what I want. Meanwhile back to reality I’m not retiring for two to four years. My L4701 is headed west on a ship in less than a month and I need to make a decision.
If I just buy a tractor with a cab for my immediate needs here, it needs to be 40 plus HP but not 60 plus HP the Mx6000 is about as big as I can have so that my employees wont be afraid to use it around vehicles and not to mention loading drums or parts in some brand new truck. reality is the 4701 was the perfect tractor for here. But it does not have a cab. And it needs to be this big or I can’t manage the snow well enough. Plus I drag part cars around that are missing suspension components. This is something the skid steer will outperform the tractors by a lot.
The easy answer I buy a new skid steer with tracks maybe not the best for snow on ice but probably as functional as my tractor with cable chains. When I do retire and sell out have steel tracks installed and migrate it to Hawaii ( I know this is not going to be cheap) that’s if I sell here and the buyer doesn’t want it or can’t afford it. At which point if I still want an excavator I’ll sell the L4701 over there which will probably be worth more than it is here now.
The tractor I would just buy in Hawaii doesn’t exist they have not had what I actually wanted in two years of this quest and ordering a tractor there is complex yeah that’s the word I want to use and its complex because they have no idea when one will be built and delivers I mean no idea and then there priced about 25% or more than on the mainland. And that’s all compounded by the fact that here I gain the depreciation and tax deductions through the business and Oregon has no sales tax so its half the money for me to buy a new tractor here use it until I retire and ship it there.
Now all that being said if I buy a tractor for just here that tractor will probably never hit 300 hours it will never have a PTO shaft hooked to it. It will move snow, gravel mud, dirt and cars and car parts. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around $70K just so I’m not cold and wet for a few years if it ever snows here again. We have not had a real winter in several years. And the question of hiring someone to plow us out well its an option but it comes with issues. One is there’s a shortage of people who do this here and because I have never needed this service I will not be first on the list to be plowed out every day that it snows enough. Next is they cannot plow out close to and around the cars like we do with a tractor and its vital when were losing parking to the mountains of snow we have to pile up all over the place. If we have one of those heavy winters I can loose enough money in one year from not being plowed out quickly that it literally covers half this expense which is also part of this. When it comes right down to the costs I cannot afford to be without a tractor that’s adequate to plow out the shops and the tow trucks.
Well I hope this wasn’t a boring read. I think I make things harder than they need to be but there is no magical solution.
