# Uses for a small skid steer



## FlyingDutchman (Dec 4, 2019)

Bad gas is a constant problem around my place. 

Recently, I got a small skid steer ( 36" wide, 500lb lift cap, no aux hydraulics) going. Cleaned the horse stalls in a jiffy!

I am trying to engineer more ways to use the mini skid to keep the fuel fresh and solve manual labor problems around the farm. 

One major problem seems to be fenceline mowing and trim mowing in the horse pastures. Literally, I'm dealing with of snaggle jungle that if unchecked turns a fenceline into a 30 foot no fly zone from Vietnam by July. I only have a tow behind 2 spindle brush hog and a tractor with one brake, a sticky clutch and a prayer that keeps it running. This is fine in the open field but impossible in tight areas. I also have a brush blade on my FS90R Stihl. VERY effective, but miles of fenceline.... Too much.

I think it would be handy to have a front mounted mower I can raise and lower to get overtop of large brush like poison hemlock and parsnip and chew it up and flatten it. Ideally, I could use it at any angle to take care of small tree branches, too.

I thought about like an 8hp engine and a single blade on a fabricated deck similar to a DR field and brush mower. The bucket and resulting mower would only be around 36" wide. But most engines cannot operate at an angle. Due to the small size, and potentially limited power and angle of such an attachment, don't know how useful it would be. Also thought about making a flail mower out of an old snow blower, but I think they turn too slow to work right.

The next attachment would be patterned after the Westendorf Brush Crusher. Instead of a wide claw deal, it would be patterned closer to an excavator thumb with very focused grip for things like rounds too big to lift onto the splitter, small piles of brush, scrap, rocks, tree branches in the way, etc.. 

Again, too small to be effective maybe. 

Any ideas?


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## uniballer (Dec 4, 2019)

Could your machine provide auxiliary hydraulics with a few extra parts (i.e. was it offered on that model)? Or is there just not enough hydraulic pump capacity?


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## FlyingDutchman (Dec 4, 2019)

They did offer aux hydraulics, but the machine is too old to be able to find an aux valve without great difficulty. 

With a power beyond valve in front of the existing valve, hoses, cylinder, materials etc, the cost of the project for a true grapple becomes pretty big ($600) pretty fast, and the pump is pretty small somewhere around 6gpm and won't run a motor for instance. A hydraulic switching valve is a possibility out on the boom from the bucket cylinder flow, but its still nearly $400 in hoses, cylinder etc to get that done.

Each project I'm trying to keep under $200


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## rwoods (Dec 5, 2019)

Unless you skid steer already has a door, you will likely eat up your budget constructing necessary operator protection if you go with a rotary cutter.

Otherwise I would say get you an old Graveley with a 30” mower and mount it with some sort of remote control of the PTO. Keep the running gear and you would find lots of other uses for your “attachment”.

Ron


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## FlyingDutchman (Dec 5, 2019)

My Dad collects Gravely walk behind tractors. Plenty of attachments and tractors to solve this mowing problem. He doesn't want me to "tear them up in the fences". This is an ongoing but amicable tiff between us.

Very good point on the operator protection. I do get pretty splattered when using the pull behind mower. I've seen a hydraulic brush mower work on a big skid steer and I was really impressed, but that was full cab with AC.


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## FlyingDutchman (Jan 15, 2020)

Was able to use the skid steer to move snow with the 40 0r 50 some inch materials bucket (compared to the 36" normal bucket) grandad had off of a larger Gehl machine. Had around 2-3" of snow but enough to take too long to clear with the single stage blower I have. I was able to clear the drive in 30-40 minutes before work. It has a running issue where one cylinder is loading up with fuel which slowed me down. Worked very, very well.


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## nolids (Jan 15, 2020)

I have a mini skid steer with several attachments, one of which is the bucket. I got a free weed wacker (that looks like a lawn mower) that fits inside my small bucket. It sticks out the front just right to cut weeds and can be angled to run against a fence line once strapped on.


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## FlyingDutchman (Jan 15, 2020)

Do you have any pictures of the weed whacker set up on your machine? Sounds cool!


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## nolids (Jan 15, 2020)

FlyingDutchman said:


> Do you have any pictures of the weed whacker set up on your machine? Sounds cool!



*Ariens 946154 Walk-Behind String Trimmer, 149cc Engine, 22-In. - Quantity 1*



1 rating

*$504.99*
Free Shipping


I don't have pictures but here is what I have. It didn't run, so I installed a HF mower engine.


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## FlyingDutchman (Jan 16, 2020)

My dad has a mower like that, a DR Trimmer mower. My original idea for a bit wider of a cut than just that machine can provide. (36" give or take). 

How well does it work? Benefits? Drawbacks? I know that if you walk behind his machine, you get covered in green, and its pretty exhausting to push haha.


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## nolids (Jan 16, 2020)

My mini has a platform to stand on so I don't get any debris. How do I like it? It works out perfectly-- I don't get winded and it makes the cuts that I need. The thick trimmer lines last pretty good, but you have to be careful on chain link fences and sharp rocks.


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## nolids (Jan 18, 2020)




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## FlyingDutchman (Jan 21, 2020)

Yeah the DR is exactly like that! Should sit right in the bucket. Great idea!


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## 62barsoom (Jan 26, 2020)

Star tron is hands down the best gas treatment I've ever used. My 2 cycle stuff starts right up after winter in the barn. Everytime I fill the 5 gallon can it gets a dose. They have a diesel formula as well.





Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


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## FlyingDutchman (Jan 26, 2020)

I guess I'm not a huge fan of fuel additives. I have been intrigued by the star Tron though and will give it a look. 
Using nox-ice in the big endloader I have because it did have a water problem and I'm trying to get it cleaned out. 

The skid steer works great for moving snow. I'm able to maintain my drive after 2-3 inches of snow in about 30 minutes before work. It will get enough snow in the bucket where it will lift the back tires off the ground. The big endloader has to come out when moving much more than that.


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## FlyingDutchman (Feb 4, 2022)

Small Skid Steer Tire/Rim Change


I have a mini skid Gehl HL360. Its 36" wide overall and uses 5.70-12 Chevron tires (5x4.5 bolt pattern) which are 22" tall. I only need that WIDTH for one task: cleaning horse stalls or getting in tight places 36" or more due to turning radius. We clean by hand every day so we haven't been using...




www.arboristsite.com




Got the skidsteer widened up with different tires and rims, put a pile of work into it. It absolutely kicks butt plowing the drive. Love it. It runs pretty well also with a choke adjustment that took about 7 hours to get perfect. Turns out perfect choke placement is critical when snarfing 16hp of air through a 1.25" hole. Next solution will be a complete reroute of the cable so it doesn't have to be jacked with when I redo the hydrostatic drive belt (which requires engine removal).

I'm still contemplating a grapple bucket. Supposedly, with a small winch you can us it to do the clamping force and heavy springs for return force on winch retract. @davedj1 from this site had made a grapple like this. I can't decide if that would be more useful or the Westenforf "brush crusher" type. 

Harbor Freight 2500 lb winch with a remote control ($64) would be perfect for this, and I wouldn't have to fabricate an entirely new bucket, and I could add the grapple to other buckets just by welding on pin holes for the swingarm/spring anchor/winch anchor. The crusher type would be possibly more elegant and quick and robust. But, much more time and money intensive to build.


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## FlyingDutchman (Feb 16, 2022)

Ended up buying a Harbor Freight winch to do a spring retracted grapple like @davedj1 just need to get the bucket on the welding table and get started. The cheapest winch that would work went off-sale as soon as I went in to buy it so I ended up spending 80 some bucks for a bit nicer one.

I'm kind of thinking about making some different designs, possibly making a grapple that has fingers that grip like a hand as the cable tensions. For a first one, just a single hinge is probably best.


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## sonny580 (Feb 17, 2022)

One thing that HF sells that is truly JUNK is their winches! The wiring in them burn out fast and they wind cable til the load starts rolling then they stop! A 12,000 pound one came on the neighbors big trailer and it wont even pull a Farmall cub up his ramp! None of them electrics are what they are advertised to be. IF you want a real winch,---go mechanical drive!


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## FlyingDutchman (Feb 18, 2022)

Sonny, this particular application shouldn't tax it too bad. Even if it only partially works it should close the jaw. I hated buying it too honestly, but it was the absolute minimum investment to do what I wanted to do.


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## sonny580 (Feb 18, 2022)

Ya, I know the ole cash flow problems all too well! I was just wanting you to know that IF you are careful with it, --- Then you should be o.k.! Good luck on your bucket!


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## esshup (Feb 20, 2022)

I'd only use non-ethanol fuel in it. The alcohol that is in the blended fuels absolutely kills carbs over time. Since you don't know what kind of junk you have in the fuel tank, be religious about changing fuel filters (I had one go bad - it broke apart within the housing and let a bunch of junk get to the carb, plugging it). I would also run SeaFoam as a fuel system cleaner and some sort of preservative, such as Marine grade Stabil or the Star Tron stuff. You may think it's all advertising hype, but I've had poorly running motors clear up with a dose of SeaFoam.


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## FlyingDutchman (Feb 21, 2022)

I do use hightest or non-ethanol whenever possible, and Seafoam as needed. So far as I can tell, that has been enough. Every problem I've had in the last couple years has been not related to fuel, mostly ignition and being stored outside, wiring corrosion, and other environmental issues that end up seeming like fuel but end up not being fuel.


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## FlyingDutchman (Mar 31, 2022)

Been cutting brush off of fencelines and found that the little skid steer is extremely handy just pushing piles of brush along the ground into the fire piles, forget picking it up with a grapple...

The microscopic 36" bucket is perfect for getting inside ground countours that a bigger bucket will miss. End up with what looks like a finely raked surface. And the piles I'm pushing can be really pretty big (car sized) before it begins to struggle especially to pick it up/roll it over onto the fire pile.

Still have not sealed the deal on fabricating the grapple bucket.


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