# Tracked or Wheeled Skid Steer



## brhokel606 (Mar 7, 2014)

I did the search on this topic but all was around 7 years old so I thought I would start fresh. Also I did not post in Excavation due to use by landscapers, mason's etc...

I have a S185 Bobcat, used the hell out of it and really has been some money well spent but I am getting tired of not being able to do anything in wetish conditions. It rained 2 days ago but due to the cooler weather, nothing has really dried much and again I fought just moving it out of the work area to trailer. Was on clay soil and it was like being on ice, put it in the ravine and had to bucket out backwards! Then to hand rake to fix damage in getting it unstuck. 

I know the up keep is more on tracks, but I tend to get flats all the time on the regular tires and looked at solid tires but they are expensive as hell. Weight and cost up front is more but I was told that on the snow and ice they are not very good but I see landscaping companies moving snow all winter with them, so is that a myth?

I use the Bobcat at home during the winter to move snow, so I need it to perform in the snow. I have a hard time moving big round bales in the snow with the tires sometimes (gotta feed the horses) and will the tracks be worse? It is garaged, so I do not think freezing tracks could happen. 

I am SICK of slidding around on wet ground and feeling like I am constantly fighting the weight of the skid alone as this had been an extremely wet year for us. I am going to get a bigger equipment trailer, so weight really isn't going to be an issue, it will be a Bobcat "M" frame series is probably the 650, but maybe 590. Just tracks or wheeled is my question. Hit me with the good and bad guys, thanks.


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## poisonfangs (Jul 20, 2009)

I tried to come up with a reason I would like tire more than tracks, or at least one positive (at least for me) of tires. I will take tracks any day, Especially when the weather is not cooperating. They have a lower ground pressure which helps to not rut as bad and spread the weight on slick ground. 

I also prefer the ride quality of a track more.


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## muskoka guy (Nov 16, 2013)

I agree, I never even see a wheeled machine on site anymore. The tracks are so much more versatile. Twice the machine in mud. Have not used them much on ice.


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## poisonfangs (Jul 20, 2009)

I have used them on ice, while you still slide around they are much more forgiving. And when you make a tight turn they don't start to jump around like a three legged dog and knock the teeth out of your head.


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## QCCI (Jan 28, 2013)

100% tracks in dirt, T190's and T250. Now I do you use my S185's on hard surfaces, like concrete or asphalt when doing demo or just lifting/loading. Tracks don't do so well on concrete/asphalt when turning.


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## charlie828 (Feb 22, 2009)

Tracks every time. Much less rut repair. Around here, most everything is clay and can be steep. Anything but tracks is a waste of time.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Trust me even tracks won't do crap on wet grass. See the bucket still sitting there for 2 weeks because I cant get the dam thing back down the tiny slope without sliding into neighbors fence and they still tear the **** out the ground like the wheels. 

But I would pick a track machine over the wheels any day of the week.


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## Joasis (Mar 28, 2006)

Once you go to tracks, you will never go back. 

We had a steel building package show up on a rainy day....deep mud everywhere. The truck stayed on the road and we used the T200 to cross the water filled ditches over and over unloading 30,000# or steel and red iron. Wheels? Not hardly. 

I do believe the long term maintenance will be higher with all the associated parts, but a set of aftermarket tracks is not much higher then a good set of tires.


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## QCCI (Jan 28, 2013)

BCConstruction said:


> Trust me even tracks won't do crap on wet grass. See the bucket still sitting there for 2 weeks because I cant get the dam thing back down the tiny slope without sliding into neighbors fence and they still tear the **** out the ground like the wheels. But I would pick a track machine over the wheels any day of the week.


You must have some wore out tracks or an inexperienced operator.


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

I own a tracked skid loader, New Holland C-175, and a wheeled skid loader New Holland 665. The wheeled machine has pretty much been relegated to being a yard dog.

I use both for snow work, they both are worthless once it gets icy. But if you stay in the snow they are fine. When I have ice problems I'll throw some snow back down on the pavement, run on that to pile up the snow, then clean that little bit up.


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## FRAME2FINISH (Aug 31, 2010)

Why not buy a set of tracks that go over the wheels?


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## QCCI (Jan 28, 2013)

tgeb said:


> I own a tracked skid loader, New Holland C-175, and a wheeled skid loader New Holland 665. The wheeled machine has pretty much been relegated to being a yard dog. I use both for snow work, they both are worthless once it gets icy. But if you stay in the snow they are fine. When I have ice problems I'll throw some snow back down on the pavement, run on that to pile up the snow, then clean that little bit up.


Our last remaining wheeled machine is also our yard dog. Except we call it the donkey!! Put some of those solid wheels on it, and that thing is a rough rider!


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

No Thanks, on the solid wheels thingy.

The over the tire tracks work real well as an option to avoid buying another machine. I ran some McLaren tracks for a few years on the 665 loader. Made that loader almost unstoppable.


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## QCCI (Jan 28, 2013)

tgeb said:


> No Thanks, on the solid wheels thingy. The over the tire tracks work real well as an option to avoid buying another machine. I ran some McLaren tracks for a few years on the 665 loader. Made that loader almost unstoppable.


Yeah they're very heavy, not totally solid have holes all the way around. I got them when we were doing a lot of concrete demo on a job and getting a lot of flats, just have never changed them back. I may change it back to pneumatic soon, it never really leaves the shop anymore.


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## brhokel606 (Mar 7, 2014)

Thanks for the replies so far guys, I had forgot about the over the tire tracks, not sure though....plus I don't wanna meantion that to the wife, she sees me fight the wheeled machine and that's what I'm trying to use to get a new one, Lol.


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## bigz (Aug 7, 2009)

I have over the tire tracks on my s250, I have a brush cutter I hire out so it sees a lot of different terrain and never has any problems. Straight tires suck though 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

BCConstruction said:


> Trust me even tracks won't do crap on wet grass. See the bucket still sitting there for 2 weeks because I cant get the dam thing back down the tiny slope without sliding into neighbors fence and they still tear the **** out the ground like the wheels. But I would pick a track machine over the wheels any day of the week.



Hook up, do a 180 and back up the hill, use your bucket to push if needed.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

jlsconstruction said:


> Hook up, do a 180 and back up the hill, use your bucket to push if needed.


Bucket is in yard so didn't have it. It's been dry this weekend so got back down there with the Harley rake to sort the mess out from it getting stuck. 

Had to tie a 30ft long tow rope to the from to pull it up the slope. Going down the slope was like being on ice.


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

jlsconstruction said:


> Hook up, do a 180 and back up the hill, use your bucket to push if needed.


Yep


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## builditguy (Nov 10, 2013)

I was working side by side. My wheeled skid loader next to a track skid loader. I was sinking in the ground about 8". He was sinking in about 1/2". 

Of course he recently had a $8,500 repair to his tracks and I'm still on the same tires. 

His tracks tore up the ground like crazy. I saw a well digger using an ASV skid steer. The tracks were tighter bars. He drove all over the yard and made several turnarounds. They left no ruts and the grass wasn't torn up at all.


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## poisonfangs (Jul 20, 2009)

Also if you do any grading tracks are second to none. We grade large areas with loose stone, using a rubber tire on that just ruts and turns a job that would only take a couple passes into a small headache trying to be perfect.


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

If you can't use a track machine on that little sloped hill wet, dry or muddy, sell it or find a good operator.

Tracks for me, but a tire machine is best if you are using a breaker on it, they do take the vibration out. Although, I just bought a new S650 for a large demo job, that will pay for the machine. 

If you buy one get a Takeuchi track machine. My company doesn't have one, just Bobcat and Cats, but ran my son Takeuchi 130, nice machine.


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## brhokel606 (Mar 7, 2014)

No way would I get anything but a Bobcat, have a great dealer in my town that I would never leave for another company. Plus, I like the new cab on the Bobcat the best and sitting in it for hours, the cab comfort and size is a big deal.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

HardWorks said:


> If you can't use a track machine on that little sloped hill wet, dry or muddy, sell it or find a good operator. Tracks for me, but a tire machine is best if you are using a breaker on it, they do take the vibration out. Although, I just bought a new S650 for a large demo job, that will pay for the machine. If you buy one get a Takeuchi track machine. My company doesn't have one, just Bobcat and Cats, but ran my son Takeuchi 130, nice machine.


What would have been your magic trick for getting up the slope. 3 people including a guy who uses them day in day out couldn't even get it up the slope. No traction is no traction. It dont matter if your the best skid steer driver on the planet you ain't getting them up a wet muddy slope.

My neighbor had the same response as you and said I should go back to my day job. He gave it the big one about driving them for years and he went backwards further than he did forward. 

I even tried using the concrete breaker to wedge the breaker 12" in the dirt. Didn't do nothing but pull the breaker right through the dirt as I slide backwards down the hill.


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## JDavis21835 (Feb 27, 2009)

A lot of your track life will depend on how you operate the machine. If you cut 180 hard turns all day on any surface, you will wear them tracks out in no time. If you do it on pavement, life is going to be even less. 

It honestly is not much different than tires. Think ahead, and you will see tires and tracks last a lot longer.


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

BCConstruction said:


> What would have been your magic trick for getting up the slope. 3 people including a guy who uses them day in day out couldn't even get it up the slope. No traction is no traction. It dont matter if your the best skid steer driver on the planet you ain't getting them up a wet muddy slope.
> 
> My neighbor had the same response as you and said I should go back to my day job. He gave it the big one about driving them for years and he went backwards further than he did forward.
> 
> I even tried using the concrete breaker to wedge the breaker 12" in the dirt. Didn't do nothing but pull the breaker right through the dirt as I slide backwards down the hill.


I have machines running 30-40% slopes all the time, wet, mud, cobble. Never met a man who ran a skid steer for more than a day, say that they couldnt operate a skid steer. Slopes, bad conditions, etc. and they get out of machine and say can't be done. Then an operator gets on it and does it. 

Not trying to knock any one, but you put a man on that machine that is an OPERATOR and that wet grass, etch is not an issue. Hell, most times we don't break out the d-4 or d-5 for slope grading anymore as the skid steer is there, has more power, weights less and is more versatile. 

But what do I know.

To the OP. On dirt only or most of the time, tracks. On pavement or slabs get tires. You can always get tracks for the tires and it also adds belly weight to the machine if you need the ass.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

HardWorks said:


> I have machines running 30-40% slopes all the time, wet, mud, cobble. Never met a man who ran a skid steer for more than a day, say that they couldnt operate a skid steer. Slopes, bad conditions, etc. and they get out of machine and say can't be done. Then an operator gets on it and does it. Not trying to knock any one, but you put a man on that machine that is an OPERATOR and that wet grass, etch is not an issue. Hell, most times we don't break out the d-4 or d-5 for slope grading anymore as the skid steer is there, has more power, weights less and is more versatile. But what do I know. To the OP. On dirt only or most of the time, tracks. On pavement or slabs get tires. You can always get tracks for the tires and it also adds belly weight to the machine if you need the ass.


So explain how you get it up the slope if your an "operator" lol. Is there a magic button? It ain't a F1 car with 3000 settings. Its forwards, backwards, left and right. If you have no traction you have no traction. ohhhhh it must be that button that says press for extra traction lol. My neighbor must have forgot about that button too.


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

There ain't no button on a hammer, but some are better than others with one. Like I said there are operators and than there are OPERATORS. 

I could see if it were tires, not tracks.


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## shanewreckd (Oct 2, 2014)

Most of our skid steers are tracked for a site in the dirt and have been phasing in that direction for quite some time. We have a few tires left, mostly for pavement and slabs. I've become rather partial to the new John Deere tracked skid myself.

And our operators are OPERATORS, from the IUOE :thumbsup:


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

HardWorks said:


> There ain't no button on a hammer, but some are better than others with one. Like I said there are operators and than there are OPERATORS. I could see if it were tires, not tracks.


so you're keeping it a secret how to get traction on a wet grassy slope. Guess us lower case operators will have to just do without your skilled knowledge of how to get traction when there is none.


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

Weight. 

I wouldn't say low class, just not experienced and that is ok. But arrogance because you don't know will kinder your life not just getting a stupid piece of equipment up a bump.

If I had images instead of print images of how we got concrete up in the mountains in Utah for a project for the big G, you'd clam up and listen. D-8s, cables and trench boxes.

If your tracks are slipping, the machine has the power, not the weight. That is why one guy said backwards. Load the bucket for weight don't juice it and let it crawl. 

Ever see a dozer running along a slope and think, "Man that thing is going to roll!"? Nope belly weight and letting it crawl. 

My operators, LU 845, 542 and 13 are bad ass when they need to be. Sometimes they impress even me, and I have been around a bit and have seen goats screw.

Lessons start at three fifty.


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## bob hutson (Mar 16, 2013)

I have a buddy that tried the over the tire tracks. I don't know what brand the tracks were the skidsteer was a bobcat, they really killed the tire life.


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

bob hutson said:


> I have a buddy that tried the over the tire tracks. I don't know what brand the tracks were the skidsteer was a bobcat, they really killed the tire life.


To loose. Been there. Tires slip in the tracks. Yes it tears them up.

Tracked tires aren't tracks but it helps and adds the belly weight needed sometimes.


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## bob hutson (Mar 16, 2013)

you really had to watch the tension on the over the tire tracks.


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## JDavis21835 (Feb 27, 2009)

Since no one is bringing up the first thing I see in the picture. Why in the hell did your operator leave the bucket there in the first place? Part of being an operator is planning and thinking ahead. 1 why would you leave an attachment in the middle of everything and not off to the side? 2 Why leave it pointed in a direction that you need to get below it to hook up? After all, slope gets wet, your screwed. You need the weight of an attachment on most skid steers to travel any poor conditions. 3 Why hasn't your operator figured out how to grab the bucket from the uphill side? A chain in a jam to drag and spin from a better location. Forks or even hammer to grab bucket from the top side are another option.


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## builditguy (Nov 10, 2013)

Not to get in the middle of operator or OPERATOR discussions, but different areas have different soil types and different tractions.

I have seen areas in Illinois where people get trucks stuck on flat ground. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

builditguy said:


> Not to get in the middle of operator or OPERATOR discussions, but different areas have different soil types and different tractions.
> 
> I have seen areas in Illinois where people get trucks stuck on flat ground. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it.


 Like you say if they had experience using the machines in different conditions they should know this. I have had them in mud half way up the tracks on a slope 5x steeper than what was in my back yard without an issue but Rain+grass+slope+Clay you aint going anywhere no matter how good you think you are. 

When the owner who has over 20k hours in skid steers decides to give up after 20mins and tow it out you know its stuck. 

Whats funny is the slope is pathetic. I mean its hardly any slope and i would never have thought it would cause an issue with a tracked machine.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

JDavis21835 said:


> Since no one is bringing up the first thing I see in the picture. Why in the hell did your operator leave the bucket there in the first place? Part of being an operator is planning and thinking ahead. 1 why would you leave an attachment in the middle of everything and not off to the side? 2 Why leave it pointed in a direction that you need to get below it to hook up? After all, slope gets wet, your screwed. You need the weight of an attachment on most skid steers to travel any poor conditions. 3 Why hasn't your operator figured out how to grab the bucket from the uphill side? A chain in a jam to drag and spin from a better location. Forks or even hammer to grab bucket from the top side are another option.


 There were 4 attachments that needed to be moved. The bucket was the last one and it was too dangerous to send the machine back down the slope. It would have slid right into the neighbors back yard. It was also very hard pulling a machine that was only 3" less wide than the gap it had to go through on a slope that was like ice so sending the machine back down to get the bucket was not worth the risk. Also the ground around the bucket is flat. Had to tell from that pic. Here's a better pic



















Looks way better now I can get traction though.


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## jhark123 (Aug 26, 2008)

Clay sucks


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## brhokel606 (Mar 7, 2014)

We have alot of clay around here, a little bit of mositure and it is like an ice skating rink! Thats what got me started thinking about tracked. I slid into a ravine because of the clay, it's ridiculous!


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

That goo looks like bentonite.


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## Groo (Dec 5, 2009)

For those guys wanting to work on ice, I'd go with screw in studs (or sheet metal screws) for either tracks or tires.


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