I've seen a few of these things pop up on my local Craigslist. It's a skid steer with tracks rather than wheels. I'm contemplating a CTL rather than a tractor with loader, as it may be a better fit for my needs. No farm or lawn to worry about, just clearing ground, making trails, and hauling logs and lumber for the sawmill.
Here are a couple of examples:
Deere 323E (http://www.deere.com/en_US/products/equipment/compact_track_loaders/323e/323e.page)
Kubota SVL75-2 (http://www.kubota.com/product/svl75/SVL75.aspx)
Takeuchi TL8 (http://www.takeuchi-us.com/www/docs/182.474/tl8-rubber-track-loader)
Anyone have any experience with this type of machinery?
Probably a good decision, tracked machines are great for what you described. If you don't need the PTO and 3 point hitch a track loader is going to be a lot more functional.
They are workhorses, I prefer tracks to wheels on a skidsteer but both suffer the same problem, when a vehicle skids through a corner it cuts more than one that turns through the corner. I've had a wheeled Gehl here for the past several weeks and they are great for moving shavings and dust, lumber, rocks etc but they do have a heavier footprint than the tractor. We moved it back to my friend's garage and rebuilt a lift cylinder this afternoon, not a bad job. They all seem to have their own ideas about how to do the controls. This one has the steering on the left joystick and the bucket on the right. It is the only one I've been on where you could drink and drive. For me the shuttle between grabbing a scoop and dropping it in the garden is a pretty long run, having one arm free seemed less tiring than the bobcat type where both sticks control the drive. Having tracks to venture into the garden would be nice, I dump just inside the gate and back out. The soil is too soft and the compaction from a wheeled skidsteer is huge.
Tracks on skid steers are nice if doing mostly flat work.
We nearly wore out a rubber tired Bobcat 753 digging swimming pools and stock ponds. It would have been nearly impossible to dig - make radius curves with a tracked skid steer.
Of course, flats were tiring . . . (Pun intended)
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I used to run a construction rental business for years and now I'm into steel building construction. As for brand I would recommend I would say Kubota for a tracked loader or mini excavator. They are a bit more pricey but well worth it. I purchased a new John Deere 323D tracked loader and it did the job just didn't hold up. recently sold it and just run a Kubota Mini ex.
Kubota just seems to mean quality. In the 8 years I ran the rental business I didn't see a single lemon. The hydraulic pumps and cylinders held up great.
The tracks can take a beating but buy aftermarket from Georgia or California and save 50%.
Jason Gullett
www.prestigesteel.ca
Jason@prestigesteel.ca
(888) 314-5751
Thanks Jason, really appreciate the info.