Best Mini Skid Steer for tree work

[treeman75]

Can you convince the wife, Arborpro?
Other minor detail to consider (besides poverty) is my location is 2+ hours drive north of Toronto.
The devil is in the details, but I'll call you.

Dave

Dont think about it just buy one! Evan if you have to finance it for a couple years you wont be sorry. I bought mine a year ago and we havent draged brush all year or loaded logs. I will never be without one! Buy one from arborpro he will take care of ya, then buy one of these. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rthC-JAAz3Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[treeman75]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rthC-JAAz3Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> try this

 

[treeman75]

Im doing something wrong but checkout top knotch equipment and look at the branch manager.

 

[arbor pro]

Maybe something can get finangled.
Gonna give you a buzz after I have a wee chat/beg/plead session with wife. She is a lovely person, but has sharp teeth.
I had reckoned SD was about as far away as Argentina.

:msp_tongue: not quite that far...

 

[arbor pro]

both my sk650 and sk500 are still for sale in case anyone is currently looking...

 

[Pelorus]

Ended up getting a SK650 through the dealer in Ontario late last week. Bank was zero help whatsoever with financing.
Looking to get a brush/root grapple rake for it.
Any thoughts on Ryan's Equipment products?

 

[arbor pro]

Ended up getting a SK650 through the dealer in Ontario late last week. Bank was zero help whatsoever with financing.
Looking to get a brush/root grapple rake for it.
Any thoughts on Ryan's Equipment products?

congrats! new or used? If new, mind sharing what a new one with tax and delivery runs in Canada? New one costs just shy of $21,500 here ($19500 promo price plus a couple grand more in tax and shipping).

 

[Juicemang]

Do yourself a favor and get the branch manager grapple. Blows away the traditional bucket grapple/grapple rake. Also pick up pallet forks for large diameter, trunks over 3'. Its amazing what a mini can lift when you get the load as close to the machine as possible.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

both my sk650 and sk500 are still for sale in case anyone is currently looking...

I may be interested in the 500 with the grapple, how good would they work together? any action pics?

It depends on whether or not I get an up coming muni bid, but if things pan out I wouldn't mind driving up for a look.

 

[Pelorus]

Appreciate advice and pointers. Have spent quite awhile reviewing other threads about minis posted on this forum.
Is a 2010 model year; 33 hours on meter, narrow aggressive tracks (lawn destroyers). 1 yr. warranty.
Paid $18,500 plus taxes. Supposed to also get a $500 rebate (pre-loaded Visa card)

Supposedly unit was serviced (filters/fluids) prior to purchase. Not.
So that is something I'm currently at war with the salesman over. (Brandt Tractor in Milton).
Says they will give me a great deal on the 100 hour service. I told him that with the first oil change scheduled at 50 hours, why wasn't it done when you said it was done? Kicking myself now for not pulling out the damn dipstick at the time of purchase. Gonna demand a complete set of all filters shipped to me at no charge. Figure that is reasonable under the circumstances.

Also, traveling 3 hours each way (to the shop) is something that is gonna rarely (if ever) happen.

 

[arbor pro]

I may be interested in the 500 with the grapple, how good would they work together? any action pics?

It depends on whether or not I get an up coming muni bid, but if things pan out I wouldn't mind driving up for a look.

grapple works great for feeding chipper - especially where there might be rocks or other debris to pick up. tines are spaced 4" apart so small stuff sifts through. also works good for picking up evergreen material and whole trees as the tines will go through the numerous branches. if you need to drag material out through a gate lengthwise, you can clamp onto logs at the buttend and do so. not so great for doing that with brush. with brush you need to grab crosswise. to feed the chipper, you just back into the chute and pivot the ends into the feed rollers.

I don't have any working pics but I have picked up a 18' pine log weighing about 1300lb with the sk650 and rake grapple. the 500 lifts about 1000lb.

I could put you in touch with a couple other tree guys on this forum who use 500s. Patriot tree actually used this one for a few months before buying a 650 from me and could chime in on it if he wishes. I could also give you keith's phone number if you want to chat with him. It's been a good mini for me and still runs strong. should be able to put a several more hundred hours on it without any worries. might need tracks in another hundred hours - maybe two hundred depending on how flat you want to run them. On lawns, worn tracks are great so long as they hold up and don't start to tear. new ones are a couple hundred bucks each so not a big deal to replace. you can get aggressive or turf tracks.

feel free to call and chat if you want. scott - AP 605-228-9350.

 

[Kottonwood]

hey Big Termitus,

Just wanted chime in since I just traded that sk500 to Scott. It is a great starter machine to get into a mini skid. It runs and performs well. I used it in combo with a bm grapple and forks. I don't even know how we ever did tree work without that thing. With the BM grapple it is perfect for feeding brush or carrying logs, with the forks it can pick up some pretty good sized cookies.

Either way you can't go wrong with the price for that machine, it easily replaced two groundies on a good sized removal job. We even bring the mini out to small removals or big prunes these days..... guys never want to lift a log again. Seriously though.... huge increase in productivity.

The tracks on that machine will eventually need to be replaced but other than that it is a pretty solid piece of equipment. We blew and replaced a lot of the hydro lines. I imagine the ones we didn't replace will need it soon...... they are easy and inexpensive, my local ditchwitch dealer is really cool and usually gives me lines for free. It also is hell to get started in the extreme cold, we haven't had to many problems with Colorado weather.... but it was not having South Dakota.

I have some videos of that skid in action and I will try to post some soon. Currently I have one posted..... not to exciting Ascent with skid - YouTube

Also just wanted to say that Scott (arbor pro) is a great guy to do business with, he maintains his equipment very well and sells it at fair prices.

-Keith

 

[arbor pro]

hey Big Termitus,

Just wanted chime in since I just traded that sk500 to Scott. It is a great starter machine to get into a mini skid. It runs and performs well. I used it in combo with a bm grapple and forks. I don't even know how we ever did tree work without that thing. With the BM grapple it is perfect for feeding brush or carrying logs, with the forks it can pick up some pretty good sized cookies.

Either way you can't go wrong with the price for that machine, it easily replaced two groundies on a good sized removal job. We even bring the mini out to small removals or big prunes these days..... guys never want to lift a log again. Seriously though.... huge increase in productivity.

The tracks on that machine will eventually need to be replaced but other than that it is a pretty solid piece of equipment. We blew and replaced a lot of the hydro lines. I imagine the ones we didn't replace will need it soon...... they are easy and inexpensive, my local ditchwitch dealer is really cool and usually gives me lines for free. It also is hell to get started in the extreme cold, we haven't had to many problems with Colorado weather.... but it was not having South Dakota.

I have some videos of that skid in action and I will try to post some soon. Currently I have one posted..... not to exciting Ascent with skid - YouTube

Also just wanted to say that Scott (arbor pro) is a great guy to do business with, he maintains his equipment very well and sells it at fair prices.

-Keith

when keith dropped it off, we had to heat up the hydraulic tank to get it to crank over fast enought to start (and we put in a new battery which helped). hydro fluid was so cold that the parasitic hydro draw on the motor was too much for it. (was a very cold day in SD). I have it in my heated shop now and it fires up instantly. My suggestion is that if it was going to be stored outside for any length of time (IE - not being used at all but just sitting around and getting cold), is to put a magnetic heater on the hydro fluid tank and that should help with cold weather starting.

scott - AP

 

[Kottonwood]

....yeah it was freaking cold there. Personally I would be at home by my wood stove in that weather anyways. I have used it to plow my sidewalk many times after having it stored outdside and didn't have issues getting it started.

 

[arbor pro]

....yeah it was freaking cold there. Personally I would be at home by my wood stove in that weather anyways. I have used it to plow my sidewalk many times after having it stored outdside and didn't have issues getting it started.

Of course, then there's the fact that you had just driven 600 miles with the mini skid on the back of your open truck flatbed. The mini was likely being subjected to -40 wind chill temps for several hours. No wonder it cranked hard. :msp_smile:

 

[defensiblespace]

cold starts

Starting my 650 on cold days has been my only complaint. I have spent upwards of 20 minutes trying to get that Kubota diesel engine to fire up when its cold. The dealer said that's normal for those machines. He also suggested a magnetic block heater, but also mentioned that even putting a light bulb next to the engine overnight helps. Anything to create some heat will be helpful.

 

[arbor pro]

Starting my 650 on cold days has been my only complaint. I have spent upwards of 20 minutes trying to get that Kubota diesel engine to fire up when its cold. The dealer said that's normal for those machines. He also suggested a magnetic block heater, but also mentioned that even putting a light bulb next to the engine overnight helps. Anything to create some heat will be helpful.

longest it's ever taken me to start a 650 is 3 or 4 preheat cycles or about a minute. That's if the preheat cycle is working properly. You might want to check your glow plugs and preheat sensor to make sure everything is actually working right. I had to have the that stuff fixed on one of my 650s because it wasn't working right. Glow plug light came on but the glow plugs weren't actually preheating properly. my mechanic did the work so I can't tell you the details but it didn't cost that much and now the machine cranks up within one or two preheat cycles.

I've used an engine heat blanket on mini skids before and it helps.

 

[Juicemang]

PatriotTree. When using a mini with a branch manager to lift a climber or limbs/logs I would suggest running the line down through a block at the base of the tree, then tie off on the machine. Works much much smoother this way. We have a dingo and call it the DRCS haha

 

[arbor pro]

PatriotTree. When using a mini with a branch manager to lift a climber or limbs/logs I would suggest running the line down through a block at the base of the tree, then tie off on the machine. Works much much smoother this way. We have a dingo and call it the DRCS haha

I agree. I do the same thing using a portawrap or block but then also use a blakes hitch or at least a prussic to secure my line in case the knot would ever slip on the mini skid. all you'd have to do is hold the hitch open as you ascend and then let go once you're in place and you're already tied in. no swinging away from the tree if your tied into the line and the line is controlled by the lowering device.

Just got me thinking that, God forbid you ever have a disgruntled ground guy some day - he could really mess up your world if you didn't have some control within that ascension system... lol

 

[limbwalker54]

As we discussed on the phone, Scott, I am interested and will try my darndist to get a deposit over to you ASAP.
-Mike