Mini Skid Steer Loaders Are On The Job

Skid steer loaders did not just create a revolution. They dozed and dug, plowed and pushed, carted and carried the revolution.

It really was not too long ago that most landscapers and construction crews could only use heavy, dedicated machinery that had been made specifically for their type of job. Concrete work demanded a standalone cement mixer. Serious earth moving meant a bonafide bulldozer or backhoe. And small earth moving projects? Small bulldozers and backhoes. Breaking up an old sidewalk brought out the stand-alone jackhammer, and with it, the hapless newbie, coerced into wrestling the thing.

It was not too long before skid steer loaders arrived on the scene and were almost instantly a game-changer, even before its full arsenal of attachments started multiplying in the pole barn. All of a sudden, here was this happy, scrappy little scamp, every bit as bullet-proof, and five times as nimble as the one-machine-one-purpose dedicated equipment it would eventually replace.

And to add insult to insurrection, people started to develop all kinds of ingenious devices that would hook on to the front of their skid steer loaders, and replace even more machines. In no time at all, skid steer loaders had become indispensable on the landscaping and construction scene, as well as on the ranches and farms, where they had originally gotten their start.

It appears that the scene has indeed welcomed another newcomer, and this thing could prove to make almost as big an impact on the construction and landscaping trades as the ubiquitous skid steer loaders. Even if they are kind of small.

The mini skid steer loaders are proving to be one of the most useful and versatile machines on work sites these days. They are agile, adept, and compact workhorses. They are significantly less expensive than the original skid steer loaders, and best of all, the mini skid steer loaders come with their own array of mini skid steer loader attachments

These muscular mini skid steer loaders are, at their core, essentially miniscule skid steer loaders, but without a cab for the driver. The operator stands to the rear of the machine and operates the hydraulic control set while looking up and over the compact unit. They simply begin walking with the machine when it needs to move. Mini skid steer loaders, like their big brother, can accept wheels or tracks, just like the original. So they have the traction needed to handle a variety of work site terrain. And other than the lack of a cab, the mini looks remarkably like the original

Since the larger skid steer loaders have been in use quite a few years longer than the mini, the list of attachments that are made for it is significantly longer. But there are quite a few proprietary attachments for the new little guy. And the list is growing. There are forks (in 32- and 42-inch widths), a mini tree shovel or tree fork, a rock bucket (in 42- and 48-inch widths) or the amazing Tilt-Tach.

Also available for the mini skid steer loader is a 48-inch backhoe attachment, a scarifier, a scrap grapple (in either 36-inch or 42-inch size), a mini sod roller, and operators can choose from four different sizes of brush grapple. There are two different sizes for the "4-in-1" bucket attachment, two roto-tillers, a rotating grapple, a stump grinder, and a tree shear.

It is easy to see that the mini skid steer loader has quite an attachment arsenal of its own. So, move over skid steer loader, move over dozer, there is a scrappy new little machine on site, ready and willing to pick up the small jobs that the big machines just cannot handle.