Ok, appreciate that feedback. I do drive my tractor over to another farm, takes about 35 minutes but I don't enjoy it much for sure. It is about the same time it'd take for me to hook up the trailer, load and tie the tractor down, and drive the truck and trailer over there, then unload. Actually, it's probably faster to just drive the tractor over there after I just said that out loud....
Same. I have another farm about 15 minutes by car on country roads and it’s 45 on tractor. Just enough of a pain not to be motivated to take unless I absolutely need to. I’ve never considered taking the skid steer. I also have another farm about 5 minutes by truck and I won’t even take it to that one. But I’m sure you could if it was once in a blue moon type event.
So, what am I looking for in the undercarriage? I recently learned the difference between a decent sprocket, and a worn out sprocket, if that tells you how little I know.....
I’m not mechanic so do a little digging online but track condition and sprocket wear are going to be your low hanging fruit. Check hydraulics and things like quick attach coupler if it has one. Little things like do the zerks take grease. If they don’t then someone has been neglecting maintenance on those particular areas. I lucked into a high hour machine that was used by a solar field contractor we had family connections with. They had a massive maintenance facility and I had all new sprockets and filters and fluids so the hours didn’t bother me. I’d look for a well maintained, higher hour unit with your budget. Good luck, they are awesome!
That thought has crossed my mind. There is a guy nearby that will haul tractors for some distance for a price, so he is an option. Probably option #1. I have 10a I want to clear on a farm that's 10 miles away. I can leave it there a week or 2 as no one will bother it. Thx for the suggestions.
Great input and has me re-thinking my decision some. The points you bring up - maint, cost were the main reasons I initially leaned wheeled. Add in the travel aspect and I'm re-assessing it. Although as a mentioned, I could hire the travel need as it would be but 2x a year. I was talking to a buddy of mine who has hired quite a bit of skid loader work done on his farm to clear trees. He was convinced a tracked macined would suit me better based on his observations.
I think I'll try to stay under the 75hp as suggestion by SD because of DEF and weight. I thought about a smaller unit (75hp or less) that I could pull without buying a new truck and trailer because I just bought my truck last September. As far as I need to go, I could likely buy a 75hp unit and new trailer and keep my truck. Although it'd be at it's max towing capacity, I don't need to trailer far and I can take the back roads.
We bought a Cat 242D a few years ago. It came with a Maxx-D tilt bed trailer to haul it. It is rated as a 73 HP machine. I pulled it a few times with my Tundra and I was not comfortable with it. To be honest, it was the braking more than the acceleration or ability to actually pull it. I upgraded to a Chevy 2500 shortly after and I am happy I did every time I have had to pull it. Just some food for thought.
This is an appropriate post for my situation. The truck I bought is a 2020 Tundra. It does have the tow package and integrated trailer brake controller. I'd buy the equalizer hitch and a trailer with brakes on all 4 tires. Is this the setup you had ? How far did you have to trailer and at what speeds?
My first trip was towing it home from Michigan to Kansas at highway speeds. Pulling it was not a problem. It was a bit of a dog to accelerate, but not a killer. I'm trying to think now if my truck had the tow package. It had a tow/haul button, but I think it had standard brakes and definitely did not have a trailer brake controller. You will probably be way better off since you have that. I talked to the local Cat dealer who also does rentals before I traveled to get it and they actually let me hook up to a similar model on a trailer and haul it up the road and back. After that I thought it was sufficient to get it home which turned out to be true. After hauling it a few times after I got home I became less comfortable with my brake situation. Our rout home consists of turning off of a state highway at the bottom of a long slope. Never did like it. New truck is no problem but like I said, your truck sounds better equipped. At least enough to try it for a while.
Appreciate your feedback. My current trailer has brakes on all 4 hubs, but only 3500lb axles and the trailer weighs 1600lbs. It's also a tilt trailer. With a 7k lb machine, I'd be over the axle limits by 1600 lbs. Not sure that over weight wouldn't ruin the axles. Maybe someone on here has more knowledge regarding that concern? Dexter axles if that matters.
