Skid Steer vs Tractor

[Fairchance]

I am looking to buy a piece of equipment to load logs onto my bandmill. How much advatage does a skid steer have over a tractor? A skid steer was recommended due to the roll cage/safety aspect of the design. What do you guys think?

[brdmkr]

I like my tractor with FEL.  I can't say whether it is as good as a skidsteer for loading logs, but implements for it are much cheaper and it is 'more general' in that I can break a garden, bushhog, etc with it.

[Bibbyman]

Just my 2¢ … I’m not a fan of either.   

While I’ve never owned a skidsteer,  I’ve been around a number of them.  Seems like there always somewhere between on their nose or on their tail.   The ones with tires tend to plow up a lot of ground.  I don’t like the idea of climbing in and out over or under the load.

Farm tractors with a front end loader are an adaption.  The machine is not weighted enough to handle heavy loads.  Often the front axle and tires are not designed for constant use with heavy loads.  Look at a standard farm tractor and then look at an industrial tractor that is the basis of a backhoe.

A lot of people use skidsteers and farm tractors but a rough terrain forklift, wheel loader, or backhoe/industrial tractor would better fill the need.

[WH_Conley]

I have used a farm tractor for years. Not the best option. I feel it was better than anything else at the time.

[DanG]

Whatever will pick up a log and set it on the mill is good.  For my money, a forklift is the best option for that task.  If you shop wisely, you can get a forklift and a farm tractor with loader for what you would spend on a good skidsteer.

[Dave Shepard]

You can also buy a tractor with a ROPS/FOPS structure. It really depends on what your lifting needs are, and what else you might use the machine for. I like my Kubota, as it is an industrial backhoe loader, but I can also take the hoe off and use three point hitch. It can do more things than the skid loader. Run a mower, winch, box scraper, plow etc. Skid loaders are great for very specialized purposes. The tracked machines lift a lot, but are much more expensive to own and maintain. Both types of skid loader tear heck out of most any non-paved surface. Visibility and egress of skid loaders is also compromised. I lean toward a well ballasted tractor, or as Bibby suggested, a rough-terrain lift of some sort. A material handler is also a good choice, but less versatile than some options.

I use a 644 Lull and a Samsung 150 (3 yard class) payloader at work. Both have their ups and downs.

This is my Kubota. Will lift a 3,000 log, or a stack of lumber about a ton.

[cheyenne]

I have both a skid steer & tractor plus a backhoe & excavator. I prefer loading logs on the mill with the skidsteer with forks, But it is a ground breaker. Unless you take the bucket off a tractor or backhoe and replace it with forks your sight line will be vastly impaired. I also find the controls on the skidsteer are a lot more precise. I admit a tractor is a more versitle machine as is a backhoe or excavator. Now you fall into the toy trap. I gotta get me one of them.......Cheyenne

[Bibbyman]

Years ago when we were looking to buy a loader,  we saw a small, articulated wheel loader made by JCB that had 3 point hitch and PTO.  You could mount a backhoe, trencher, or any farm implement.   Looked to me to be a real all around vehicle.  ‘Corse, they were not giving them away.

[ahlkey]

I agree with Bibbyman that neither a skidster or tractor is best for high production loading to the sawmill.  I have both and while you can make them work they are not designed to do the job well.  I have a small log loader trailer with grapple that does great job around the sawmill.  It is primarily used in the woodlot as a forwarder but also works excellent with my truck with a portable hydraulic power unit.   It is hard to imagine anything better as I can turn the log 180 degrees or set the log on the sawmill bed with little or no direct impact.  It is also good at picking up the slabs or anything else required around the woodlot.

[htpd43]

You can also buy a tractor with a ROPS/FOPS structure. It really depends on what your lifting needs are, and what else you might use the machine for. I like my Kubota, as it is an industrial backhoe loader, but I can also take the hoe off and use three point hitch. It can do more things than the skid loader. Run a mower, winch, box scraper, plow etc. Skid loaders are great for very specialized purposes. The tracked machines lift a lot, but are much more expensive to own and maintain. Both types of skid loader tear heck out of most any non-paved surface. Visibility and egress of skid loaders is also compromised. I lean toward a well ballasted tractor, or as Bibby suggested, a rough-terrain lift of some sort. A material handler is also a good choice, but less versatile than some options.

I use a 644 Lull and a Samsung 150 (3 yard class) payloader at work. Both have their ups and downs.

This is my Kubota. Will lift a 3,000 log, or a stack of lumber about a ton.

(Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

i agree. i use a Kubota L35 - i believe it's considered a compact construction model.  they are tough machines.

[gemniii]

I am looking to buy a piece of equipment to load logs onto my bandmill. How much advatage does a skid steer have over a tractor? A skid steer was recommended due to the roll cage/safety aspect of the design. What do you guys think?

To answer your q - SS or Tractor to load logs -
SS with a forklift attachment.
But it's pretty single purpose.  If all you want to do is load logs get a forklift.

[sgschwend]

It doesn't take long before the operator starts climbing out of the skid steer with a load, such as when you remove part of a cant.  Not fun and not safe.

By the time you get a tractor big enough to pick up a large log the tractor is so big you need a lot of room to make turns.  Making you want to go back to the skid steer. 

I have used the two you mentioned and also a mini excavator but ended up purchasing an all terrain fork lift.  Good size but still able to take it out on jobs.  The forklift has load tilt and load offset which you won't obtain with the others.

I value mine as much as the sawmill for making my operation go.

[ladylake]

  Between a skidsteer and a tractor I'd take the skidsteer by far. Way easyier to get around, you can see the forks, works great in a tight wood, can change attachments real fast.  The down side, they tear up dirt and when moving bundles of lumber it's hard to see the end of the pile sometimes.    Steve

[Cedarman]

The very best for a log yard is an articulated wheel load with log clamps.  You can move logs, unload trucks safely, move lumber and is nicest to the log yard.

Next is ATV forklift.  They will lift twice as much as a SS or tractor.  Nice on yard, but usually just have forks with no clamp.  Best for moving stacks of lumber.  Will work with logs, but you have to have a good eye for center of gravity of the logs.

Then comes SS.  Most versatile in log yard.  Only good for 2 to 3000 # loads.  Hard on yards.  Tracked varieties expensive to maintain, but in wet conditions worth their weight in gold.  Always lover boom to get in or out.  Keeps you agile.

Most versatile over all as far as add ons.  More prone to tip sideways with off balanced logs.  Takes 40 acre farm to turn around.  Get one with 4 wheel drive if possible.  Terrible backing up hills with a load.  Harder to know where fork tips are.

[mike_van]

Tractor by a mile - Just what I'm used to - I can load logs all day, never tear up the sod. Easier to get on/off of than in/out of.     A zillion 3 poit hitch attachments out there.  With a 3 point winch & chains, you can go just about anywhere & pull out anything that grows near me.

[ladylake]

Tractor by a mile - Just what I'm used to - I can load logs all day, never tear up the sod. Easier to get on/off of than in/out of.     A zillion 3 poit hitch attachments out there.  With a 3 point winch & chains, you can go just about anywhere & pull out anything that grows near me.

  Sounds like you don't have a skidsteer.     Steve

[bandmiller2]

Simple if you have a big operation get an articulated loader with forks,medium get a skid steer,smaller use your tractor.Cramped quarters its hard to beat a skid steer,but it seems your always overloading them.Last week I was moving a heavy 'whack' of stuck boards if I leaned forward in the seat it would tip foward,lean back four wheels on tera.As long as you keep your loads low with a skid your quite safe.My own mill I use an old farm tractor with forks, Hydraulic relief set so rear wheels won't come off the ground, only lift on level ground. Frank C.

[Banjo picker]

I am looking to buy a piece of equipment to load logs onto my bandmill. How much advatage does a skid steer have over a tractor? A skid steer was recommended due to the roll cage/safety aspect of the design. What do you guys think?

I would venture that although you said "load logs onto my bandmill" you will be doing a lot more than that.  I use a Kubota  70 hp tractor with fel and I do ok, BUT it ain't the best choise if work the mill is all you are gona do with it.  Unloading trucks is dangerous with tractor or ss.  I am talking log trucks not 16 ft flat trailers.  I have a Prentice 210 C for that.  But without the knuckle boom I would go with Bibbys sugestion of a rough terian lift with teliscopic boom.  Look in his gallery.  With one of those you could unload a good size log and still be far enough away that if something fubar s you don't get killed .  jmo   Tim

[Handy Andy]

  I have both a farm tractor w/ fel, and a skid steer, and use the skid steer for loading logs. Thing about the tractor, you are way in the back and can't see well.  You are right there on the skid steer, and don't break things if you are careful.  If you were really bent on having a tractor, those NH bi directional machines look great.  They are 4 wheel drive, have a 3 point hitch, and you turn the seat around and put forks on it and you have a fork lift.  They are a heavy farm tractor and you can see almost like a skidsteer when operating in that mode.

[Bibbyman]

 



We love our Terex telescopic boom loader so much, we bought a second one.  Call it "his and hers" - we use the larger for handling logs and the smaller for about everything else.  Both have forks and we have a bucket and grapple.

 



Even the "little one" will lift and move a lot of weight.

 



And place it a long way off.