Originally posted by Greensmith Do these miniskids enable one person to plant a larger tree then they normally could? Say a River birch with a 36" rootball?
Possibly. I did some 9-10' Serb Spruce that had half the rootball completley soaked, water dripping from them. It was slow going, but I go them in the holes I dug with the Dingo.
Greensmith,
The rated lift capacity of the TX425 is 550#, but you can move heavier objects than that. The nursery forks attachment is also a real sweet add on if you store much b&b stock.
Sleepy,
I have no trouble controlling the tracks with one hand, and running the joystick with the other. Maybe that rental unit is tweaked.
Its hard to operate the bucket and the steering at one time.
By design. I believe the Toro TX series has one hydraulic pump for drive and attatchement functions.
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Im used to a case 450 crawler with a 4 in 1 clam.
This is like comparing a pickup to a full size dump truck. I would like to see you get the Case 450 through a gate and into a limited access area, and then perform 3 or more totally different functions there.
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Dont you love rental yards!!
Can't stand them, their prices and attitudes and bad locations. That is why we bought the Vermeer package. Our rentals in the first year we owned that were $ 300. The year before they were $ 13,000 in rentals PLUS travel time to the store.
Payment on the package is $ 10,644 or $ 887 per month. I come out WAY ahead considering we lose the travel time and can resell that time as well.
You have to look for the best overall value and application. If there was one machine that would do it all, some one would have designed and manufactured it by now.
I don't have a problem using the Toro steering either. I test drove a Bobcat and I did feel the controls were too stiff.
I'm up to about 150 hours on the Dingo I purchased last spring and don't regret it for a minute!
__________________
As a father I was always aware that I was raising my sons to leave home, marry, establish families, and be men who could stand on their own two feet. We must fulfill our own destiny. I really wasn't concerned about what they might 'do' but I wanted them to 'be' good men.
- David Epps
Im right with you Dale on all your comments. I havent seen the Tx series yet.
I wish I could own one but I just dont have enough clientell that can pay me even profit on my jobs in our dumpy little town.(eurstinka)
I could get a regular bobcat used with all the goddies for 1/2 the price of a mt52. I cant wait till the used market starts up for the "newer technology"
Also it will take me 15 mins to sawzaw out a fence section and mabye 30 to put it back. However the top rail would be a weak point. hmmmm
Im going to try to be more positive
I appreciate the info. We are going to rent a bobcat series today to move a tree we popped last fall. It was popped with a full size CAT 420D. The spot it is being transplanted is too small for a big machine. So, lets see what the track loader does. I guess if for nothing else I will learn a $175.00 lesson.
We bought a Dingo 222 back in 1997. I absolutely love the machine. I think my payments at the time were around $450.00 a month for four or five years. That machine gave me cabilities that I didn't have before. People laughed since I was one of the first in the Cleveland area to buy one. Now they ask to borrow/rent it.
I'm in the market for some used implements since I don't need to pay $3,000 plus for a trencher or auger unit that we'll only use on occasion. But buying them used might be worth it to have them around in case - might find more uses for the machine. I am going to demo the soil cultivator for lawn seeding jobs.
We work in the suburbs where the homes are generally no younger than 60 years old and approaching 100 years in some cases. So we do very little installation for new houses. Most of our renovation or installation work is on existing homes where removing and replacing, or renovation/augmentation is the order of business.
Does anyone have the soil cultivator? What do you think of it and has it proved successful for you? In what situations does it not work - relative to expectations.
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Lawn Lad, Inc.
Cleveland, Ohio www.lawnlad.com
The soil cultivator works ok, but I am not enamored with the price and that stupid roller cage on the front now sits in the yard. The roto tiller attachment would do just as well in my opinion. You still end up hand raking your lawn bed if you care about quality. The cultivators claim to fame is that it pushes the rocks down into the soil. Guess what becomes visible after the first rain? Also the cultivator will jam on a 4" stone, not a big deal but it does happen on occasion. Overall it is a great machine and the cultivator does a good job on loosening and preparing the soil but my personal standards dictate hand raking a lawn bed that I want my name on.
The Harley rake attachment looks interesting.
A Dingo is an awesome tool when used with in its limitations and has made a lot of money for me over the past 3 years.
the harley rake is great. its the same as one for skidsteer tractor.. weve used it on slopes we wouldn't be able to get a skidsteer on which is nice...
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Originally posted by Green4Me
[b]
The Harley rake attachment looks interesting.
Can't stand them, their prices and attitudes and bad locations. That is why we bought the Vermeer package. Our rentals in the first year we owned that were $ 300. The year before they were $ 13,000 in rentals PLUS travel time to the store.
Payment on the package is $ 10,644 or $ 887 per month. I come out WAY ahead considering we lose the travel time and can resell that time as well.
Hold on a second Dale. I feel I can call you on this one because I'm really familiar with your posts. You seem to rarely leave a stone unturned in your responses and I've learned a TON from reading about your experiences. BUT in the above quote, you forgot to mention the cost of maintaining the machine. I know you would still be nowhere near that $13,000 mark, but just figured I'd add that so we all remember to count everything in figuring our costs.
I did not figure in maintenance costs, insurance costs and fuel costs.
I know the oil gets changed about 4 times a year, $ 120.00
Air filter 4 times $ 80.00
Insurance is $ 50 per month - $ 600 per year.
Last years repairs were gasp.... $ 100.
Fuel ?? $ 1,000
Total $ 1,900.
So I saved $ 3,000 right of the top. Subtract the cost of maintenance , and I saved $ 1,100. Big deal right ??
Read back and see that I had not quantified the TIME we saved by not traveling to the rental yard.
$ 13,000 in rentals divided by say an average rental of $ 350 means we rented about 37 times.
A round trip to and from the rental store, 12 miles in traffic, average speed 20 mph, ( I track that for fun) runs about 1.5 hours. Saving that time allows us to bill more time, 55.5 hours in this case @ $ 42.00 is $ 2,331 in additional billings for labor alone.
So now I am back ahead $ 3,400. And I feel it is more actually, by that is easily quantified.
Well, there you go Dale. That's the kind of post that I'm used to reading from you. Every detail laid out and easy to understand. And even though if I had REALLY thought about it, I would have figured in the time to get to the rental yard, it is still something I might have overlooked when doing cursory calculations (and I'm sure I don't have the precise travel time data that you do) By the way, I wasn't advocating renting. Those who would seldom use a Dingo might find renting is best for them for certain occasions. But the thing with the Dingo is that the more you use it, the more you find for it to do. They are amazingly versatile. It's an incredible investment!!!
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