Buying a used skid steer

[AEAdam]

About to buy a 2018 Bobcat S550 from a rental place. Looks like it's in good shape. Been leased out for snow duty last few years. 850hrs.

Any advice? It's a SJC machine, no hi-flow. Need to go inspect it on Friday and will buy it if it looks ok. Looking for advice on what to look for and any other advice (particularly after sale maintenance/inspections)

 

[sardonux]

• Check all of the lubrication points to ensure the grease zerks are functional and the machine has been maintained.
• Look for worn bushings and pins at the bucket attachment point, which is also the place the grease zerks are typically screwed up as well due to the amount of dirt they are exposed to.
• Ask if they can lift the cage and inspect underneath. All the hydraulic hoses should be in good shape, it'll be easy for you to visually inspect all systems under the seat.
• Rental places typically do good service on the diesel engine itself, so long as there are no obvious signs of wear it'll likely be fine as they do frequent oil changes (and they can typically provide service logs).

 

[PCustoms]

@zkdiesel

 

[trashauler]

All depends on the rental company. Some do a great job maintaining and others not so much. They should be able to provide with all the repair orders on it though. The renter is usually pretty hard on them. 850 hours is low hours for that machine. Being that it was in snow you have to wonder if it also was involved in loading or spreading salt. You will play hell replacing pins if it lived its life in salt.

 

[zkdiesel]

Rust rust rust

Flip cab, look in belly. You can have a machine that looks alright on the outside and be totally destroyed under engine, engine, hydro lines and all above!

This a 2017 case with 1200 hours. Destroyed destroyed destroyed by salt/snow removal in chicago
Machines so bad I wouldn’t have this in my fleet

Rust damage discount should
Be half price a nice used machine because that’s what it WILL cost you in repairs.

 

[jack stand]

I'll add to the above,
I had a manlift from one of the big nationwide rental guys for over a year continuously. Never once did I see a service guy or evidence of one. (Moved machine, service tags, etc)
I understand they're volume buying power is incredible and they ship them out at low hours with a goal of getting the purchase money back. It is possible to have 5-800 hours with no service (maintenance) and with no obvious problems.
It's possible that the first oil change could be just before it's shipped to the auction.
Be very careful and I'd think about bringing a bobcat mechanic along and maybe even having an oil analysis done.
On the bright side, physical damage to the inspectable parts no matter how ruthless it's been treated for 5-600 hrs should really be not much of a concern. That is unless a maniac had it for all or most of the hours.

 

[crewchief888]

I’d ask for a recent printout of the stored fault codes in service analyzer and codes from the ECU

 

[dcg9381]

About to buy a 2018 Bobcat S550 from a rental place. Looks like it's in good shape. Been leased out for snow duty last few years. 850hrs.

They have maintenance records / damage records on it?
850 hours is really low for a rental unit. Most of the units I see are sold at 2000-3000 hours.

Like rental cars, there are occasional operators that really run 'em hard... But these were built to work and be run hard.

It's got a lift rating of about 2,000 lbs... Is that enough for what you're using it for?

 

[575cat]

I was just going to say Bobcats rust rust rust rust , especially the hydraulics , run run run

 

[AEAdam]

They have maintenance records / damage records on it?
850 hours is really low for a rental unit. Most of the units I see are sold at 2000-3000 hours.

They must have. I'll ask. Thanks.

Like rental cars, there are occasional operators that really run 'em hard... But these were built to work and be run hard.

It's got a lift rating of about 2,000 lbs... Is that enough for what you're using it for?

I've never owned one. Not sure what to expect. I suspect its a tool I will have to learn to operate effectively. I don't think making it go forwards and backwards is the challenge to these things.

I'm working on a bank barn. So just transporting material from one level to the other up the bank has been an issue. I use my F150 like a huge wheel barrow, but loading heavy stuff into the F150 is another matter. I rented a plate compactor from HomeDepot and spent 20 minutes getting it out of the bed with an engine crane in the mud.

I'm buying the skid steer primiarly for landscaping, grading, snow plowing etc. But I'm planning on buying a pallet fork attachment immediately. When the dishwasher, washer dryer HVAC units etc show up, maybe I'll be able to move that stuff closer to where they need to go.

 

[AEAdam]

I was just going to say Bobcats rust rust rust rust , especially the hydraulics , run run run

You are saying don't choose one? Buy, what, a CAT? CATs are a lot more money and typically have a lot more hours on them around here. New Hollands are comparable, but I wanted the latest pilot controls, which are rare here. Taks, Deere are all pretty expensive here.

I'm listening and taking notes. I will inspect this carefully for corrosion. Once I get one, I tend to take very good care of stuff so that doesn't worry me. Its the initial condition that worries me.

One more worry: Tires. The person I've been dealing with said if the tires are worn they will replace them. I see some with solid tires, I know there are foam filled and pneumatic. If I got to choose, what would you recommend I ask for?

Most of work will be in lawn or dirt. I have a long gravel drive to do. Lots of grading. And hills. Whole property is on a slope. Looking at a "lawn planer", looks a little like a rock bucket. I also need to be able to scoop up rocks. I have a huge pile of granite rocks roughly 8"X10"X4". Not sure how I'm going to move them, if I can get a bucket into them or not. Imagine a stone house that burned and all the stones the house was made from are now in the basement.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

It sounds reasonable to me, depending on what you see. I bought a used 2011 Bobcat S650 in 2013, with 600 hours, a one owner, and it was in mint condition. I don't use it a lot, but I have 1,700 hours on it now and the only thing I did was had the A/C recharged once. I found out I needed to run it even in the winter and it probably would not have lost its charge, keeping the seals pliant. When I was looking for the one I bought, I found the ones used on construction had over 2,000 hours and were kind of beat up. One came from a fertilizer plant, and that one was sandblasted and repainted, looked brand new, but if you really looked around, you could see the corrosion below the new paint, the hydraulic lines were pitted so bad it appeared they would start leaking. If it was maintained and not rusting out, those low hours will be in your favor. Perhaps a rental lived a milder life than one on a construction crew potentially getting worked pretty hard every day. I think solid or foam filled tires work pretty good on hard surfaces, but if you are going to be on gravel and dirt, I would want air filled tires. My Dad had a M600 Bobcat in the 1960's on the farm, and Bobcat is the only brand I'm really familiar with, and my S650 is a great machine for me. I use it for cutting about 60 acres of Eastern Red Cedar trees with a tree shear on our farm ground, building fence, and general stuff where we live, and I really like my Bobcat. Be sure to use a diesel fuel lubricant in the fuel, its needed now that Sulphur has been taken out of the diesel fuel that you buy, as it will extend the life of the injector pump. I put anti-gel in my fuel in cooler temps, but once the weather gets to around 20 degrees or so, I switch over to Number 1 diesel fuel, and still add anti-gel. Be sure to regularly switch out the engine air filters, timely oil changes, hydraulic filters and change out the hydraulic fluid per service recommendations, and it should be a great machine for you.

 

[ATC]

You in SE PA huh? I looked at these guys when I was buying a used skid steer (didn't buy from them, found one more local to me)

Home | Best Used Bobcat & Kubota

Best Used Bobcat & Kubota is a small family run business, specializing in the sale of used tractors and skid loaders. Additionally, we sell attachments related to these pieces of equipment.

www.bestusedskidsteers.com

Mark Supply Co.

Mark Supply Co is a family owned and operated business. We sell all kinds of construction equipment, agriculture equipment, lawn and garden equipment, seeding equipment, and specialty equipment.

www.marksupplyco.com

If the machine has a fresh paint job on it, be very leery. The #1 way to hide abuse is fresh paint, and companies/flippers love to slap a $300 paint job on a clunker and add $5k+ to the price.

Flip the cab up and look at the hydraulic pumps, motors, and lines in the belly. Also, make sure the belly doesn't have 4" of dirt in the bottom. That will destroy the steel hydraulic lines and rub through the rubber hoses. Look for leaks or wet spots.

Check the boom/lift arms. If there are any cracks or non-factory welds, stay away.

Run the machine and lift the boom 5-6 feet off the ground. Wiggle the machine back and forth (side to side) and look for slop in the arms. Wiggle the bucket up and down and look for worn out pins (usually the lower ones).

 

[trashauler]

On your tire question. Stick with pneumatic. Solids are typically just that. They are sold rubber, usually used in mining, trash, scrap yards, etc. I would not do solid or foam filled tires for landscaping or home use.

 

[cliffcharb]

All Bobcat skid steers that I've dealt with are pretty tough units. We typically run them to 10,000 hours. My 2019 S650 is sitting at 5,000 hours now with no major repairs.
Run it and operate it before purchasing. If it checks out I would change all fluids & filters

 

[PowerWagonBuilder]

From my experiences with Skid steers and CTLs, I think if you are working more in the dirt and on slopes, you may want to lean more towards a tracked machine. Tire machines are better on hard surfaces simply because of how they manuever and the contact pressure. A tracked loader is more stabled on uneven terrain and tire machines will literally get stuck in soft yard. They also tend to cut up the ground worse than a track machine.
The downsides to a CTL vs a tire machine is that undercarriage parts are expensive to replace so if you do buy a machine, look for something with newer tracks, sprockets, and bogies. Nose and tail wheels are important too. If the tailwheel looks like it is turning into a sprocket, the tracks have been run too tight and that usually happens when unfamiliar or aggressive operators have been in the machine so the owners tighten the tracks up to where it is difficult for the track to pop off but it wears out the drive system prematurely.

I have a 2001 T190 that I've pretty much rebuilt and it has about 5k hours on it now. Get a service manual for whatever machine you do buy. Bobcat is a decent brand for the homeowner and landscape guys. CAT and Deere are pricey but commercial grade machines designed for a little more abuse, but with the price tag included for that. I have a 2023 Deere 325G and its a monster of a machine compared to the T190, however everything about it is 2x the price, ranging from fluids, to parts, etc.

When looking at used machines, also ask about the details on last time final drives were serviced, what fluid has been used in the machine for top-offs, and how many attachments may have been cycled through the machine. Rental machines often end up with early pump failures due to the sharing of so many attachments and most aux systems don't have a filter for the return due to the required flow volumes. I don't even share attachments between my Bobcat and the Deere because the Deere is particular about the fluid and the Bobcat is, well, older and abused and even though it has a reman pump in it, I don't want to risk the cross contamination.

Even though the Deere is in the garage too, I am more of a Bobcat guy, and thats even after growing up in a Family owned John Deere Dealership in the '80s and '90s.

My horde -


After buying my T190 I has having some final drive noise. Turns out one of the brake assemblies failed, which caused an issue with the charge pump (low pressure pump that acts as servo pressure for system functions, like turning off the parking brake as they are defaulted on in machines like these) that then took out the other drive motor brake seal, etc. A pump stack, new hoses, and two reman final drives later, my T190 is as good as new, drive and pump system wise.

 

[PopcornSutton]

I bought a used Bobcat 753 years ago from a Bobcat dealer. It was used on some demo work, but it didn't appear abused in any way. The hours were in line with it's age. The company I worked for then had several just like it so I was familiar with them. We agreed on the price and they put on new wheels and tires all around. Never had an issue, I just used it on my property a lot. I sold it and bought the Kubota I have now, cause the skid steer isn't very friendly on yards!

 

[WillyBoy]

They may be getting rid of a low hours machine because:
It's not making money for them
There's something wrong with it
They're down sizing.
They're going out of business.

Some of these reasons may be in your favor, some might not be. I'll second the suggestion to have it looked over thoroughly by an experienced mechanic and go with his recommendation.

 

[BombShelter]

I've got a baby Bobcat for small projects around the yard, I was chasing hydraulic leaks for a long time. I'd fix one hose and another would blow. There are some really tight spaces in mine so changing them was very challenging. Tires and rims can add up, make sure they aren't beaten up. They have either turf or knobby tires, knobby will dig up a grass yard and turf might slip in mud, a new set can be expensive if you have the wrong ones.

I bought a set of bucket fork attachments, they clamp on the existing bucket, from Vevor for little money. I keep a pallet around and it's good for hauling bigger stuff without taking the bucket off.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[AEAdam]

I've got a baby Bobcat for small projects around the yard, I was chasing hydraulic leaks for a long time. I'd fix one hose and another would blow. There are some really tight spaces in mine so changing them was very challenging. Tires and rims can add up, make sure they aren't beaten up. They have either turf or knobby tires, knobby will dig up a grass yard and turf might slip in mud, a new set can be expensive if you have the wrong ones.

I bought a set of bucket fork attachments, they clamp on the existing bucket, from Vevor for little money. I keep a pallet around and it's good for hauling bigger stuff without taking the bucket off.

Good luck with your purchase.

The one I'm looking at (actually all the ones I'm looking at) have solid tires and the rims don't look like normal rims. I assume to change tires to pneumatic I'd need new rims. Maybe I'd just be better off replacing the solid tires? Tracks are out for a host of reasons.

On attachments, none of these machines have high flow. I suspect most or all have never used their aux hydraulics. They also don't have power bobtach, which is a bit disappointing.

Here's the impression I've got. This rental agency buys a fleet of a certain type of machine with the features they need to rent it and spec features that require the least maintenance. Example: fully enclosed cabs, joystick controls, solid tires, key start, no hi flow, no power bobtach. After X number of years they sell them all pretty cheap. Their rentals have probably paid for them. The hours, wear doesn't matter to the seller.

Going to look at one being held for me tomorrow morning. This feels a lot like buying a used car, though the people I'm negotiating with don't feel slimy in any way. And there's clearly no evidence of any sort of sprucing up or covering of faults. These machines are fresh off rentals, maybe hosed off with a garden hose and parked.

 

[Firebrick43]

Air tires have a lot better traction off of pavement/hard surface. The fact that the tire can flex and lay down a much larger contact area than a solid rubber tire

Some of the new hollow non air tires (such as tweels) are getting closer but still air tiress have more traction.

 

[ATC]

Don't worry too much about the tires. I've rented in the past and they all have solid tires, and the machine I bought has pneumatic tires. The pneumatic tires ride a bit better, but traction wise, I can't tell a difference. I actually want solid tires for my machine because I'll never have to worry about punctures, flats, dry rot, air pressure (one of mine leaks down slowly), or popping one off the bead.

 

[hefnerconstructionlc]

If you have the ability what would be really sweet is to have a spare set. So if the set they have is worn out. Ask to keep those. Then you can use those more on the turf. Then see if they'll pitch in for a new set of knobbies for dirt work. Then you're just down to an extra set of rims. So if you can swing that two sets of tires would really be super handy.

 

[AEAdam]

Don't worry too much about the tires. I've rented in the past and they all have solid tires, and the machine I bought has pneumatic tires. The pneumatic tires ride a bit better, but traction wise, I can't tell a difference. I actually want solid tires for my machine because I'll never have to worry about punctures, flats, dry rot, air pressure (one of mine leaks down slowly), or popping one off the bead.

Love the stump bucket on the case. I’d like that and a skeletal bucket for all my rocky soil.

 

[racecougar]

I've got a baby Bobcat for small projects around the yard, I was chasing hydraulic leaks for a long time. I'd fix one hose and another would blow. There are some really tight spaces in mine so changing them was very challenging.

That's a PITA even on the larger Bobcats. I've had to get creative to reach/replace some of the hoses on our old 843.

 

[AEAdam]

This is what I bought.

They were washing it when I got there. Hard to see, but its a 2018 S550. They are pulling off their decals and touching up the paint now, all of which was unexpected. Machine has 850 hours. Tires were better in person than they appear so I've decided to leave them for now.

Thanks to you guys, I went exploring under the cab:

One of the mechanics vacuumed then hosed this out pretty well. I didn't take an after picture. But there's plenty more cleaning to be done. We vac'ed out the radiators. Tested the AC.

One unexpected feature was the GPS transceiver? LoJack? Blue Force Tracker is what I know this as. Anyone know if there is a way I can find that signal, like on a home computer or a phone?


I'll take more pics and ask more questions when this gets delivered next week. Next thing on my list is a set of forks. The rental place didn't have any to sell. There are many available locally. I think 48" is best, tho 42" are cheaper and more plentiful. I think that's a sign!

Again, appreciate your help. Just in case this helps anyone, I paid $19,500 for this, which I felt was cheap for here. Only auction prices were cheaper. Prices have come down in my area, but there is still an enormous range. This same machine can be listed for $29k or more. This rental outfit was selling probably 10 of these within 100miles of me and this may have been the last one. (there must be more). They were gone in less than a week. They were listed at $22.9 and I was told, all sold for basically what I paid.

 

[WillyBoy]

Well done. Nice get!

 

[ATC]

Congrats! That looks like a nice machine at a good price.

One unexpected feature was the GPS transceiver? LoJack? Blue Force Tracker is what I know this as. Anyone know if there is a way I can find that signal, like on a home computer or a phone?

Unplug or remove it. That's most likely a proprietary GPS tracker that United Rentals uses to track their equipment. You most likely won't be able to use it for yourself. I wouldn't want the guys at UR keeping tabs on all these sold machines either. Can't trust anyone these days.
If you want something like that, look into an Airtag that tracks GPS location via peoples cell phones.

 

[Firebrick43]

I'll take more pics and ask more questions when this gets delivered next week. Next thing on my list is a set of forks. The rental place didn't have any to sell. There are many available locally. I think 48" is best, tho 42" are cheaper and more plentiful. I think that's a sign!

The majority of 42" forks are 1.25" thick 4000# ones because of cost which your machine will likely destroy. They make 1.5" 6000# ones and even 2" thick 8000# ones.

Even though they make the same thickness light duty forks in 48" the thicker ones are much more common as I imagine they are not buying them strictly on cost.

 

[ATC]

Not sure what thickness forks I have. I know they are 48" and rated at 4200#. I only paid $700 for them new from a small place that sells attachments. My machine has a 2200# rating @ 50%, and they work just fine. I've picked up lots of things at capacity or more and they are still like new. The ones you have to watch out for are the 2000# rated ones meant for utility tractors.

Get ones with a walk-thru backrest (open in the center)

 

[AEAdam]

Not sure what thickness forks I have. I know they are 48" and rated at 4200#. I only paid $700 for them new from a small place that sells attachments. My machine has a 2200# rating @ 50%, and they work just fine. I've picked up lots of things at capacity or more and they are still like new. The ones you have to watch out for are the 2000# rated ones meant for utility tractors.

Get ones with a walk-thru backrest (open in the center)

These pics are inspirational. Amazing how capable these things are and how clever the operators are.

I'm out looking for the Bobcat branded forks. They have the pass thru and a convenient looking step on the side. As an engineer, the way they are constructed, the deep cross section tapering to the top just looks right to me. Just have to find them cheap.



I didn't really realize this but: When I got my milling machine, people told me I'd spend more on tooling than I paid for the mill. Both of my mills were super cheap so that's been true and easy. But I could see skid steers being like that tho.

There is a skeletal bucket made not far from me by Mennonites in Lititz PA. Instead of laser cut steel, they make them out of 1-3/16" rod. Well, here it is:

Here's their website if anyone is interested.

My property is called "rocky hill" for a reason. I was thinking about putting teeth on my bucket. (I'll try it without first). But I could see the usefulness of this, which appears to be a cross between a steel garden rake and a slotted bucket, just both put into that machine that made Captain America strong.

 

[Firebrick43]

Its not lift capacity that generally bends forks, its curling them (aka breakout force) which can be a lot more of the lift capacity.

That or the load is uneven or a fork slips out as your curling and then the fork still holding the load is now bent down

 

[PCustoms]

I bought a 4k 42" set back in '21 for $550 delivered. They messed up and I got 48" tines.

Looks like they've gone up at least a couple hundred since.

 

[Milton Shaw]

My first Bobcat was a 753 that I bought from the dealer. It had just been traded in and been inspected by mechanics and a detail list of parts need to sell it as a used guaranteed machine. I got it for just about the trade value and the list of parts was about $700. And did all the work myself and used it for 6 years before I finally upgraded to a T200 as my lot is steep and the wheels were off the ground to often to feel safe to me. My second Bobcat was a T200 out of New jersey with some rust problems around the edges of the cab but other than that I have not had any problems except hoses. IT has heat and Air but no high flow. It was nice owning two of a while as I didn't have to swap attachments that often. Buy the manual and check problems out and tools required to repair to decide if do-it-yourself or send to the dealer for repair. Getting too old to get under the cab and into the spaces for main hose changes etc.

 

[Stick-man]

I still have a 2004 Bobcat S300 with a Kubota engine, I bought new. I was a huge Bobcat fan when I was in business. Now, that Bobcat got bought out by Doosan, I won't even look at them. The engines are basically throw away/exchange. There is a guy on youtube "HowIDidIt" that was a Bobcat dealer tech. A ton of great info on his channel.

 

[RonnieC]

This is what I bought.

They were washing it when I got there. Hard to see, but its a 2018 S550. They are pulling off their decals and touching up the paint now, all of which was unexpected. Machine has 850 hours. Tires were better in person than they appear so I've decided to leave them for now.

Thanks to you guys, I went exploring under the cab:

One of the mechanics vacuumed then hosed this out pretty well. I didn't take an after picture. But there's plenty more cleaning to be done. We vac'ed out the radiators. Tested the AC.

One unexpected feature was the GPS transceiver? LoJack? Blue Force Tracker is what I know this as. Anyone know if there is a way I can find that signal, like on a home computer or a phone?


I'll take more pics and ask more questions when this gets delivered next week. Next thing on my list is a set of forks. The rental place didn't have any to sell. There are many available locally. I think 48" is best, tho 42" are cheaper and more plentiful. I think that's a sign!

Again, appreciate your help. Just in case this helps anyone, I paid $19,500 for this, which I felt was cheap for here. Only auction prices were cheaper. Prices have come down in my area, but there is still an enormous range. This same machine can be listed for $29k or more. This rental outfit was selling probably 10 of these within 100miles of me and this may have been the last one. (there must be more). They were gone in less than a week. They were listed at $22.9 and I was told, all sold for basically what I paid.

Good luck with the new machine! Very jealous- always wanted one!

 

[tymbo]

would you care to share how much you paid? I may be in the market soon.

 

[csp]

would you care to share how much you paid? I may be in the market soon.

He stated $19.5k

 

[rancherbill]

I also need to be able to scoop up rocks. I have a huge pile of granite rocks roughly 8"X10"X4". Not sure how I'm going to move them, if I can get a bucket into them or not. Imagine a stone house that burned and all the stones the house was made from are now in the basement.

Drive into the pile - bucket tilt up (they go toward the back of the bucket) do it again. Viola you've got rocks in the bucket. You will be surprised at the pushing force of the machine.

With your road, make a picture of the cross section of the road. I suspect you'll want a ditch on the uphill side to keep the road dry and the runoff controlled. Get comfortable with there is always lots of topsoil left over when you create a ditch. Think through what you are going to do with all the soil. It is better to have a plan than not to have a plan - I know.

 

[AEAdam]

Picked up a set of forks today. Chose the heavy duty Bobcat model I posted above. I like the side step and the step thru. Especially with the newer style door.



This machine has a manual bobtach. One of the levers is a little bent and the holes in the handles are pretty sloppy. Fortunately, the welded in bushings look okayish. So I ordered the rebuild kit from Amazon.

This is really my first time operating one of these machines. I like the joystick control. Ive been switching back and forth between H (Case) pattern and ISO. I can see advantages and disadvantages to both.