No Name Mini Skids?

[Tree09]

Oh i agree completely, the point of my post was simply that an excavator can be an awesome tool as well, and when comparing them to others you should ideally operate it differently because it's designed to operate differently. In other words you shouldn't care about how fast it tracks as much because you shouldn't be running back and forth, you should be using it how they designed it and swinging all over the place, doing a bunch of work but not really moving the machine itself around very quickly. And I'm definitely not an expert operator either, but as a fitter who has done a ton of dirt work I've worked around a bunch of ungodly talented people (union operators, that's all they do for their entire career and go to school for). The important thing is to accentuate the machine's strong points and minimize it's weak points, and if an excavator fits with what you do or you have one that's ok too, they've a viable way to do trees. Pretty much any iron is good iron

 

[Kaveman]

Heavy equipment, building bridges...

Wait, are minis and subcompact tractors "heavy" equipment?

 

[Tree09]

Technically yeah. Just like girls, some are bigger than others but they're all good

 

[canadianclimber]

sorry about the derail @canadianclimber


we have a member or two here that could have used this advice...

I think the manual also says this lol

All good. I'm learning a lot and visualize the pros and cons for the area I work.

 

[WoodCutr]

Wait, are minis and subcompact tractors "heavy" equipment?

im not sure, my mini skid I dont count as "heavy" but my excavator I do, a 3000 pound machine and a 10000 pound machine are vastly different levels of "heavy" and not just in weight

 

[Kaveman]

Agreed. A consideration for me was tools. If the machine gets much bigger than what I have, I need bigger tools. That's a snowball poised on the edge of a BIG hill.

 

[Tree09]

Bigger tools? 3/4 inch socket set? Some wrenches? Maybe a come along or a chain fall? Not sure i follow.

 

[Kaveman]

Bigger tools? 3/4 inch socket set? Some wrenches? Maybe a come along or a chain fall? Not sure i follow.

All of that, and then some. Heavier jacks and jackstands, blah blah blah. You're tracking fine bud. Like many men, I am also a tool whore. I should never be given an excuse to buy tools, especially when I hate my local snap-on guy...

 

[WoodCutr]

hell even my mini skid needs a 1 1/2" socket on a swivel to tighten the tracks, the excavator has surprisingly small bolts

going to be honest, the "big" tools dont start till you are on the big equipment, get something like a CAT 330 and expect to get out the big stuff, 1" impact, gas axe, all the fun stuff
also I found out you can replace most "big" tools with a pipe wrench and some old fence rail as a handle, that and a massive adjustable wrench

 

[Kaveman]

Kid, you're gonna give us old bastards an coronary, talking like that. You sound like a half rate farm hand with that monkey wrench shit.

 

[WoodCutr]

You sound like a half rate farm hand with that monkey wrench shit.

because I basically am?

BTW I buy my large pipe wrenches at harbor freight, get the fence rail for cheap because reasons lol
why would I go spend $$$ on a socket set that I use once a year when a pipe wrench will do the same job? ive even had my 10 ton portapower set up to push on the pipe wrench once before lol

us old bastards

atleast you know you're old!

 

[Nutball]

Tracks can easily tear up the ground with just the slightest turn, so I tend to drive straight until I reach a sheet of plywood at a turning point, turn, then go straight again. It's the next best think to lining the whole trail with mats.

 

[SeanKroll]

Yes. Exactly.

Plywood for spinning is easier than the tread on plastic mats. I can spin my mini on half a sheet of 1/2" ply.

 

[WoodCutr]

Plywood for spinning is easier than the tread on plastic mats. I can spin my mini on half a sheet of 1/2" ply.

same, I use 3/4" with 3 strand cheap anchor rope handles spliced on, ive got 12 half sheets and thats enough for everything ive needed, lasts a good long while too!

 

[Kaveman]

same, I use 3/4" with 3 strand cheap anchor rope handles spliced on, ive got 12 half sheets and thats enough for everything ive needed, lasts a good long while too!

Think you could get away with something thinner? Or are you getting cracking and such?

I'm afraid I'd have to go that thick or thicker due to all our rock. Which some folk want undisturbed, which I don't understand entirely.

 

[WoodCutr]

Think you could get away with something thinner? Or are you getting cracking and such?

I'm afraid I'd have to go that thick or thicker due to all our rock. Which some folk want undisturbed, which I don't understand entirely.

I got 3/4" so I know it wont break, I do sometimes drive my bucket truck in and out of lawn on these mats, one day I got stuck in my own yard on a wood chip road and used these mats to get my loaded truck out, trucks almost 40K loaded with a chipper and all, they made bad sounds but held fine

if its only gonna be a mini skid on perfectly smooth lawns, get 1/2" or 5/8", but any rough ground or heavier equipment 3/4" minimum

edit changed level to smooth

 

[Nutball]

3/8-1/2" sheets do take a beating when driving a bucket truck on them, eventually breaking, but they hold up for plenty of uses. A mini skid will occasionally tear up some splinters from turning on them. I don't think there's a need for 3/4" if just using them on grass.

 

[Kaveman]

@canadianclimber Since this thread derailed hard, ill offer my uneducated opinion.

While saving money with a chicom mini skid may seem like a good idea, it can just as easily become a false economy. Sure, you can work on it yourself, but that's time spent not doing tree work. If you're doing tree work and not using it because it's down, it's not earning it's keep, is it?

I say spend the extra money, you're not just "buying a brand", there's a dealer network, parts support, so on and so on. If you're just looking to supplement existing equipment, maybe chicom can be OK, but don't bet dinner on it.

 

[Tree09]

I would rather wrench on stuff than pay for a mechanic myself, but that's me.

 

[lxskllr]

I'd rather have my shit work the way it's supposed to, and require nothing from me. My experience with Chinese stuff is it's a slow motion kit, where you replace everything that breaks with proper parts over time, and every day is a new exciting problem to work around. I can do mechanical stuff, and I've been successful in purely economic terms, but I'm not that good at it, and it gives zero enjoyment. I do things I'm good at and enjoy so I can pay other people to do stuff that sucks. I'd rather start with a tool that has a good chance working right OOTB.

 

[Kaveman]

I would rather wrench on stuff than pay for a mechanic myself, but that's me.

I agree with that, Kyle, BuuUUUuuuuUuut...

Ostensibly, my job is to operate a chainsaw, not a wrench.

 

[Tree09]

Well that's true, but what do you pay a mechanic per hour? Repairs on stuff is part of it, and if i do it i know what happened and exactly what was done, and likely see other problems before they happen so i can prepare for those and fix it on a scheduled break rather than in the middle of something. Yeah they'll likely be quicker, but then after i do it i learned how to do it too, and the next time I'll be quicker too and then know more about my machine. Not to mention a shop will likely have it sit for awhile, won't fix something quick on a weekend, charge you wayyyyyyy more for parts, be more prone to just swapping parts til the problem goes away, etc.

Buying anything is a gamble, you make your bet and go for it. I would rather buy American stuff used at an auction myself, but thinking you can escape wrenching or the costs of paying someone to do it for you is unrealistic. That said hydraulic equipment isn't really that complicated until you get into modern stuff, it's all basically the same as a log splitter, with some bearings thrown in there. Lots of modern us equipment also has a bunch of proprietary stuff on them to make it harder and more expensive to work on so you are more likely to use the dealer, and depending on what you're buying is enough reason to look elsewhere too.

 

[Kaveman]

And this is the discussion the OP was looking for, methinks. Thanks bud!

I'll point out that not everyone is near so mechanically inclined as yourself. I'm a gitrdun kinda guy, and that's led to a fairly broad knowledge base, but, but, not everyone has that advantage, and that advantage is exponential. There's a huge gulf of ability between yourself and I, and a huge difference of ability on either side of that. I've met folk with good intentions and given the best advise, still make things worse.

 

[Tree09]

That's not true tho, there's nothing special about me at all. What one man can do so can another, the hardest part is taking the first step and turning a wrench. The internet has made learning how to do stuff much easier, so learning the steps needed to perform the work is dramatically easier than it was in the past. For a lot of stuff you can even find a step by step video in what you need to do, and simply mimic what you see. An off brand machine likely won't have that luxury, but the engine likely will, and the hydraulics will be simple enough to figure out by watching videos about other hydraulic systems. Not having dealer support wouldn't be a concern of mine is i guess my point, but you probably should be prepared to be your own mechanic. Surplus center, McMaster carr, and other supply houses become your parts store.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Have any of you guys ever ran the Bobcat with the axles that articulated? The one they discontinued. Maybe a moot point now since they’re no longer in production but seems like, to me anyway, they would have been a great fit for tree work. Easy on turf, large lifting capacity, high lift height, no end of attachments, and not nearly as tippy as a mini or articulated.