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Compact Application Tips: A rare day off

July 25, 2007 |

They look like skid-steer loaders in work boots but they tread lightly where skid-steer loaders fear to go.

Compact rubber track loaders offer many of the same functions as their next-of-kin skid-steer loaders and are willing to work year ’round if you let them. Wide rubber tracks give these loaders better traction on soggy and slick terrain, and let you work where conditions are too spongy for wheeled vehicles.

Contractors working on established turf find the compact track loader leaves almost no trail and creates less compaction and residual surface damage than a wheeled skid-steer loader. In fact, when an operator climbs out of his loader, he will exert more ground pressure than many compact track loaders that ‘float’ at between 2.5 to 5 psi.

Brad Lemke, product expert at ASV, reminds contractors to use the right size machine for the job. “Just because the compact track loader has tracks doesn’t mean it’s a bulldozer,” he says. Lemke suggests choosing a larger machine if you are questioning what size loader to use on your job.

Jim Hughes, marketing manager for Case Construction Equipment, says contractors using track loaders in the Midwest and Northeast can begin work before winter winds down, getting an early start on the construction season in spite of jobsites with unstable wet ground, mud and snow melt. While your skid steer stands idle, your track loader will buy you early productivity – and work.