Bobcat Skid Steer Loader Review

Today we're going to talk about the Bobcat T180 and why you may want or may not want this machine in your company. We're going to cover the pros and cons, what this machine can do, and what the limitations of this machine are. Help you guys and gals out there if you're looking at a tracked machine understand what kinds of tracks you may want on a Bobcat or on any track. You can see this track, there is absolutely no give in this track system. Not all tracks are created the same. Be careful when you're buying them a track machine. You got to get the right one for what you're doing. We work in dirt. You'll see we've got a very aggressive tread design on here. Works great. We're in a situation like this, but if you go to get on snow or ice, this machine doesn't move. And when you get on hard pavement and you're trying to plow with a machine like this, forget it. You're going to have a difficult time moving and you're going to have one hell of a sore back when you're done, right? Yep. and then doing cleanups on a on a road or something. You you'll scrape it down and then um you'll knock all the stuff off your tracks and you got to go back and clean it up and you'll always end up knocking more off the tracks. It's really tough to get all the stuff out of there if you're trying to clean clean up a a street with it. So, yeah, there is a track design that has a floating track design where it goes up and down and it'll it has a little more give in it. And then the tread design on the track itself. Uh there's certain tracks that aren't as aggressive as this. They're uh a little flatter, but they give you better grip in the snow where you can actually drive up on the snow piles. You want to drive on a snow pile in this thing, forget it. Although it's great for floating in mud and great for grading and leveling, you're not going to do much else with this this particular track system. So, make sure that you pick the right track system for how you're going to be using it. It's kind of a big thing, you know, if you don't understand the different tracks, do some research on it. But I'm just I'm just here to bring to make you aware of it. What else do you know about the T180 that you like, Tim? Just how it floats in the mud and you can get more stuff done that you couldn't do with tires. Yeah, we got three tired machines and one track machine. And so far this year, all we've used is this track machine this time of the year. Yeah, this time of the year, March, April, it's wet and it's nasty. This is the machine that's going to be working. Now, if we work off a street, we don't use this machine. We don't like to use this machine when we work off a street and going into a site simply because those tracks are more expensive than a set of rubber tires and less forgiving when you're bouncing over a curb. So, if you see the ridge we've got right here, even a small ridge like right there, that ridge, that hurts when you're driving a skid loader like this, it hurts. The Bobcat T180. Hey, Tim, tell me a little bit about the power in this thing. I'd like to see it have more power. Yeah. Yeah. I I feel that the T180 in particular could use could benefit from having a little bit more power, but that's why they call him a T190. Yeah, that's why they call it a T190. The benefit to most track skid steers is even on the steepest slopes, they are incredibly stable, able to float and maneuver where a tired machine will not take you. But make sure your tracks are tight because there is nothing more miserable than losing tracks on the side of a steep hill. But as you can see in this picture, these machines can go where no tired machine can. Next, we're going to look at the engine compartment on a Bobcat T180. Here's a typical problem almost all Bobcats face. These lights pop out. I'm surprised both of them are still in. Hey, Tim, did you do any maintenance on this T180 to keep both lights in? This one This one is dirty, but here's the backside of this T180. Did you put the light back in? Maybe. I don't know. I'm just guessing it had to be out, right? Yeah. What I like about this one is the fuel system is sealed inside and you can lock this back door. Keep this keep it safe. So, there's your fuel system. Bobcats are great. I love the serviceability on a Bobcat. Everything that you need is right there. Things nice little features about a Bobcat. There's your battery right there. Love being able to get that battery. Air filters right there. Everything faces you. all the main things that you really need to keep an eye on right there. Right. Right. Available. He's going to start this up. A lot of good things about these Bobcat T180. Bobcat T180 is a great little dirt machine. It could benefit from a little bit more power and it would be nice to have a little bit more forgiveness in the track situation. Forget about using this machine in the snow if you need to climb a pile. it just won't do it.