How to run a skid steer- Basics from cab, controls & operation for the Noob

All [Music] right, guys. We are back on how to run a skid loader, but we're also going to be talking about what not to do when you're running a skid loader. I owe a big thank you to two people. First off is Vubble because they sponsored this thing. They put this entire thing together. The second thing I owe a big thank you to is for my wife for being the guinea pig for me. And so we put her in the seat. We got the expert in the seat. And then we show you the mistakes and then we show you how to correct them. So, I owe thank you to her for volunteering to do that. So, you know what? Let's just start to do this thing. Here we go. Well, let's get into running it. Who wants to run it? You want to run a Nikki? She's never ran a skid loader. Today is a great day to learn. Another thing I want to point out is is three points of contact, right? It's a safety thing. So, one, two, and three point contact. So, it's it's easy to get in and out of this machine. Did you see that, Nick? See the handles? Yep. There you go. Yep. Good deal. Okay. Now, since this is your first time operating a skid, I don't have to ask you what um controls you like. There's within skid steers, there's different there's there's hand and foot controls. There's ISO pattern, there's H pattern. So, I prefer ISO pattern, which is um where the left hand joystick does all your movement forward, back, left, right, and your right hand joystick does all your bucket movement. So, up, down, curl, and dump. Um, the H pattern is where you use both joysticks to go forward, backward, left and right to skid steer. And then you actually use the right joystick for your curl and then your left, left and right for your up and down. A little bit more complicated, not as intuitive. So, since this is your first time, I say we go with ISO just because I think it's easiest and it's um it's gaining a lot of popularity. It's really the most common control on the market right now. ISO is where all of the machine controls are on one side and all the bucket controls are on the other. Yes. Where's the pattern control switch? Right. Oh, it's kind of hard to see. The features turn the key on. You can see the lights. So, you can see there's ISO where my finger is. And then right below that is H. So, it has two options. ISO and then H pattern. This is a full cab machine. So, it's got air conditioning. It's got a radio, too. It's got lights. So, first things first, seat belts on. Okay. Okay. And then we're going to put this left hand control pod down. So this only reason we lifted that up was to get in and out. That's a safety constraint. So if at any time when you're operating that arm comes up, the machine will actually all all the controls will lock out. So it'll it'll it's just like the over the head safety bar except it's just over the side. All right. So we're good. Seat belt on, safety bar down. All right. Just turn the key all the way over. It'll crank and then you'll know it started for me. Yep. Perfect. Okay. So now that engine's running, but all the controls are still that call locked out. Still in park and all your hydraulics are frozen up, right? It won't move anywhere. So to take it out of park, that red park brake button on your upper right, can you hit that for me? Is there a break in case I start to um move? Yeah, it's hydrostatic. So as long as you don't touch a lever, it won't move. Okay. So now you're out of park. And then that button that's that's to the right of the park brake. Two buttons over it says four, five, or six with a padlock with four arrows. That's where I draw the lock down. So, hit that for me, please. Okay, great. So, that's just unlocked, guys. So, now the machine is is essentially free. So, I'm going to step back here for a second. That's your throttle lever right there for your your your foot throttle. You also have a hand throttle as well. I prefer to use the foot throttle, but if you want to have a fixed throttle, you can set that dial to whatever RPM. Or if you want to have a variable throttle, you can use your foot, similar to a car, and adjust it that way. To go forward, you take that joystick and you move this joystick right here. You move it forward and start moving forward. If you want to stop, you just let go. It's got a spring. It'll come back to neutral. Stop. Let go and stop every time. Then you go backwards, you move it that way. If you want to go left, turn left. If you want to go right, move it move it to the right. And remember, it's called the skid steer because it skids to steer. So these these wheels, they always stay in the same position. just they just skid or drive depending on which direction. So it could be a little jerk. So Kevin just made a really good point. These don't turn when you're steering. The wheels just break. So if you want to do donuts in a skid steer is super easy, but you're also going to be wearing a lot of rubber off your tire. Then that lever there, can you pull that lever back for me? That's going to be your lift for your bucket. Now pull it to the left towards me. That's your curl. Right one. dump in the the windows. The other advantage is you can have the window open so we can communicate through these. Don't have the arm here. So feel free to so not right now you don't but these buttons are like our horn. Um, also to connect and disconnect the attachment, also lights and our hydraulic um, couplers. We don't have anything hooked up right now. So, so those we can get into later. Right now, you don't have to worry about those. There you go. Hey. Hey, go load that truck up now. There you go. You got the hang of it. But if you have the bucket like all the way up and you can still just keep going forward, right? Yeah. Yeah, you can. But you got to be careful when when you have the higher you have that bucket in the air, the higher your center of gravity is and the more topheavy or unstable it makes it. So it's it's good practice to try to operate with the bucket lowered to the ground. Keep you more stable. I would go actually a little bit lower. Keep going down. You have to keep going. Keep going. All right. Right there is pretty good. So Kevin just made up a really good point. If you guys are st just learning how to run a skid loader, don't put your bucket all the way in the air because as you're driving forward, you have a greater chance of not only tipping side to side, front to back, but just you have a greater chance of tipping. I mean, down the machine and raise it. So that way you're never trying to move when the bucket's up in the air. You know, you load it, you lower it, drive to where you need to go, raise the dump as you stop. You don't want to try to move and lower at the same time. Yeah. Drive around. Get comfortable. Yeah. Go play in the dirt pile. You see that? That front tire skid. You can actually see the track. See that? That's why they're called skid steers. At least in the steer. Is that a two-speed, Kevin? Yeah, it does have high speed. Yep. What are the What are the two speeds? 7.4 mph is the max and low. And then 12.4 is the max and high. That's actually pretty fast for high. It is pretty fast. Yeah. So, we're not going to coach her on how to get her first bucket. She's never done this before because what she's going to probably do is what some of you guys are going to do and then we're going to help after that. I figure that's the best way for everybody to learn together. Oh, the arm doesn't go out. Kyle. Yep. Yep. Okay. So, what she's doing right now, you see how that bucket's curled all the way back? If she continues to go up, she'll dump that load right on top of herself, which I will let her do. But I'm going to demonstrate that to you guys. Uh, when we get in the machine, we're going to show you some of the common errors and mistakes that guys get in that will help you get beyond those beginner steps. All right, try to get a full bucket this time. Okay. And so what you're watching is really typical of way a lot of guys or girls will feel the first time they get in the loader, a skid loader. They're really cautious. And this is okay. This is okay. I'd rather have an operator come in like this and try to be careful and not hurt the equipment or themselves. Right? You see that bucket than the other way. So that's a good scoop. But the bucket was too high, too high off the ground. And maybe I'm a maybe I'm a scoop diva, but there is a right way that when you're operating in dirt, especially clay base or dirt with a with a binding agent, you're going to want to do it over and over again the right way. And that allows your machine to stay stable as you dig further into the bank. So she continues back on right there. That's that's common. That's okay, guys. She's she stopped and corrected. And the only problem is that that was big chunks of concrete. one big chunk of concrete can crush your legs or your feet when it comes back into the cab. Not all not all skid loaders have that safety door on the front or have a door on the front. Uh some of them have open cabs and although they have the the what is it ros roll over protection structure protection structure and then what is the what is the falling object? Okay, thank you. still doesn't mean that something can't come back underneath it. Especially on a skid loader where like she said, she said something that was pretty critical. Kevin, did you notice how she said, "Well, how do you stretch it out to get the material further away from you?" You don't. It's right there. So, if it comes back on you, it's going to leave a mark. If you have an open handy machine, you have to be very careful that you don't get hit with it. or even if you have a cab machine, this could break your glass, windshield wiper, do damage to the machine if not the operator, right? You did great, but hop on out. Okay, so let's talk about the right way when you have an operator in a piece of equipment. What's the right way to approach it? Well, first of all, make eye contact so that you, the operator, sees the person approaching you. So you see me, I'm coming up to you. Okay, so that way handsree and obviously the machine's off, so you're not going to touch anything. But one more thing is I want to make sure I keep my feet clear of that bucket. Right? So normally it's good practice as an operator to lower the bucket at all times. That way nobody can get any body parts underneath. That's essentially an unsupported boom right now. So if someone puts their toes or foot and that that hydraulic uh cylinder breaks an O-ring, it could fall down and it could do some damage. So we want to make sure we stay clear of putting any body parts beneath that bucket right now. Always always flat to the ground. Yeah. Always flat. Always rested on the ground. Yeah. So you can you can turn it on. Turn it up again. There we go. Okay. Now hit that that four, five, and six pad lock button. Yeah. Hit that. Okay. That's all you can do right now. Move that right now. Okay. Now move to the right a little bit. Keep going. Perfect. All right. That's the way we want our bucket resting on the ground. When you're done, if if you're running any kind of loader, always all the way down to the ground. Excavators, the bucket should be flat on the ground. If you're running a TLB, a tractor loader, backho, both the front and back buckets need to be touching the ground. Everything's on the ground before you turn that machine off, before you leave it. All right, my turn.