sidewalk clearing

[wmhlc]

I'm looking for something for next year to speed up our sidewalk clearing times. Alot of tight walks, range from 42 inches to 84 inches. I was thinking a small skid steer with broom, or a mini track loader with broom. I would also get a blower, for the heavy snowfalls. Don't like the atv's, did it two years ago and the guys were pissed.

Just wondering if anybody has used one of those mini loader for walks, and pros and cons of both? The other question would be transport from site to site?

[Mike Fronczak]

I have used it all. From shovels to blowers, to ATV's. Why were the guys pissed about the ATV they work great, stearing is a pain, but they are very fast at getting the bulk of the walk cleared quickly, my problem was trailering on crappy roads & having a good operator. It much easier to train someone to shovel/snowblow. As for the mini track loader, I have a tire version(toro dingo 222), horrible in the snow but tires are shot. Personally, I would like a small 4x4 tractor with cab. That is what I think what work best.

[Mark Oomkes]

Tim, we used our Dingo (with wheels\tires) for several years. Works great and we only used a plow. We had it going in the '99 blizzard with 22" of snow, and it is unstoppable. However, it is also really slow at 3 MPH. I know the tracked WB models are 4.5 MPH, but that's still pretty slow. We were able to leave ours on-site, so I can't help you there. The other thing I didn't like was not being able to move the mchine and operate the blade\boom at the same time. Especially in tight areas, we had to stop one function or the other to do the opposite. The Bobcat with foot controls, you can do both using hands for steering\motion and the foot controls for the blade\boom.

If I was to do it again, I would go with a Bobcat 463, very versatile, narrow and 6 MPH speed.

[GreenQuest Lawn]

I am now very lucky, all my sidewalks are 7-8' wide, allowing me to use the truck.........gotta love it!

[Mark Oomkes]

Rub it in, Todd. Rub it in. :p

[wmhlc]

I have a demo set up for both a small skid steer and the mini track, if we get another snow fall, I will let you know how it goes.

The quads are too hard to turn, plus areas are tight, and you are frozen after hour.

[Mark Oomkes]

Hope your rep is better than the one I'm waiting on. Supposedly going to demo the new Toro Groundsmaster, a month ago. So far, I'm thoroughly unimpressed with his followup.

Must be he doesn't really want to sell one that bad. :headwall.

[waterboy]

I am not familiar with the broom setup on skid-steers, but here in OH the brooms get all clogged up very quickly and are all but useless. We use Skag mowers with the decks removed and blades added. They're great for all but ice accumulation. With this setup, 4-50" weights come with the blade and add a bit of downforce. We also have Walker mowers with blade attachments, but they are high maintenance IMHO. The best thing we have bought so far for walks is a rider style turf aerator with a blade. We modified the lift assembly to a solid arm to add downforce. Works like a champ. Those of you that do not do aerations or lawn maintenance will have to take into account that this machine will be sitting the off season. In addition: To both the ATV's we use and the above mentioned tools we have taken the cutting edge off and added a strip of 1" rubber the length of the blade. It keeps you from jarring your teeth out on the expansion strips on sidewalks.

We demod a tracked Dingo and liked it, but as said in a previous post the salesperson killed the deal.

Jim

[wmhlc]

Mark, let me know how that demo works, or give me a call, and I will come and watch it in action!!!! I forgot about that thing, that would be the set-up, because then we can use it all year. You ever see those little trucks that they sell at allied, Expo has one, and I always see it downtown driving, but never doing any work, wonder how that would work?

[Mark Oomkes]

Will do Tim. Supposedly, not holding my breath, going to be the end of next week. Asked for it with a broom. Hopefully we get some snow to actually try it out on.

Yeah, I've seen that, up close. What a joke the way Allied set it up. Rincky dink POS. Heard they had to wait a couple weeks for one part, too. I'm pretty sure they aren't too heavy duty.

Kubota, Tim, Kubota. Just not from KWM.