Loading big wood..Domestic arb..

[aspenarb]

High tip skid steer dumper ticks a few boxes and will go through any garden gate, it will churn up grass though so needs ply but that's handy anyway to run it up steps.

 

[Mark Bolam]

There is probably no single right answer Ben.

 

It would be an idea to measure the single narrowest access point for every job in the future so you can look at some figures.

 

We do tons of back garden domestics with side-gate access only, so you're limited to about 900mm width.

You could get some of the smaller machines in, but they can only carry so much out! A 900mm length of say 24" dia timber saves of lot of saw and back work though.

Then there's the lawn tearing up issue....

 

If someone made an articulated mini-loader that was sub-900mm width and could lift say 300kg to 1.2m they'd be onto an arb winner for me.

Does such a machine exist?

[benedmonds]

38 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

There is probably no single right answer Ben.

 

There is deffo no right answer.. But there are lot's of different solutions, some I may not have even thought about...   What you really need is one of everything but that is not economically viable.... I am in  the position that I now run 3 teams, so something that might only get used on 1 in 5 jobs would be used 3 times a week...   But staff IME are generally not nearly as careful as an owner operator, so "little" issues like messing up a lawn with a skid steer or knocking over a wall with a loader are considerably more likely to happen and all the potential savings can be lost and headaches fixing problems created..  

[Mark Bolam]

I hear that!

You don't take a knife to a gunfight, big kit wins every time when there is room.

 

But a little machine can be used for big access as well.

A sub-900mm width machine could potentially be used on every single job.

[Mick Dempsey]

I reckon a wheeled skid loader like a Giant would fill the gap perfectly.

[Mark Bolam]

Giant do some little articulated machines that wouldn't smash the lawn too much, and they look ideal.

 

But - they all seem to be over 900. 

 

There's definitely a gap here I reckon.

 

(No pun intended).

[Domino]

3 hours ago, benedmonds said:

There is deffo no right answer.. But there are lot's of different solutions, some I may not have even thought about...   What you really need is one of everything but that is not economically viable.... I am in  the position that I now run 3 teams, so something that might only get used on 1 in 5 jobs would be used 3 times a week...   But staff IME are generally not nearly as careful as an owner operator, so "little" issues like messing up a lawn with a skid steer or knocking over a wall with a loader are considerably more likely to happen and all the potential savings can be lost and headaches fixing problems created..  

There is a right answer - it has to be a compact, articulated, wheeled loader.  A compact tractor is no comparison tbh, and a large tractor absolute overkill and not suitable for most domestic jobs.  A skid steer is just too damaging to surfaces IMO, and has no telescopic boom meaning you have to shift the thing about even more to get to pieces to pick them up.  

It really is a no brainer.

[benedmonds]

7 minutes ago, Domino said:

There is a right answer - it has to be a compact, articulated, wheeled loader.  A compact tractor is no comparison tbh, and a large tractor absolute overkill and not suitable for most domestic jobs.  A skid steer is just too damaging to surfaces IMO, and has no telescopic boom meaning you have to shift the thing about even more to get to pieces to pick them up.  

It really is a no brainer.

I don't see that. The ones I have seen would not fit in most gardens, are not great for feeding chippers, and are very expensive.. If you need a yard machine then yes they will also fill that role but if you have a proper tractor you don't need that..

[Mark Bolam]

That's the thing.

The best machine in the world is still pretty useless if it's sat at the front of a house if a job is round the back.

[Matthew Storrs]

Yes, there’s a world of difference between jobs that generally tend to be in rural areas- large accessible gardens and grounds and generally more tolerable of a bit of scuffing on the grass etc. IMO most machines of real capabilities tend to be aimed more at this market- parks, estates and big gardens.

Finding a machine that is going to be useful in a small back garden with a manicured lawn is a tall order and myself I’d be looking at something small, light and cheapish-such as a muck truck/tracked barrow.

 

for the bigger areas seeing as you already have the tractor setup a digger will add another dimension of use over any of the articulated loaders etc. Handy in the yard too.