Used the mini skid today-Toro Dingo tracked unit - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

IHI · 06-12-2006, 06:35 PM

Had to build a deck and regrade (pull about 2' of dirt back from house and spread across otherwise beams would've been under ground) So figured this would be the oportune time to try out the mini skid loader before I use it on a upcoming 35 hole deck project

Toro Dingo 20HP gas unit with tracks. Soil was very sandy so it never really worked the machine when boring post holes...never even bogged/idle never bounced a bit..nothing so it was very easy digging...just sucked since sides wanted to collapse all the time. So for boring it worked great and can't wait to try it out on the big deck project since that has a nice black dirt 12"-16" before it turns into black clay so it will get a work out there for sure.

For digging out/backdragging/grading I'm just too used to the real skidders. The unit did'nt have enough weight behind it to really dig in and go, tracks were easy to lose grip on soil if you took too big of a bite of earth or put too much down pressure on bucket...this kind of upset me somewhat since I knew how quickly a big machine would've done the job...but bit my tounge in light of machine I was using and it's purpose. Tried pulling a few existing post and footings to get them out of the way...took some manuvering and fanagling but it eventually worked them out of the ground. A few times the back of the machine was completely off the ground by 2' and I was standing on the side working the buckete trying to use the mid air weight of the unit work in my favor...would not recommend that you let a grunt do this since even I was on high alert so as not to have the bucket slip and have machine crash down onto me

Overall, very impressed. Machine did what I asked it too, I was just not as fluid with it as a full sized unit...the Toro controls area very easy to learn/use but at the same time kind of trickey as far as ergonomics are concerned. If you have the chance to use one for post holes...your body will thank you many times over

**ProWallGuy** · 06-12-2006, 07:28 PM

Bone Saw · 06-12-2006, 07:44 PM

try this out if you can, this machine is the shizzle

IHI · 06-12-2006, 08:53 PM

Pro: you know the WORST part??? I threw the digital cam in the bus with full intentions of being a model today and showing the fun, but like everytime I have good intentions prior to working, my one track bust azz mind takes over once the trucks roll in and it's azzholes and elbows. I actually thought about the camera 4 times while I was playing but I wanted to get this deck built today so it was done...that did'nt quite happen so i have an hours worth of work in the morning

I PROMISE when I start the post hole from helll job i will take some pictures...I'll take requests for topless poses if anybodies interested

Truely sorry, I came prepared-honestly, camera is still in the bus LOL!! I just hate wasting even 30 seconds when there's work to be done

which on this job equated to $...I'm not tellin cause if I do then something will go severly south and I'll lose any profits

Bonesaw: have you used the pictured unit?? Reason I ask is that I wonder how bad the tired mini's would teaer up the yard? This place I'm working now is full of sand dirt and sparse grass so it did'nt matter what happened to the yard, so I made sure to really peep on how the tracks treated the place since soil was very soft and was a great pallet to judge "tear up" from the mini. Overall it did not tear up the yard at all, the few times I had to turn on a dime the track dug in when machine was off kilter, but other than that very low ground pressure and left yard in very good shape

Also need to mention with the auger they sent, when this machine was at full lift it baaaaarely cleared the ground so transversing the "hill" terrain often ended up with bit dragging the ground and leaving a tiny trench until the machine went level again. It does lift high enough to dump into a F250 SD though.

bob the builder · 06-13-2006, 07:18 PM

The dingo works well, however I have switched to the bobcat version, it's diesel and has noticibly more power...

Bob

onhitch · 06-13-2006, 08:22 PM

Mt55, the cadilac of mini skidz