I have to move millings/stone dust into a barn I am rehabbing as the dirt floors have not been repacked etc in 50 years. I have a small 35 DK kioti with a front end loader but as the aisleway is only 8 feet wide and the entrance is low it just is not going to work. I see my local Sunbelt rental has 500 lb skidsteer loader I could rent (as opposed to chasing someone down to do it for me.) So my experience is with my kioti and I still drive a stick shift car. How difficult is it to drive one of these things? (I would only dump loads in the front part of stall and hand spread it once I got a big pile in each stall, so I would keep the skid in the aisleway.(And try not to take out any posts…)
Thougts appreciated. TIA
Skid loaders are zippier then a tractor and turn in place.
You can see great in front of you, but you can’t see too well around you and not at all behind you, that takes a bit to get used to.
They also churn the ground under them turning, is your aisle concrete or dirt?
You may have to work the aisle at the end to smooth it back if not concrete.
If you start slow, it won’t take you long to catch on, give it a try. 
Everything is dirt-thanks for the tips-I thought if I was conservative I could scoop (and the two dump loads of stone are right at the door), go in straight --dump piles at each stall door-and reverse/back out–but I guess I better have the reversing under control so I dont side swipe something (murphy;s law–like the water hydrant.) Or I can see what the turn raduis is but I am afraid I will take out a post!
I am a little old lady with no ego, so when I need to use a piece of rental equipment I haven’t ever used before, I take my little old lady self into the store and ask if there is a time I could come and someone show me how to run the (last time a monster power washer). There always seems to be someone who will do that. I ask for the best time, and learn as much as I can about whatever I am renting.
4 Likes
Your turning radius is zero on the skid, add what the attachment is, the bucket a short one and that tells you if you can turn in the aisle.
If it is a small skid on a wider aisle you can easily.
If you can, figure to turn in front of the door and you can almost scoop some of the dirt out with the bucket a bit elevated to make it easier, right into the stall, easier than dumping in front of it and then bending and scooping from the floor into the stall.
It is still a lot of work, but a skid loader does beats pushing around wheelbarrows fulll of material.
We live in a small town and our hardware store rents ANYTHING to anyone. We’ve rented all sorts of things we have no business with. Nobody’s died yet.
5 Likes
What @Foxglove said.
Park your ego & ask if you can practice on their lot.
Better than an Oops! on your property. 
When I moved here from the Big City, my farm came with a riding mower.
I had no clue how to operate it. None. Zero.
I asked a friend’s DH to show me how it worked.
Took me all of 5min to be mowing on my own 
Since you already have tractor experience, the skidsteer shouldn’t take you long to figure out.
2 Likes
from OPs description the 500 lb diesel skidsteer is one where the user is on a platform in the rear
I think this is what they are wanting to rent at least this is what Sunbelt rents in the weight they said they were looking into
1 Like
That one would be perfect for adding material to stall floors.
It may even fit inside the doors, so the material can be dumped and maybe even spread it a bit as far as you reach in with the bucket.
You sure can see on one of those where you are and how to maneuver around.
These are what landscapers use, very handy in very tight spots.
Regular skid loaders with cabs you can’t hardly see behind you, have to maneuver “by touch”, with a little bump when you get close to something. 
3 Likes
from what I have seen those drivers never look where they are intending to go anyway 
3 Likes
We’ve rented a Bobcat several times. The wheelbase is so short (relatively), it can be a bit of a bucking ride until one gets some experience driving it. In our area, we have had the choice between turf tires and the tracks – the tires don’t chew up the ground as much.
What has worked for us, whether moving pea gravel around in the dry lot, or piles of composted manure, is to fill the front end bucket. Then drive to the desired location, drop the gravel at that spot, then use the lowered bucket to drag the gravel/manure backwards, smoothing out the surface to level it. With some practice, it goes relatively quickly.
That little skidsteer looks very interesting.
1 Like
These are SUPER handy! The buckets aren’t big but they zip around everywhere, you can move a lot of material quite fast. Ideal for the low entrance OP talks about. And could just about turn in to a stall to dump material. I’ve had quite a bit of fun on these little things.
OP; be careful and hold on! Especially if you’re going over bumps and such with those tracks. It’ll buck you right off if you’re not careful. Usually it takes one good bounce that scares the crap out of me, then I get a little bit of shock absorption back in my knees and it makes me laugh every time it tries to buck me off. Just go slow and it’ll do a lot of work for you!
1 Like
Skidsteers are amazing.
You might also see if anyone has one and will move your stuff for you. It is actually cheaper for me to pay my “guy” to bring his and use it for a few hours than for me to rent one, and he is so fast and expert it goes twice as fast as it would with just me driving.
1 Like
but then you don’t get to drive a skidsteer…
The last time we rented one my fiancé was using it to dump manure on a farmer’s field. He learned real fast to not drive over bumps with the bucket full of poo in the air.
5 Likes
Thanks all, this sounds encouraging. And I think I will stop in before renting it and see if I can have a test drive.
This may be my solution as I am trying to get things moved along before the end of the month and the folks I normally rely on have been super busy.
This made me laugh out loud. I’m sorry for your fiancé though.
1 Like
A lot of the newer models have back up cameras!
I tested into the operators without ever having operated anything more than a farm tractor… I learned how to run a crane in 2 or 3 minutes. You’ll be fine! Have some faith!
1 Like
