Skid Steer Markets Soar

Due to the machine’s versatility, many recyclers are finding skid steer loaders a useful addition to their fleet of equipment.

Although skid steer loaders have been in existence since the 1950s, it is only in the past ten years or so that the machines have become commonplace in recycling and a multitude of other industries. Due to features such as compact size, lifting capacity, and ability to be used not only in materials processing but also for jobs such as grounds maintenance, recyclers are finding that they are often a good investment over more expensive, single-purpose equipment.

"The name comes from the fact that skid steers do not have wheels that turn in relation to the chassis or body of the machine," explains Jim Donahue, product director for skid steer loaders at J.I. Case, Racine, Wisc. "For a lot of machines – like cars or tractors – you actually turn the wheel in relationship to the chassis, and that’s how the machine turns. Skid steers don’t turn that way. The wheels are all fixed – they all point straight ahead at all times. The way they turn is that you slow down the wheels on one side and you speed up the wheels on the other side, and so the tires will skid one way or the other, depending on which side’s going faster. That’s why they’re called ‘skid steers’ – because the tires actually have to skid in order to turn."

This gives the machine the ability to turn in its own length, says Donahue. "In fact, you can have the tires on the left side going backwards and the tires on the right side going forwards, and just go around in a circle that’s no bigger than the machine," he explains. "That’s one of the selling features of skid steers – lots of power and maneuverability and the ability to get into tight areas."

Skid steers have a very broad range of customers, says Donahue, with traditional applications including excavation work, landscaping and agricultural work. But this is by no means the limit.

"Some nontraditional applications include recycling, industrial applications for material handling around plants, factories, and foundries," he says. "In addition, there’s ship trimming – using them to push loose materials around inside ships, clean up ships, load ships – mining, forestry ... the list of skid steer applications is endless, and that’s one of the reasons why the skid steer business is a growing one."

The sale of skid steers is growing independent of the economic cycle, Donahue adds. "Most of the equipment businesses we are involved with are cyclical, and skid steers have enjoyed significant growth over the last ten years, over and above the normal marketplace."

Worldwide, the market for skid steer loaders is a little more than a billion dollars annually, according to Donahue. "It’s between one and 1.2 billion," he says. "And North America (the United States and Canada) is worth about 70 percent of that, so three quarters of a million dollars. That would be dealer net, wholesale dollars. Then you have to add 25 percent or 30 percent or so to make it representative of the retail market."

In North America alone, more than 37,000 units were sold last year, according to Kim Robinson, product manager for New Holland, New Holland, Pa. Robinson estimates the same number or more will be sold this year.

"Part of the reason for the growth of skid steer loaders is increased use in industries like recycling, rental yards, and landscaping," says Robinson. "There are a lot of new applications because of attachments being developed for skid steer loaders – attachments that are hydraulically driven or just mounted. Recycling is obviously a growing business and skid steer loaders lend themselves very well to recycling."

Skid Steer Rating

Skid steer loaders are classed by rated operating capacity, according to Jim Donahue, product director for skid steer loaders at J.I. Case, Racine, Wisc. Rated operating capacity is defined as one half of the measured tipping load.

“In other words,” Donahue explains, “we run a test to see if we raise the bucket up in the air, how much weight it takes to make the machine tip over forward, and then the rated operating load is half that.”

There are five common classes for skid steers:

Class #1 – Less than 700 pounds                            Class #4 – 1,350 to 1,750 pounds

Class #2 – 700 to 975 pounds                 Class #5 – Over 1,750 pounds

Class #3 – 975 to 1,350 pounds

The two most popular are class number 3 and class number 4, says Donahue. “That’s where the vast majority of the machines are sold. They generally provide the best match between factors such as price performance, lift capacity, and horsepower.”

 MULTITUDE OF USES

The skid steer industry has grown between 70 and 80 percent during the past four years, Robinson adds, due to the additional attachments available for more uses and also what he calls the "displacement or substitution factor."

In other words, recyclers may be expanding their fleet of equipment during favorable markets, and may decide that the purchase of a machine that can accomplish a variety of tasks is preferable over a less universal machine such as a backhoe or tractor.

The skid steer loader often fits that bill, according to LeRoy Anderson, marketing and communication coordinator for Melroe, Fargo, N.D., as once the recycling-specific job is done, operators could put different attachments on the machine and use it for various yard maintenance jobs.

"There are just so many applications, especially when you are dealing with loose material," says Anderson. "If you put a grapple bucket, or what we would call an industrial grapple, on that loader, there are practically limitless uses for it. Then if you put pallet forks on it, you could be hauling pallets of baled material. It’s probably the most versatile piece of machinery on the site. And depending on the climate, the part of the country you’re dealing with, there are things like snow blowers and sweepers, so when the machine isn’t being used in the actual application of recycling, it’s used for grounds maintenance – cleaning parking lots, sweeping driveways, clearing snow, spreading gravel."

Skid steer loaders are also "pretty much standard equipment in a MRF," says Anderson, and they are also able to run in a short cycle time because of their maneuverability, he says. "How many times the loader can go up to a dump pile and pick up a load and move it to a hopper – those are very measurable criteria."

Because the machine comes in different sizes (see sidebar on skid steer rating), skid steers can be used to clean up spillage underneath a crane where most other equipment will not fit, says Anderson, or large skid steers can be used as a primary material handling vehicle.

"Our largest machine has a rated operating capacity of 2,400 pounds, and that’s a pretty big machine," he says. "It has a pretty good travel speed – 6.5 miles an hour – and when you combine that with the maneuverability, you’re pretty much covering all an operator’s needs."

ATTACHMENTS

Although the traditional attachment used with a skid steer loader is a standard bucket, the list of attachments is constantly growing, according to Donahue. Some common attachments include pallet forks, grapple buckets and various types of specialty buckets, post hole augers – used to put posts in and by landscapers to dig holes for planting trees – landscape rakes, hydraulic hammers, and backhoes to dig deep holes.

The first skid steer loaders were invented in the late 1950s and early 1960s, says Donahue (see sidebar on skid steer history). But it has been in the last 15 years that the use of skid steers has really taken off, with this growth in applications and attachments.

"Ten or 15 years ago, you did not see skid steers working on the side of the road in construction projects," he explains. "People thought they were toys, not heavy duty enough to be worthy of a road builder’s time, for example. And you didn’t see them as much in recycling. Those are just examples of the new applications that have fueled the growth. Years ago, there were not as many sold into scrap metal as they are today. Part of that is because of the attachments, part is that the machines are bigger and tougher and heavier-duty today than when they were originally conceived."

Melroe’s Anderson expresses some surprise that the use of attachments for skid steers is just now catching on. "In fact, we have been building, promoting and selling attachments since the early days, but it seems like the rest of the world has really discovered it," he says. "One of the things that really opened the door was the fact that other skid steers were able to use our attachments and vice versa. We have at least three dozen attachments in our product line, and there are others out there as well."

But actually, it’s not so much that people have discovered attachments, it’s that they’ve realized smaller, more versatile equipment can be a good buy in many instances, says Anderson.

"People are looking for better, more economical ways of getting their work done," he explains. "Rather than buying large, single use equipment, they’re able to buy a product such as ours, or any other skid steer loader for that matter, and get many different uses out of it in a day simply by changing attachments. They may use it with a bucket, a grapple, pallet forks, for recycling. And perhaps switch among those attachments a half dozen times a day. And that makes economic sense. And if you can do that, you can run that machine all day long."

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS

From simple machines, skid steer loaders have enjoyed a number of technological improvements in recent years that have helped to make them a more attractive buy for recyclers and those in other industries. One recent improvement, says Donahue, is the development of heavy lift machines, also known as vertical lift machines – machines with nontraditional loader arms or loader arrangements.

"Most loader arms on most machines, whether it’s a skid steer, or a backhoe or a wheel loader, is just like your arm – it moves in an arc," Donahue explains. "Skid steer loaders, with heavy lift geometry or scissors lift geometry, all attempt to move in more or less a straight line, to move the bucket vertically from the down position. When you do that, it allows a given sized machine to pick up more weight. So one of the reasons skid steers are so popular is their compact size and their relatively inexpensive price tag compared to other types of construction equipment, and when you combine that with this heavy lift loader geometry, you can get even more performance in this small package."

It is also increasingly common to see various safety features as standard equipment in skid steer loaders, says Anderson, such as a system that locks out the loader’s traction drive and hydraulic system so that the machine can’t be operated unless the operator is in the seat with the seat belt on and the seat bar down.

"Another thing becoming more common is the BOSS or Bobcat Operation Sensing System," he adds. "It’s an electronic monitoring and diagnostic system that keeps track of all the critical functions of the loader – engine coolant, oil, air filter – and warns the operator if there’s an impending failure, if oil or coolant is low. It will eventually shut the machine down if the operator doesn’t do anything about it. That’s very important, especially in an industrial application where the machine could run 24 hours a day. You want to be able to prevent catastrophic failure."

The BOSS system also logs problems within the system, helping technicians to pinpoint the exact cause of the problem and fix it quickly, keeping operating costs down.

 

Turkey Barn To Scrap Yard

Who would guess that the skid steer loader, a machine now used in so many varied applications, was originally designed to clean out turkey barns? This is the case, according to LeRoy Anderson, marketing and communication coordinator for Melroe, Fargo, N.D., now owned by Ingersoll Rand Co. Melroe is considered the pioneer of the skid steer loader.

“Melroe has been in the business of manufacturing products of various kinds since 1947, and E.G. Melroe, the founder, was an inventor, was a farmer, and was looking for better ways to farm, better equipment to work with,” says Anderson. “He died in the mid-1950s and his sons took over the company, and it was in the late 1950s that the sons got involved with a couple of brothers in Minnesota that had come up with a unique little three-wheeled loader. They hired the Keller brothers to come work for the company and to refine that product, and it eventually became known as the Bobcat.”

The first Melroe three-wheel loader came out in 1958, and it became known as Bobcat in 1962 when the design was refined. At that time, the machine was given standard features such as four wheels rather than three.

“It was primarily designed as an agricultural machine,” says Anderson. “The Keller brothers developed it for a turkey farmer in their hometown who wanted a better way to clean out his turkey barns. He needed a lightweight loader that could be lifted up to the second floor of the turkey barns and clean on either level and clean around the poles that held up the barns.”

Once Melroe started building the product and marketing it in the region, contractors and others saw other applications for the product, says Anderson, so it quickly evolved into a four-wheel drive machine which was much more powerful and durable than the original.

“But we still find people that have original three-wheel loaders that have lasted 30 years,” he says. “It was a very simple design. The product today is very sophisticated, but it’s still a very durable product. One of the things that makes it so valuable is that they hold up, they retain their retail value, so people can trade them in and get pretty good money.”.”

 MAKING A PURCHASE

The first thing a scrap processor or other recycler should consider when buying a skid steer loader is the size of the load that needs to be moved – how much material per hour per day – and then identify the size skid steer loader it takes to get that job done, bearing in mind it may take more than one, according to Donahue.

"Beyond that, you’d want to set the machine up with some kind of very durable tire – could be a solid tire, could be a segmented tire – something that would be very puncture-resistant. You want to put the right kind of bucket on the front, or grapple."

Purchasers of skid steer loaders should also consider the maintenance and service access on the machine – how frequently maintenance is required, and how easy it is to access vital components.

"That’s a big thing lots of customers always tell us they are very interested in, and it’s something a lot of manufacturers have paid a lot of attention to in recent years. A lot of design work has been done to make it more accessible in terms of serviceability – swing open the back door and you have access to all the daily service points. Tilt out the seat, the cab where the guy sits and you can access all the drive tray components. Things like that are very common in the industry now."

Ease of operation is another consideration, says Donahue, as well as good visibility, since scrap processors and MRF operators often have to work in a confined space.

"And you'd want to look for something that you believe to be structurally sound," he adds. "Scrap handling is a tough business in some ways – you’re oftentimes in confined areas, and the machine might run into things inadvertently. Often machines in those environments are worked multiple shifts – they don’t turn them off after a six or eight hour day – so you need a machine that’s durable and well built that’s going to last a long time."

Another important consideration for anyone looking to purchase a skid steer loader is the product life cycle, according to Anderson. "It’s very easy to just look at the cost of a product," he says, "but if you take the total life cycle, costs look different. Things like durability and serviceability are much more important than simply cost. If a loader is more durable or easier to service, you spend less time in the shop."

But as for the actual cost, the retail prices of the most popular skid steer models are in the $20,000 range, says Donahue, but skid steers are available in prices ranging from $12,000 to as much as $40,000 at the top end, without attachments. When attachments are added, the bill can reach more than $50,000, depending on the model, and some customers buy more than one attachment.

"More than 50 percent of the machines have some form of attachment beyond just the standard bucket that most machines come with," he says. "And some machines have several attachments – as many as three or four or five. Some attachments are purchased at the point of original sale, but a significant number are purchased one or two years down the road, as the owner/operator finds new uses and finds new applications."

Robinson agrees that the cost of skid steers ranges from $10,000 to more than $31,000, depending on how the machine is equipped.

C&D DEBRIS USES

Although the basic attachments that are used on skid steers in the recycling industry – mainly grapple-type buckets, industrial grapples and pallet forks – have been around for a long time, new attachments in the construction and demolition debris recycling industry have recently been developed. These include stump grinders, planers used for asphalt and concrete, wheel saws for cutting concrete, and hydraulic breakers for taking out a driveway, a sidewalk, or a building.

Construction-related jobs are probably the number one application for skid steer loaders, according to Anderson, but they are used in everything from cleaning turkey barns to hauling feed and seed on a farm, to hauling sod in a landscape operation, drilling holes for shrubs and trees, to tearing down buildings.

"In demolition, it’s not uncommon to use our smallest loader, with a 600 pound capacity, to crane it up to the top floor of a building, tear out interior walls, dump debris down elevator shaft, drive to next floor and start over," he explains. "You wouldn’t think a very small skid steer would have demolition applications but it does. It’s compact, small enough to drive through a doorway, about 36" wide, and can turn within its own length."

But skid steers are found at just about any recycling operation, says Anderson. "There were eight to 10 Bobcat Skid Steer loaders working on the cleanup of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That was a recycling operation – they had to go through every load. They used Bobcats with breakers and grapples to go through and pull out the debris and then run it through a sifter. Also, the Mall of America has its own in-house recycling operation which uses Bobcat loaders as a key part of the whole operation."

CONTINUED GROWTH

As for the future of skid steer loader sales, Anderson says it is definitely bright. "We’ve been in the business for 37 years, and it’s never been stronger. I think it will continue growing, barring economic uncertainties, since it’s big business. The product crosses so many market segments, so when one product is up, another is on the way down. In that way it is perhaps more stable than some other products."

The consensus of opinion of industry experts is that this attachment business and application business has not yet run its course, agrees Donahue, "so the forecast is for continued growth in the skid steer business relative to other types of construction equipment, at least through the rest of this decade in terms of unit sales worldwide."

In addition, more people are renting skid steers, says Robinson "The rental industry is a growing market for people who don’t want to tie up their capital in short term projects. Skid steer loaders lend themselves to rental because they can be loaded on a trailer easily and hauled."

The author is editor of Recycling Today.

October 1995
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