Mini Skid Steer Equipped With Beefed-Up Attachments

Mini Skid Steer Equipped With Beefed-Up Attachments TRACTORS Skid Steer Loaders 30-1-34 Vince and Kyle Herring can't imagine life without their Ramrod Taskmaster 750 skid steer. What they don't care for is many of the commercially available attachments that don't seem to stand up to heavy use. "We use it at least 12 hours a week for everything from hauling wood to digging trenches to hauling stones and mowing," says Vince. Constant use plus changing needs have led Kyle to either rebuild or build new tools. Modified or built-from-scratch attachments include a materials bucket, a dirt blade, a leveler, a salt and sand spreader and a mower. An important tool for the Herring acreage is Kyle's modified Swisher mower. He repositioned the trailing mower with a mini skid mounting plate for forward use. He also replaced the small single cylinder motor with a 15 hp twin cylinder. A brush guard made from 3/4-in. tubing and expanded metal protects the motor. "I used 1/8-in. steel and 3/4-in. angle iron to reinforce the sides," says Kyle. "Adding 1-in. steel edging on the sides lets it slide over the ground easier." The biggest change of all was in the blade mount and bushing. Here Kyle replaced the old mount with a 6-in. sq., 3/8-in. thick steel plate. A new bushing was machined out of 2-in. solid steel with high tolerance for roller bearings. "The machined steel bushing gives a lot of meat around the bearings, so there is no give," explains Kyle. "I used to be throwing bearings out on the old cast iron bushing. With all this cold rolled steel, there are no problems no matter what it is used on." With the lift provided by the Taskmaster, the Herrings use the mower for chopping down shrubs and tall weeds when they are too big to simply mow over. "With a weed whacker, you have chunks of stuff," says Vince. "With this, we can lift the mower up over a shrub and pulverize it till there is no trace left." A bucket Vince has nicknamed "The Pelican" has proven extra useful. Kyle designed it to make maximum use of lifting power by holding the load close to the mini skid, like a pelican holds its pouch. "The machine is rated to carry 750 lbs. out in front of the arm pins," explains Kyle. "By setting the weight closer to the body, it can carry much more." "The Pelican" holds almost half a yard, and is narrow and deep. The top front is angled forward so material dumps out easily and smoothly. Other modifications made to the Ramrod include a kill switch for use with the mower and 8-ply plus tires instead of the 4-ply that came with it. Vince also added lights front and rear, a pressure gauge and an inverter so he can run AC hand tools off the mini skid. One of the commercial attachments that has come in most handy is the forklift. The Herrings store the various attachments on pallets in a shed, moving them in and out with the forklift. It also works great for moving firewood used to heat their house and attached frame and gallery business. "We use pallets for everything now," says Kyle. "We use woven wire to make a basket and plumbing strapping to attach the bottom strand to the pallet. The round shape gives it strength, and we can move piles of rocks, wood or mulch where it's needed without stacking or unstacking." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kyle Herring, 5500 Hwy 63 S., Rochester, Minn. 55904 (ph 612 396-2305).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.