Total Landscape Care Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/301674
equipment matters able to work on wet days when you otherwise could not." Lars Arnold, product manager with Volvo North America, says it's important to understand the difference in establishing the rated operating capacity when calculating productivity. Skid steers are rated at 50 percent of tipping load, whereas compact track loaders are rated at 35 percent. "The intent is to reflect the understanding that CTLs are more likely to be operated on soft ground and on slopes, and the 35-percent figure is more realistic in these conditions," Ar- nold says. So, if a skid steer and CTL both have tipping loads of 7,000 pounds, the skid steer will have an ROC of 3,500 pounds, and the CTL will have one of 2,450 pounds. (Even OEMs that list a CTL's 50-percent figure first will provide the 35-percent number as well.) A big factor in the cost of operation of a CTL is in the tracks and undercarriage, but that's largely controllable, says Jamie Wright, product manager at Terex. "The most common cause of premature track failure is operating technique. Many operators run their CTLs as they would skid steers, doing counter-rotation spin turns and spinning the tracks when driving into a pile to more fully fill the bucket. These practices will increase wear and tear on tracks, especially in rough un- derfoot conditions." He advocates running CTLs as any other crawler machine, using three-point turns, alter- nating turns to the left and right to even out undercarriage wear, minimizing backing and avoiding sudden changes in direction. Wright says payback on a CTL is approximately 18 months when the machine is managed properly to take full benefit from its advantages. Next, there's travel speed. Arnold says Volvo's single-speed skid steers top out at 7.5 mph and single-speed CTLs at 5.7 mph. Numbers for the two types when configured as two-speed models are 18.5 and 7.8 mph. So, the two-speed CTL has only marginally faster travel speeds than the single-speed skid steer. But travel speed only mat- ters in some applications, says Paul Wade, marketing manager at New Holland, "and for most applications where CTLs are best-suited, travel speed isn't a factor." Sometimes it goes beyond the application to the attach- ment used in that application, explains Gregg Zupancic, marketing manager with John Deere. "Typical ground pressures are 30 to 35 psi for skid steers and 4 to 6 psi for compact track loaders, making skid steers bet- ter for blade-type snow removal despite a CTL's greater push. A skid steer's higher ground speed also facilitates snowplowing. With a snowblower attachment, the CTL may be a better choice because speed is less important for results, and the CTL's bet- ter tractive effort emerges as an advantage." Arnold says one spec to watch is operating weight. "A CTL will have about 20 percent more weight than a comparable skid steer, which may raise transportability issues." Attachments Essentially, all attachments that work on a skid steer will work on a compact track loader, and CTLs and skid steers of com- parable size have comparable specs as far as dump height and M AY 2 014 To t a l L a n d s c a p e C a r e . c o m 41 With a vertical lift design, the Case Construction Equipment TV380 has an 84-horsepower engine and 10,200-pound operating weight.