Skid steers are often seen at construction sites, industrial project sites, farmlands, in urban areas and even in forests that are being cleared or primed. The reason behind the extensive use of the skid steer is because of the various abilities of this heavy machine which is able to go head to head with the might excavator. Skid steers are in a variety of ways as versatile and as useful as excavators in more than a hundred ways.
They are compact, highly manoeuvrable and are able to work around or rather “skid” around sharp corners and tight spaces quite easily due to the way it is structured in terms of mobility and movement. They are used for many of the same tasks that excavators are used for such as digging, levelling, compacting, grading, drilling, and even demolition apart from clearing debris, brush cleaning and managing snow on roads and project sites. These machines are essentially a must-have for most construction, forestry, farming or landscaping related jobs.
Skid steers or also known as a skid steer loader by operators in general is in fact relatively small (but still categorized under the heavy equipment category) that is outfitted with two hydraulic arms with lifting ability and is able to accommodate numerous attachments available. These small, but nevertheless heavy machines are manufactured in both wheeled and chain tracked models (track loaders). The unique thing about these machines is the way how they are ‘steered’, especially the wheeled models that actually function similar to the way ‘the tracked models functions’.
The wheels of the wheeled models do not actually turn and because of this the operators basically increase the speed of the wheels on one side which results in the ‘skid steer’ to “skid” to the opposite side of the increased speed. Operators are able to this (increase speed of on side of the wheels) because the machine is powered by two separate engines (one for the left and one for the right). However, there is a lot more about skid steers that project managers or project supervisors are required to know before the select or hire skid steers in Melbourne if they intend to finish projects efficiently and within the budget frame (cost effectively).
Skid Steer Sizes and Machine Width
The project size and the amount of space available to work in is a critical element that must be taken into consideration before a skid steer for hire is obtained. Firstly because the size of the machine and the space allowed will determine the sweet spots that the machine will occupy and perform what it needs to do. Apart from that the amount of raw power that the machine will be able to spit out on demand will also play an integral role in ensuring that it has enough torque to pull off the job in the least amount of time.
This is based on the fact that the amount of horsepower and ROC (rated operating capacity) are critical towards lifting weights and if your machine is too powerful, then it would mean that you paid more to do less and if the machine has insufficient power, there is bound to be down time which means you spent more to do less. The ROC of a skid steer stretch from approximately 300 kilograms to 1500 Kilograms or more depending on size.
Just to be clear the ROC is the lifting ability of the machine and it is not to be confused with the weight of the skid steer itself. Hence, choosing the right type of skid steer for the right of job is most definitely a critical success factor that should never be overlooked by project coordinators.