oh man Scott no problem!!! Tell you what, awhile back and I mean like years, everyone was debating about whether the 7.3, the 5.4, or V10 was better. Some guy piped in and said how he loved his 5.4 F350...I thought I would be a smart azz (imagine that) and say "if I owned a 5.4 I wouldnt tell anyone about it"....I got more harsh pm's than you can imagine...I still think it was funny as heck even if it didnt earn me any friends!!!!

 

Who Doesn't?????

 

I go to my sisters' or brother's house & I knock unless they've said "Just come in when you get here"!! That's crazy to just walk in to someone else's house uninvited, like you own the joint. Props to your dad Mark!

 

If you've never known anything but Bobcats with manual couplers it won't bother you at all.

Running WOT all day with a brush mower on a T190 that uses rowing oars will make you sore. 10 hours of WOT going for 2,000 feet one way, turning, 2,000 feet back, repeat. WOT = Wide Open Throttle

The sound and feel is cool for the first few hours because you feel like you're in a tank. The only problem is that it rides like a tank. Every bump goes straight through to the operator.

Lift up the cab on a CAT and on a Bobcat. I believe you'll find the CAT's cab easier to raise. I know for a fact that the CAT tub is far more organized than Bobcat's. Bobcat's is just a jumble of everything. Bobcat needs to install a stereo and sensor so that when you raise the cab it plays "Welcome to the Jungle."

The CAT is very simple, and very easy to operate.

If I was to buy a Vertical lift it would be New Holland because Deere skids suck. Plain and simple. I love all their other stuff, but their skids SUCK. Honestly I wouldn't want a vertical lift because I find myself in a lot of tight places and being able to see the edges of my tires makes a gigantic difference.

I don't care how often you do or don't change your bucket. It's not worth not having a hydraulic coupler.

We've got a hydraulic coupler on our 236B CAT. It takes no more maintenance than the rest of the machine. We had a problem with a new set of forks we had bought for the machine where we had to hit the wedges with a hammer to disengage the forks. However that problem was the forks being too tight. I took a die grinder to the inside lip of where the wedges hook in and not it opens and shuts exactly how it should. No more getting out in the rain or snow or mud to change attachments. No more skinned knuckles and shins. No more problems. The fork set and one ram not staying in place were the only problems. The ram not staying in place was caused by a low hydraulic fluid level which was easily fixed by the very convenient hydraulic fill on the CAT machine.

In case you can't tell I'm a CAT fan. Deere makes great excavators and loaders and dozers, but when it comes to skids STAY AWAY.

Let's try something. Take your hand and roll it forward exactly one inch. Now take your foot and try rolling it forward exactly one inch. Which was closer? I'm going to bet it was your hand. Using your hands on pilot controls is much more precise than hand/foot controls (or rowing oars as I call them) because your hands are just more precise than your feet.

I could sit here and talk about Bobcat and hydraulic couplers all day, but I will cut myself short now.

One last note: ASV is no longer in existence. They've been bought by Terex and they've been rebadged. Bobcat is now owned by Doosan so expect to see some shakeups coming from the Bobcat world.

Also if you're looking for a cheap used skid check the repo yard. There's lots of em there right now.

 

I'm sure there are guys out there with F150's calling our PSDs "lumbering pigs" or some such. I wanted more truck than an F150, simple as that.

Brent - love the comment!!

Scott - you da man!

That's why I liked the O/T better back in the 7.3 forum. We all have our opinions and respect the fact that we're going to disagree. We'd argue & stand our ground, but nobody cried about it and broke out the ruffled pink panties. We've had some good "newbies" join us but I'm sure there are plenty of lurkers, whispering behind their hands about what some of us say. Whatever. I've got the sack to say my piece "out loud" as it were. So does Scott. And Brent. And Lisa, Cris, Chris, Nolan, Mark, Dan.... you know the names & people. It's not meant to be offensive, just honest. And I quite frankly appreciate it. Cheers to you all, my friends!

 

I don't think that any of our "dark side" 7.3s lumber. Stock ones do, but not ours.

 

Oh... I think they do... but it's because of the huge club carried under hood...

 

Kind of like Bufford Pusser of "Walking Tall" fame?

 

yessir!! exactly like that

 

 

hmmmm... tasty

 

Edible????

 

Have I ever told you that I love the way you think?

 

YEP!!! yummy comes to mind for sure.....as well as a few others.

 

Anything is edible as long as you have the will and stomach for it...


x2!