The Immense Benefits Of Walk Behind Skid Steers

In the world of construction, landscaping, and farming, bigger is usually better. More horsepower and tonnage means more carrying capacity and fewer trips around the worksite when transporting material.

However, maneuvering in and around narrow spaces and corners is not something you can easily do with a bulky utility loader. With lot lines moving closer together and yards getting increasingly more limited by gates and fences, the need for smaller yet more capable machines has exploded in recent years.

If you own a skid steer or loader, these reduced worksites will often force you to see the interior of your machine less often, replacing it with shovels and wheelbarrows in many instances due to space limitations. Often, these limitations usually translate into bigger working crews.

If we want to remain competitive, it becomes imperative to equip ourselves with nimbler machines that can fit through narrow gates and ever-shrinking yards. Walk-behind skid steers are ideal for jobs in smaller worksites and offer many advantages despite their reduced size.

What Are The Advantages Of Walk-Behind Skid Steers?

Before talking about the immense benefits of walk-behind skid steers, we need to address the most common concerns operators usually raise when talking about these machines.

Yes, it is true that mini or walk-behind skid steers do not have the digging or carrying capacity of a full-sized loader. In addition, their reduced weight and horsepower sometimes make them unsuitable for large operations.

Mini skid steers also limit your selection of attachments. However, our commercial skid steer attachments are made with both small loaders and walk-behind skid steers in mind.

Safety is another concern as mini skid steers do not offer the protection of an enclosed cab, offering the operator no shielding when lifting material over our heads.

However, their advantages greatly outweigh these perceived limitations when working in smaller or more crowded worksites.

For instance, walk-behind skid steers offer more consolidated controls. First-time operators appreciate the fact that most operations can be executed with one hand, giving them the ability to get familiarized with the machine much faster. They also provide better visibility as the operator stands a lot closer to the action and can hop on and off the machine quickly.

Backyard upgrades usually required a lot of manual labor in places where larger machines would not fit. This has changed a lot with mini skid steers that can now be run in tight spots without taking down any walls or structures, thus reducing the need for shovels and wheelbarrows on the job site. Transporting material with a bucket is a lot easier and faster than using manual labor as well.

Many attachments were restricted to larger machines a few years ago, given their flow rate and performance requirements. This meant that you either needed to buy bigger machines for more demanding jobs or increase the size of your crew to execute specific tasks manually in places where your machine would not fit.

Fortunately, performance is not measured solely in terms of horsepower. Machine weight, maneuverability, and torque will also significantly impact performance. Newer walk-behind skid steer models have increased their performance without hinging on horsepower alone.

Current flow rates can now accommodate more power-hungry attachments like trenchers in compact walk-behind skid steers without a problem. We have seen contractors reduce the size of their crews by adopting nimbler machinery and widening their attachment options. Machines with higher power-to-weight ratios give landscapers many other advantages, such as reducing transport, maintenance, and warehousing costs.

On a good day, landscaping workers can rely on buckets for grading work, unload sod by switching to pallet forks, and then start digging irrigation ditches for sprinkler systems using a trencher attachment. This is made a lot easier given how easy it is to mount and dismount attachments on walk-behind skid steers.

One other advantage of walk-behind skid steers is that they are a lot more turf-friendly than their wheeled counterparts. They work well in almost any terrain, from soft and wet soil to sandy conditions, given the flotation capabilities of tracks. These features make them ideal for landscaping jobs of any size and give them the ability to cover distances more quickly. They're also great when working with homeowners who don't want to tear up the grass with heavy tires.

Of course, you still need high-quality attachments that give you the ability to accomplish the most demanding tasks without a problem. We offer an extensive tool offering for the most diverse industries, so you can be sure we always have the proper attachment for the job. Our tools are easy to change out, allowing you to quickly repurpose your walk-behind skid steer and keep working with minimum downtime. Check out our mini skid steer attachments, or contact us if you have any questions.