# toolcat with a pull plow?



## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

I was looking at the toolcat today and I wonder if you could beef up the hitch so you could put a pull plow on it? It would be an awesome machine for driveways with pull plow and blower on front!
I am really stuck between a tractor with blower or toolcat.
Mike


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## ProWorkz.com (Nov 29, 2004)

*toolcat*

Go with the toolcat, it is a excellent snow machine. And much more versitale than a tractor...


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

I know but do you think it is better then 2 tractors. They are so damm expensive - else I would have 1 already!


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## timm9 (Dec 19, 2001)

I bought a Toolcat last fall and was so impressed with it's performance that I sold my CAT 910 and bought another Toolcat! I had originally intended to buy an S250 but after see and driving the Toolcat, bought it instead. I have a blower, and snow bucket. I also put on studded mud and snows and did not need chains (and did not get stuck) last winter.


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## ProWorkz.com (Nov 29, 2004)

*Tool Cat*

One toolcat vs. one tractor or two?? Make up you mind bro..... Either way, a Toolcat will smoke two tractors with a front mount Erskine Blower. My next machine will be a toolcat. And if you are worried about the price. Get what you can afford.....

Yo Tim, Dave Bauer here (CAT226B). Switched up the screen name for my new busisness name. Any snow flying this weekend? I can see snow at the top of the Mountains behind my house..... Old Mr. Winter is snooping around.....!!!!


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## getmydrift (Aug 2, 2005)

*toolcat*

greetings from so. lake, I bought a new Bobcat S220 last year with a Bobcat 84" blower, did real well, was looking at the tool cat, but was not sure about versatility. we are turning further away accounts, accepting myers only. my son and I are both fireman and working it together, a lot of seasonal accounts. mostly vacation rentals. thinking about adding another blower, mabe a toolcat. even with a 2 speed,on the bob cat, still slow going from one account to another. with the toolcat not being hi flow how does it handle the deep stuff?
just curious, how much do you bid for seasonal accounts? I have been getting 550 up, depending on slope size etc. average $600 season. over here the back hoe and plow guys, having tough time stacking, or pushing, county no letting them stacking in right of way or property not owned by home owner. I would like to see more guys from deep snow country posting. see ya Bob.


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

pro - I am trying too but waiting for some one to answer about the hitch?
I meant two tractors vs one toolcat! Two operators at each end of the route and still have 15k in my pocket.
Dealer quoted me 55k canadian - are they 47k in your area?
Thanks Mike


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

timm9 said:


> I bought a Toolcat last fall and was so impressed with it's performance that I sold my CAT 910 and bought another Toolcat! I had originally intended to buy an S250 but after see and driving the Toolcat, bought it instead. I have a blower, and snow bucket. I also put on studded mud and snows and did not need chains (and did not get stuck) last winter.


 Are the studded mud and snows from bobcat?


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## ProWorkz.com (Nov 29, 2004)

> even with a 2 speed,on the bob cat, still slow going from one account to another


YoGetMyDrift I trailer one of my CAT track skid steer with blower. I can do several accounts with ease. And no excess wear and tear on the machine. I tow a trailer completely chained up with my Dodge Diesel 2500 4 x 4. Works excellent.....



> I meant two tractors vs one toolcat! Two operators at each end of the route and still have 15k in my pocket.


Kirby a tool cat will pay for itself in the first season if you have the right type of accounts. You have to spend money to make it.... And out in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where YoGetMyDrift, Timm9 and myself plow. Skid steers and toolcats with blowers are at the cutting edge of snow removal.... Pound for pound the best equipment on my side of the hill.....

Dave


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## timm9 (Dec 19, 2001)

The studded tires are not from Bobcat. They are from a local tire store. In hind sight, there were two things that I did right when I bought the Toolcats. One was the two speed version which saves big time traveling from account to account (not to mention the "one shots" after the accounts are done) and the other is the high flow. 

Dave, good to hear from you! Hope all is well with you and yours! If I remember correctly, you were expecting a new baby? No snow yet. I'm hoping it does not snow for another week. I have $35,000 worth of paving gong down next week!

Your are right Dave, The Toolcat/Blower combo is the "cutting edge" for snow around here. I recently had a fellow snow removal guy (works in a town near me) call and ask if he could see and drive one of the Toolcats. He has been doing snow for 25 years (mostly mid sized loaders) and is seriously looking at the Toolcats. Faster, less cost to buy, and service and parts are WAY cheaper than CAT!


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## getmydrift (Aug 2, 2005)

*tool cat*

The main reason I bought the Bobcat last year was that they didnt have a high flow option which woudnt allow the blower to move the heavy stuff as well. but your right about the big blowers you can move a heck of a bunch of snow quick. I also found myself moving it around on a trailer, worked out pretty well except around Jan 2nd when we had 4 feet of snow over night, and even the county plows hadnt shown up to clear the streets,but the first year I had to take customers further away. this year I am not taking customers farther than 2 miles away.

This year I will probably pay the cat off, so next year mabe well go for a toolcat. the state bought a Holder for the CHP station and the CCC camp says cost them about 100gs. Id have to quit my day job to pay for it, but it is nice,but it cant lift the blower up to get the deep drifts. a lot of the plow guys were calling us to help them move the deep stuff. chained up on all 4s there was nothing, except the big shopping mall lots we coudnt clear. I'll try to post a picture for those eastern fellows of a 50 ft. drive with 7 feet of snow, took us about 45 min. to clear.:redbounce


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## ProWorkz.com (Nov 29, 2004)

*reply.....*



> Dave, good to hear from you! Hope all is well with you and yours! If I remember correctly, you were expecting a new baby?


Your right Tim I have a 2 month old son:bluebounc . Cruz Anthony Bauer is his name.!!!! Born two weeks early by C section and was 9 lbs.

I will get a lot of video this winter and post it on the forum for guys to see how well my machines and some of the locals toolcats work. I can not wait for the white stuff.....!!!!!

Dave


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

Ok here are the facts! Thanks for the advice in advance.

We don't get near the snow you guys get: less then 2 inches is an average snow fall, maybe 4 blizzards a year that are greater then 4 inches.
All of our accounts are contracts by the winter so we get paid no matter what but we go even if it is very light.
All accounts are residential houses (100 plus) with very small 3 car drives around 25 feet deep on average. We also have 5 sets of condos which have about 20 houses in each and these drives are even smaller (2car drives).
The last 10 years we have 4 crews of 2 or 3 guys doing separate routes with shovels and walk behind blowers! The blower is needed maybe 40% of the time - that's how light our snow is.
Now hiring has become a huge headache so I am looking at the Toolcat or a couple small tractors. 
I posted the question about weather or not a toolcat hitch could support a pull blade because are snow is very light. I thought back in: pull it on the street and blow it on the lawn while proceeding to next account or just blow it if it's deep.
The speed of the toolcat is the biggest advantage I see. I used my 751 bobcat 3 times last year when it was deep, it was great but very slow in-between accounts.
Anyway I will gross 90k this winter with about 45k in expenses based on the past. 
Thanks again guys
Mike


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## ProWorkz.com (Nov 29, 2004)

> Anyway I will gross 90k this winter with about 45k in expenses based on the past.


Mike you have a lot of expenses based off your gross winter income. What causes it to be so high? I could not imagine having 45K in expenses.

And about not needing a blower. If you have a set contracted price. You would actually make more money because you could perform the work much faster and effecient. Blowers are not just for deep snow......



> I posted the question about weather or not a toolcat hitch could support a pull blade because are snow is very light. I thought back in


And yes we did stray a little from you original question...

But don't waste your time or money on a pull blower. Much easier and more effecient to use a front mounted blower. You can also fabricate a back drag system for your front mounted blower. We are installing a hydraulic back drag door on all of our Erskine blowers. The door enable us to pull within 6" of a garage door or building and then put the door down and back drag while blowing at the same time. Works excellent...... I welded one up last year and it worked so good that I built them for all my blowers....

And yeah we do get a lot of snow on the West Coast. 4 foot and larger snow storm is very common in our area......

Good luck Mike. Hope you have a great winter.......


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

Thanks a ton pro.
Yes we had a lot of expenses last few years. We have 10- 15 employees per snow fall, and 5 trucks and 5 Honda blowers to maintain.
We have to do the steps and walks of all these places too so I still need some people to shovel but I think the toolcat would help a bunch.
Can you describe how your hyd. back drag system works?
Mike


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## fans (Feb 4, 2004)

*Kirby*

Have you thought about a front mounted broom instead of a blower for that depth of snow?


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Kirby, I think a plow or broom would be better for you than a blower.

I would absolutley love to see a 3-point hitch on a Toolcat. The PTO is there, now just need that hitch. If Bobcat doesn't come up with one soon, I will be paying someone to design and build one for me. I just wish they would do it. Can't get an answer on if or when it will be a factory option. 

And whoever mentioned the lack of a hi-flow option, if you missed it, Bobcat did add this option in the last year or so.


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## timm9 (Dec 19, 2001)

Dave,

Congrats on the new addition to the family!!! Before you know it he will be running one of your snow machines.

I just ordered another blower for the newest Toolcat. "You are right on the money" regarding time savings with the blower. The first time I ran my route with the blower I figured (incorrectly) that it would take longer to complete. I was stunned when I discovered that I actually did my route in less time (including travel time) than I have been able to do it with my 04 GMC with the Boss V Blade. The blower is not just for deep snow. The lighter snow depth will make the route go even faster.

Tim


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

fans said:


> Have you thought about a front mounted broom instead of a blower for that depth of snow?


 The drives are small with garages, so I think it would be hard to broom it on to the lawn. Plus lots of the properties have heavy vegetation right next to the drive. This is why plows are useless for us!


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

Mark Oomkes said:


> Kirby, I think a plow or broom would be better for you than a blower.
> 
> I would absolutley love to see a 3-point hitch on a Toolcat. The PTO is there, now just need that hitch. If Bobcat doesn't come up with one soon, I will be paying someone to design and build one for me. I just wish they would do it. Can't get an answer on if or when it will be a factory option.
> 
> And whoever mentioned the lack of a hi-flow option, if you missed it, Bobcat did add this option in the last year or so.


 The problem is Mark there is no room to push snow on to most of the properties. We usually shovel it to the side and the blow it on to the lawn. I am not sure if the toolcat is to big of a machine or not for our small properties. I know it will be great in deep stuff but I want something when the snow is light as well. Pro has me thinking about his back blade on the blower.
Mike


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Check this blower out, Kirby. It is very cool. Might be able to make something like this work on a Toolcat, not sure if Pronovost makes it for a skidsteer. If nothing else, you might want to look into it for your tractors.

http://www.pronovost.qc.ca/films/Pronovost PXPL Snowblowers.wmv

The reason I was referring to a plow or sweeper was in conjunction with a pull\back plow. I didn't know if it would work out to pull out the drives and then sweep or plow the roadway off.


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

This would be ideal for the toolcat. Thanks!


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## Edgewater (Mar 14, 2003)

Those blowers are amazing.

In my area there are hundreds of tractors that size (yes hundreds some companies hav 100 plus units) More and more guys are using those type blowers.


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

I got a price today on a used "b" series toolcat (90 hours) 
Full loaded, turbo high flow :40k canadian 
Dealer wants 51k for new "c" series.
Pronovost doesn't make anything that small or hydro driven- too bad!
Mike


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Dang, too bad about the blower. Makes one wonder if a 3 point blower could be retrofitted to run off hydraulics.


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

John deere dealer told me a while back that it could but lots of work. The problem is the smallest provost is a very big unit.


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## rgjlawn (Nov 29, 2004)

Kirby ent said:


> I got a price today on a used "b" series toolcat (90 hours)
> Full loaded, turbo high flow :40k canadian
> Dealer wants 51k for new "c" series.
> Pronovost doesn't make anything that small or hydro driven- too bad!
> Mike


8' Boss works great, traded in B for new C had troulbe with the air holding water on floor. C has been changed for air and lift arm is differe:yow!: :yow!: nt also.


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## Kirby ent (Aug 24, 2005)

You had trouble with airconditioning leaving water on floor?
What is the list price in your area - my dealer wants 43.5 K US for the c series loaded. This seems high.
Thanks Mike


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## segcont (Oct 27, 2005)

The toolcat is a great investment, the one we have is set up with a custom 10'3 Boss V blade and 6 foot snow X Spreader. We switch to a angle broom to clear snow from sidewalks. We also have two daniels pull plows truck mounted. With a little fabrication this would be a great addition to the toolcat. The toolcat is expensive but you get what you pay for. On small to medium sized lots it will out work a truck 3 to 1.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

segcont said:


> The toolcat is a great investment, the one we have is set up with a custom 10'3 Boss V blade and 6 foot snow X Spreader. We switch to a angle broom to clear snow from sidewalks. We also have two daniels pull plows truck mounted. With a little fabrication this would be a great addition to the toolcat. The toolcat is expensive but you get what you pay for. On small to medium sized lots it will out work a truck 3 to 1.


Any pics of the blade? How much snow can it push? How did it do with wet, heavy snow? How much have you pushed at once with it?

Thanks for any info you can supply.

I've been thinking about getting one to replace a truck and still be able to use it on a sidewalk but it's quite difficult to schedule a demo from the dealer for a storm when you don't know when it's going to snow. And I'm just a little leary of making that kind of an investment without knowing how well it works.


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## timm9 (Dec 19, 2001)

Mark,

Too bad you are so far away. I would let you demo one of mine. I will try and get a digital video of it in operation and send it to you. I know when I ordered the first one I was wondering if I was making a big "blunder". After using it in a major storm (burms in the 6 to 8 foot range) I realized that it was safer than my CAT 910 and far more effective than my trucks with Boss V's. What is your major concern?


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

I think a road trip is in order. Always wanted to see that part of CA.   

Major concern: Spending $40K on a piece of equipment to plow small lots and some sidewalks with and then find out it really doesn't push that well. That it will only do sidewalks good. I have more than enough uses for it in the summer, but I can't justify that much on a utility vehicle that can only be used in the summer efficiently. I used one once with just a bucket and cleared about a foot, foot and half of snow off a sidewalk and it pushed better than our tracked machine did. The bucket was full and it just kept on going and going. I loved it. 

Probably just going to have to take that leap of faith. Would really like to see the 3-point hitch with the PTO on it as well.

Thanks for the offer.


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## segcont (Oct 27, 2005)

We were in the same boat you are last year. We purchased ours to use at a hospital complex and 10 outlots. I personally put about 125 hours on it last season and it works great.

With the three modes of travel it is great. In the work mode I was pushing through 24 inch plus drifts with a 12 inch snow fall and it worked fine. But remember we have the added weight in the rear of the machine with the snow-x spreader. I'll try to dig up some pictures of the 10'3" boss V we have fabricated for the toolcat.

I orginally had a 8"6 Boss staight blade on the toolcat because I thought the V blade would be to big, but it worked fine. 

We run 10' and 11' pushers on our skid loaders and I was going to try one of them on it but I'm sure that would be to much.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll just have to try it darn it (not), but probably not for this season. Unless I win the lottery. Been trying to justify one since they came out.

I'm thinking one of those Speedwings from Blizzard might look good on the front of one.


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## dylan (Dec 21, 1999)

Do you guys have any pics available?

Pro - Perhaps a close up of the back drag system? It sounds great.


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## dylan (Dec 21, 1999)

just bringing this one back to life. Any pics floating around out there?
Thanks dylan


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