# Snowblowing with Bobcat Toolcat: A good niche?



## idontmiss44 (Oct 8, 2008)

Alright, hope everyone is anticipating winter 08-09. I am new to the site, but certainly not new to snow & snow removal. With an excavating & septic operation, weve got trucks with 8' plows up to dump trucks with 10' plows, skidsteers, loaders, blah blah blah...

I had an impulse buy the other day on a reasonable Bobcat 5600 toolcat with 72" snowblower. The machine is sure fun! I just hope I can find a reason to log some hours (other than making trails to the deer stand and making the wife shake her head in question). 

SO...this site seems to have a heck of a following, thought i'd join and ask if anyone else has a toolcat?????

I'd be happy to 'talk snow' about any subject, but right now, I'd love to know any reviews, comments, etc., about the 5600, and if it was a good move to pursue snowblowing with it. I live in an area where people may pay the extra to have a clean, blown drive or parking lot. 

A major question I have is: I already have bid requests for parking lots, government bldgs, apartments and private drives. So, how efficient is this machine? Looking to bid......and I feel caught with my pants down! Any info would be cool. Can give specifics if needed. 

Let it snow...in about 2.5 months. We've got a lot of work to do yet.


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## Snide925 (Jul 29, 2008)

We just received ours yesterday. I did some research and found a few members who had 810 Blizzards on theirs. We run all Blizzards on our trucks, so we're doing the same with the Toolcat. We have high hopes for the machine.


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## RLM (Jan 12, 2006)

Thare a a couple guys out west (colorado) on here that use them. I believe they've had good luck.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

We do mostly plowing with ours, some blowing of piles in small parking lots instead of stacking\hauling.

In small or tight lots, it will outplow a truck. 

Snide, go with the 8611SS, you won't be sorry.


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## grayfarm (Oct 18, 2008)

We primarily use our Toolcat (It's a C model 5600 with Turbo Highflow) with the 72" snowblower. We had an A series, non-highflow origonally , which we used for three years. The non-high flow worked alright but wouldnt touch the wet snow. The high-flow works much better but still has issues with the wet stuff. If throwing distance is important ,Id recommend a 60" or 66" blower. We tried out a 66" and actually found it to be fast than a 72". We also have a 90" angle blade that we switch to when it gets too wet for the blowers which works well. I have heard that there Bobcat has been having tons of problems with the front loader arm bending on the newest series of Toolcats using 96" blades. Also, we tried the VEE blade and sent it back . The console mounted control switches were a nightmare !!!


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

grayfarm;608857 said:


> We primarily use our Toolcat (It's a C model 5600 with Turbo Highflow) with the 72" snowblower. We had an A series, non-highflow origonally , which we used for three years. The non-high flow worked alright but wouldnt touch the wet snow. The high-flow works much better but still has issues with the wet stuff. If throwing distance is important ,Id recommend a 60" or 66" blower. We tried out a 66" and actually found it to be fast than a 72". We also have a 90" angle blade that we switch to when it gets too wet for the blowers which works well. I have heard that there Bobcat has been having tons of problems with the front loader arm bending on the newest series of Toolcats using 96" blades. Also, we tried the VEE blade and sent it back . The console mounted control switches were a nightmare !!!


Actually, it's the tilt arm that was breaking. Some rocket scientist thought a cast iron arm was a good idea, it wasn't. New one is steel and no problems.

And I'm running an 810 SS blade on it normally, snowblower as needed.


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## idontmiss44 (Oct 8, 2008)

i'm looking forward to giving it a shot. 

for the guys that have used it for a blower....do you bill it out at the same rate as a plow truck? more? i imagine that there may be trailering in some situations if each job is a few miles apart, etc.

take a 6-inch light snow, a 200 x 10 foot drive.... first, how fast is this blower, is this a 15-min. job? lots more time? less time?


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## Young gun (Mar 11, 2007)

Because of the length you would be faster with a plow. I own several blowers and nothing touches them for short drives, but due to the snow build up in front of the blower, speed kills them over any distance.


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## grayfarm (Oct 18, 2008)

We use our blowers mostly in condo developments, so trailering isnt an issue. We do charge top dollar for them though but because of the neat finished product (bare pavement, no snow banks and almost no lawn damage) people dont seem to mind paying a premium for the service. We use a variety of different blowers though and each has its strong and weak points. The Toolcats stonge point is manuverability but unfortunatly its weak point is speed of travel and distance it will throw. Though somewhat less manuverable, our "weapon" of choice are our 50 Hp Kubotas with PTO driven front mount blowers. 200' x 10' driveway with 6" of fresh snow = 5 min. One pass in, one out and no snowbanks left behind to deal with next storm :waving:


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## grayfarm (Oct 18, 2008)

opps, I meant to say " The toolcats "strong" points...... " (I'm good with equipment but cant spell for sh*t)


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## idontmiss44 (Oct 8, 2008)

thanks again grayfarm. i thought about getting a compact 50+/- HP tractor....for the 3-point capabilities and PTO mount "stuff", but this toolcat edged it out. I can handle if it takes a couple more minutes than a PTO blower. 

thats what i needed to know with time expectations to bid a few lots, and a slough of drives... kinda hoping some existing customers like the clean idea, and want drives blown vs. plowed. however, I certainly am not looking to be cheapy cheapy. 

I guess i am looking forward to some snow!


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

my buddy worked for a company that has two of them. we had a small snowstorm so he called in so he could clean up his drive way. well he was needed so they sent a toolcat with a blower. two foot of snow no problems.

i didnt see them when we had a good storm but he didnt have banks that were 10ft tall like i did?


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## Langlois Enterprise (Dec 23, 2003)

*Toolcat vs Compact Tractor*

I have seen the Toolcat last year doing parking lot of a drug store, too slow for big area. Look's good for snowbanks, I decided on a compact John Deere with a PTO front mounted snowblower. I plan to use it on driveways and snowbanks. The speed of going place to place of a Toolcat seems too slow. I will have a better ideal after this winter how the tractor worked out.:waving:


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