# Towable drop spreader with bobcat s70



## Logandoucet (Jul 15, 2018)

Hi guys, just signed up on the site but u have done lots of searching on here before. 
I can't seem to find anyone that's used a tow behind spreader with a skid steer? I have a bobcat s70 that will be used for sidewalks this year and I'm looking at an epoke itm35 drop spreader. Total weight full is about 1100 pounds. 

My main concern is will it be too heavy for the little machine and keep lifting the front end up? I have a sb150 blower on it as well. 

Any info you guys have would be awesome, I'm putting in a bid in the next couple weeks so just making sure that I can get all the proper equipment ready thanks !


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

why don't you get a hydraulic spreader for the front coupler instead, would be way easier to handle


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## Logandoucet (Jul 15, 2018)

BossPlow2010 said:


> why don't you get a hydraulic spreader for the front coupler instead, would be way easier to handle


I agree it would be but then I would need to drive it twice and it's 13km or 8 miles , so the least amount of times I can drive it the better!


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

8 miles of sidewalk? Are you salting that much too?


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## Logandoucet (Jul 15, 2018)

Yes all needs to be salt/sanded


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## Logandoucet (Jul 15, 2018)

The epoke itm35 holds 1/2 a yard says it can cover 16km or 10 miles, so one trip should do it


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

Do you not have to back up or spin around much?

The way that a skid loader is balanced, I believe that you will be fine with a rear mounted spreader.


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

Philbilly2 said:


> By towable do you mean rear mounted right not one with wheels right?
> 
> The way that a skid loader is balanced, I believe that you will be fine with a rear mounted spreader.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

JMHConstruction said:


> View attachment 182172


I just looked it up also... never seen those before.


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

Philbilly2 said:


> I just looked it up also... never seen those before.


Nope. For straight, long sidewalks it looks like it would work well


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

JMHConstruction said:


> View attachment 182172


Push comes to shove if it is to much tounge weight on the machine, add a set of dolley wheels on the front and hinge the tounge.


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## Aerospace Eng (Mar 3, 2015)

Never salted or drove a skidsteer, but for what it’s worth.....

I wouldn’t thing the towed spreader would present a problem. The weight is on the wheels. The forces the S70 will see at the hitch are the tongue weight and whatever drawbar pull is required. At 5% rolling resistance the pull would be around 55 lb. decreasing as you spread salt. Added to that would be the force required to drive the roller. You don’t need much, if any, tongue weight at your towing speeds.

I’ll note that the wifth of the spreader is 45” and the spreading width is 31”. If the sidewalks are only 48”, you will occasionally be dropping a wheel off.

Is it OK (maybe preferable) to only salt the middle 31”?


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## Logandoucet (Jul 15, 2018)

Thanks for all the help guys, I feel more comfortable that this will work quite well now, will basically cut the time in half every time it snows. 

I have a great deal on a new old stock (4500$ Canadian) so made it worth looking into.

And I do agree that at 45" I'll probably be dropping a wheel of now and then . But since it only spreads 31" it will not be putting salt on lawns and best of all uses less salt in total !


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## MIDTOWNPC (Feb 17, 2007)

Those salters work great but on a skid steer will be hard to see and if needed back up. 

Do you have a power quick tach? 
If so last year I saw a person with a similar setup you are mentioning only with a salter mounted to the back door of the skid steer. It was a drop salter off an old holder tractor and he loaded it with pails. The salter was plumbed into a fitting off the quick tach. This was because the plow used the aux hydraulics. 

I use to have a saltdogg tgs07 on the back of a bobcat s300 and it plowed and salted condos. It was electric band was held on by a trailer hitch which we mounted under the bobcat. Then had hooks by the back arms. When he plowed large path he would jump out of the machine. Hook up a rubber “skirt” dial down the salter and plow and salt in one pass. This would keep the salt from broadcasting as it would hit the skirt. 

I have that exact epoke behind a small Deere tractor and it works well but it has to be emptied every time and the other problem is sometimes it jams from slush being flung up under it.


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## Logandoucet (Jul 15, 2018)

MIDTOWNPC said:


> Those salters work great but on a skid steer will be hard to see and if needed back up.
> 
> Do you have a power quick tach?
> If so last year I saw a person with a similar setup you are mentioning only with a salter mounted to the back door of the skid steer. It was a drop salter off an old holder tractor and he loaded it with pails. The salter was plumbed into a fitting off the quick tach. This was because the plow used the aux hydraulics.
> ...


Only issue I foresee with mounting on the door would be the weight, I want something that I can fully salt in one pass so needs to be about 1/2 a yard that much weight on the back will surely lift the front end up. Also the machine and spreader will be Parked in a heated garage when not in use.

And I also have a backup camera installed on this machine so backing shouldn't bee too much of an issue. And since the side walk is basically all straight should be minimal backing up


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Never tried backing a trailer up with a skidsteer, but I suppose it's possible.

If you have minimal backing up, sounds like you have the best method figured out. Thumbs Up


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## Goodnyou (Mar 20, 2015)

Is the blower a 36 or a 48 inch . If the trailer is wider than the path the machine cuts then you may have a problem . I have an s70 . I just unloaded the 36 in blower . Didn't work so well with the heavy wet snow we get in Boston . You could always go up to a 48!in s100. The bobcat dealer in NYC owns a dealership in London and can still get them even though nobody can sell them in the us . I just got a brand new machine from them. It seems like a stretch to me to be able to go anywhere near that far on 1/2 yd of salt and expect it to be productive .


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## cjames808 (Dec 18, 2015)

Go for it. 

Tip it over to empty if too much or stop halfway and check if you used 1/2 of the salt or turn it up.


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## FredG (Oct 15, 2012)

I think your plan is a good option, as others have said it will be almost impossible to back it up. you could always find a place to just turn around.


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