Skid Steer
Buy and sell skid steers in Guatemala.
The first skid steer was built to scrape manure out of a turkey barn, and in Guatemala the machine still earns its keep on farms, clearing chicken litter out of sheds and corrals, as well as on building sites where nothing bigger fits. Most people call any of them a bobcat, whatever the badge says. New and used machines belong here, on tyres or on rubber tracks, along with the buckets and pallet forks that lock onto the front. On a pre-owned one, ask how many hours it has and what it did, because a machine from a poultry shed and one from a paved yard wear out in very different places.
Tyres or rubber tracks under a skid steer:
that is the first split, and in Guatemala the rainy season usually settles it. A wheeled skid steer is cheaper to buy and to keep, quick on concrete and asphalt, and the right machine for a warehouse yard, a paved site or a farm with firm lanes. It turns by dragging its tyres sideways, so on hard ground they wear fast. A compact track loader is the same machine on rubber tracks: it spreads its weight and keeps working on wet clay through the wettest months, when a wheeled machine sinks to its axles. It costs noticeably more new, and a pair of tracks costs far more to replace than four tyres. Sizes run from compact machines that work inside a building to large frames that lift a tonne. Bobcat named the class, but Cat, Case, John Deere and New Holland build them too, and Kubota and Takeuchi are strong in tracked loaders. For digging deeper than a bucket can scrape, an excavator is the better tool.
Radial or vertical lift, and the plate on the front:
the arms decide what a machine does best. Radial-lift arms swing up in an arc, giving good reach at mid height for grading, digging and pushing dirt. Vertical-lift arms rise almost straight and keep their reach at the top, which is what you want for loading trucks and setting pallets on a high bed. A wheeled skid steer’s rated operating capacity is half its tipping load; a tracked loader’s is set at 35 percent, so the same figure on two spec sheets does not mean the same thing. Then look at the hydraulics. Standard flow runs a bucket, forks, an auger, a breaker or a broom, but a forestry mulcher or a cold planer needs a high-flow machine. Most makes share the universal quick-attach plate, so attachments move between brands; confirm it on older or unusual models.
A skid steer that worked a chicken shed or a corral:
needs a closer look than one from a paved yard. Poultry litter and manure are corrosive, and they pack into the belly pan, around the chaincases and into the radiator. Get underneath with a torch: rust eating the frame and rear door, green wiring and a radiator caked solid, which means the engine has run hot. A machine pressure-washed for the sale is normal; fresh paint on the lower half only is not. Then drive it. Rock it hard between forward and reverse: a clunk from either side means slack chains in the chaincase. Run it flat out in a straight line, because a machine that pulls to one side or is slow in one direction may have a tired drive motor or pump. Lift a loaded bucket, switch off and watch: arms that creep down have worn cylinder seals. Feel for play in the pins at the pivots and look for cracks around the quick-attach plate. On tracks, check sprockets, rollers and cuts in the rubber; on wheels, how much tread is left and whether it wore evenly. A seat bar or interlock that has been bypassed says a lot about how the machine was treated. Pins, chains, tyres and tracks are listed under industrial parts.
The hour meter, the attachments and a skid steer ready to drive:
are what a buyer looks for. Photograph the hour meter, the serial plate, both sides of the tyres or tracks, the quick-attach plate and the inside of the cab. Say what the machine did, whether construction hire, a farm or a municipal yard. List every attachment that goes with it, since a bucket on its own is worth much less than a bucket, forks and an auger together, and say whether it is standard or high flow. A farmer coming from Jutiapa with a trailer will want to drive it up the ramps and spin it on the spot both ways before talking money, so leave it on firm ground with room to turn.