Utility Work Machine Leads Cleanup Team at Football Stadium

The Toolcat 5600 replaced a 38-year-old tractor at the University of Michigan football stadium in Ann Arbor.

Handling cleanup chores at the University of Michigan’s giant football stadium in a timely and efficient manner calls for a machine big enough to handle the job, small enough to fit in tight areas and versatile enough to handle jobs ranging from plowing snow to towing trash Dumpsters.

“We needed to replace the 38-yearold tractor that we had been using,” says Chris Ehman, Michigan Stadium’s facility supervisor. “The tunnel leading to the playing surface isn’t wide enough for a truck and our four-wheel utility vehicles don’t have the power we need.”

The replacement: A Toolcat™ 5600 utility work machine. The 44 hp unit, delivered by Diuble Equipment, offers 25 percent more power than the tractor it replaced. And features such as a front loader arm that can be used with a wide range of attachments, a hydraulic lift, 2,000-lb. capacity cargo box, a trailer hitch and 4,000-lb. towing capacity give it much more versatility. With hydrostatic four-wheel drive, all-wheel steer and a two-seat, enclosed heated and air conditioned cab, it’s also easier and more comfortable to operate.

The lift arm, which has a 1,500-lb. rated operating capacity, is used with Bobcat® attachments such as a bucket for hauling landscaping materials, pallet forks for moving pallets of supplies used by concessionaires during football games and other events and a snow blade with a rubber cutting edge for clearing snow from the tarped football field. “In the past it would take several hours and 30 to 40 workers using shovels and brooms to remove a few inches of snow,” Ehman says.

The cargo box gives the university a convenient way to carry items ranging from tools to trash. Using the rear hitch, the utility work machine is also used to tow a train of Dumpsters, filled with trash, out of the stadium after each game. “The machine pulls the Dumpsters around the track bordering the playing surface and up the ramp to street level,” says Ehman. “We may make as many as 10 trips after each game.”

Before the game the machine is used to place Dumpsters throughout the stadium. Unlike a conventional forklift, the Toolcat machine can maneuver on turf and place the Dumpsters without sinking in, Ehman notes.

He and his operators are satisfied with the performance of the 5600.

“It fits our needs,” he says, “and saves the expense of buying several different pieces of equipment to do what it does.”

However, this isn’t the only Toolcat 5600 that’s saving time and labor at the University of Michigan. The school’s athletic department also bought one of the machines to make work faster and easier around the practice arena and baseball field.