Mini Track Loaders Put Landscaper on Fast-Track

Jerry Price

Knoxville-area landscaper Jerry Price gets plenty of work accomplished with his four high production Bobcat® compact track loaders.

Some jobs, however, require much smaller equipment. For these projects, Price relies on a pair of minis.

“You’d be surprised how often we use them and what they can do,” says Price. “The mini track loaders have been a great addition to our landscaping equipment lineup.”

At times Price works at a jobsite where larger equipment is just not practical.

“For example, one of our regular customers wanted a new lawn installed on his estate,” says Price. “The area was elevated above the driveway and surrounded by a fence and a wall. The gate opening was only 38 inches (below right). Under those circumstances we would have had to use wheelbarrows, but not this time.”

MT52 mini track loader

Instead he built a ramp from the driveway to the yard, purchased two Bobcat mini track loaders and went to work. His crew dug up and hauled out 17 tandem truckloads of old dirt and sod. Then they hauled in another 17 truckloads of new topsoil, and finally they delivered 1,200 yd. of sod to the site. All this was done using the mini track loaders.

“Needless to say, my crew was extremely pleased we had those machines for this job (and others),” says Price. “It sure beats pushing a wheelbarrow up and down that ramp hundreds of times. We saved a lot of backs and a lot of days.”

Since then Price and his employees have used the mini track loaders on dozens of jobs where the alternatives were all bad—timeconsuming and labor-intensive or impossible.

“What a great investment,” says Price, speaking of his mini track loaders. “They pay for themselves in so many ways. I wouldn’t want to be without them.”