5600 Works Like an Elephant in the Tent Business

Peter McVey uses a Toolcat 5600 to help keep his tent rental business efficient.

Unlike circus workers of years ago, the crew of McVey Tent & Expo, Appleton, Wis., doesn’t have an elephant to help put up the Big Top. They have something better—a Toolcat™ 5600. Designed and built by Bobcat Company, this unique utility work machine features a front loader arm with a 1,500-lb. rated operating capacity, a hydraulic lift cargo box with a one-ton load capacity and a hitch to tow up to 4,000 lb. of trailer and cargo.

The crews make good use of these features to setup and take down tents big enough to cover an 80 x 300-ft. area. They install these and smaller tents at events ranging from weddings and parties to golf tournaments, music festivals and fairs.

“Every time we put up a big tent, people used to ask where our elephants were,” says company president Peter McVey. “Now we point to our 5600.”

The vinyl tents, which can weigh as much as 2.5 tons, break down into large, bulky and heavy individual pieces that fold up. “Getting them on and off trucks required a lot of people,” says McVey. “Sometimes workers would slip and fall trying to carry them, or drag the pieces on the ground and damage them. Now we can containerize the large pieces and put them on pallets and use our 5600 to lift them on and off trucks and carry them to and from the setup site.”

Toolcat 5600

That’s not all. Sometimes the job calls for thousands of chairs and hundreds of tables. Instead of unloading and carrying them by hand or with a dolly, the crew uses the utility work machine to lift the tables and chairs on and off trucks and the rear hitch to pull the items to the setup site by trailer.

“That saves us a ton of time,” McVey says. “It’s a lot more efficient than using a golf cart or small utility vehicle.”

The 5600’s compact size and allwheel steering also pays off. “We can easily get in and out of confined places and we can drive over golf courses without tearing up the turf,” says McVey.

The enclosed, air conditioned cab, with room for a passenger, is another nice feature, he adds. So is the steering wheel and the hydraulic joystick for operating the loader functions.

“Two of our employees who had no experience operating a tractor or skid-steer loader very quickly felt comfortable using the machine,” says McVey. “We’ve had absolutely no problems running it. We had a niche that needed filling, and the 5600 fills it.”