How All-Wheel Steer Loader Saves Owner Big Money

Henry Evans

Construction site cleanup contractor Henry Evans is putting an extra $300 to $400 in his pocket every month.

That’s what he was spending to replace tires on his other brand of skidsteer loader doing work that required a lot of quick, tread-wearing turns on paved surfaces. He’s still doing the same type of work, but now is using a Bobcat® A300 all-wheel steer (AWS) loader. For Evans that means four to five times more life from the tires on his smooth-turning Bobcat loader.

“My skid-steer loader was burning through a set of tires in about 200 to 250 hours,” he says. “In 18 months, I spent about $8,200 on new tires. The tires on my A300 should last 800 to 1,000 hours in our applications.”

Evans and his partner, Robert Hughes, own E & H Site Management, Inc., Little River, S.C. The company uses the AWS machine with a Bobcat combination bucket to load debris from home construction sites into trucks parked on paved streets in new subdivisions. In addition to the excessive tire wear, the constant skid-turning left unsightly tire marks on the roads and deep ruts in the yards.

“I used to spend 10 to 15 minutes at each site repairing the ruts and scraping rubber from the streets,” Evans says. “With the A300 I can turn 180 degrees and, if nothing spills from the bucket, you can’t even tell we were there. The site looks as good after loading the debris as it did before we started.”

That also impresses his customers and gives him a competitive edge over other cleanup outfits using skidsteer loaders, he notes.

In addition to its tire- and surfacefriendly maneuverability, Evans also
likes the machine’s 3,000-lb. rated operating capacity and vertical lift path which makes loading 10-wheel dump trucks an easy job.

The state-of-the art, low-effort joysticks for controlling steering, direction of travel and the lift arms and tilt functions add to the ease of operation. “You just need a little twist of your wrists,” he says. “The foot controls for lifting and tilting with the skid-steer loader were hard on my knees. Also, with the A300, I can switch between high and low speed ranges on the go.”

His satisfaction with the loader is enhanced by great service from his dealer, Bobcat of Myrtle Beach. “Product support is very important,” he says. “My salesman frequently checks with me to see if I’m having any problems. I never got that kind of service from my previous dealer.

“I’ve never seen anything like the A300. It’s a fantastic machine.”