How To Choose the Best Attachment for Your Skid Steer Rental

Skid steers are versatile pieces of machinery. Useful for an array of applications, skid steers are especially helpful when tackling landscaping and construction projects. Their relatively lightweight construction and easy maneuverability makes them agile and particularly beneficial for spreading dirt, digging, mowing, and land clearing.

A notorious benefit of using skid steers for landscaping and construction projects is the plethora of available attachment options. If you are tasked with cleaning up after a storm, grapple buckets are ideal for quickly clearing debris. If you need to mow a large plot of land, a brush cutter will help you efficiently cut down grass and weeds. One of the most common attachments for skid steers, however, are buckets.

With so many attachments to choose from, it may be difficult to narrow them down and decide which is right for your project. Should you be faced with the same challenging decision, consider these tips on how to choose the best attachment for your skid steer rental.

Know Your Project

The first step in choosing the right skid steer attachment may seem obvious, but its importance cannot be understated. You cannot choose the right attachment if you do not have a solid understanding of the task at hand. The right attachment will increase efficiency, while the wrong attachment will present unnecessary challenges.

Some of the most common uses for skid steers include:

• Spreading dirt

• Lot clearing

• Tree hauling

• Installing fencing

• Storm clean-up

• Snow removal

Know Your Options

In order to choose the right attachment, you need to know what your options are. Because there are attachments for just about every construction and landscaping project you can think of, just knowing that there are so many options may not be so helpful. Therefore, the most common skid steer attachments and their uses are as follows:

Buckets

Skid steer buckets are useful for multiple applications, including digging, lifting, hauling, loading, and dumping material.

Augers

Augers assist operators with fencing installation, construction projects, large-scale gardening tasks, and forestry projects.

Grapple buckets

There are a variety of grapple buckets to choose from. Standard and heavy-duty grapple buckets are ideal for lifting and carrying rocks, downed trees and branches, logs, brush, and demolition debris. Root rake grapple buckets are useful for removing tree roots and separating dirt from rocks or lumber.

Dozer blades

Dozer blades are useful for pushing or spreading soil, rock, and clay. Four-way and six-way blades are also helpful for spreading rock, mulch, and dirt that has multiple contours.

Stump buckets

Stump buckets are ideal for jobs that require stump removal.

Brush cutters

Brush cutter attachments enable mowers to quickly mow and maintain large plots of land with overgrown brush.

Know Your Requirements

Understanding your requirements is crucial when choosing an appropriate skid steer attachment. Efficiency is a prime example of a critical bottom line. Choosing a stump bucket attachment for a storm cleanup project with a tight deadline is not in alignment with an efficiency-oriented requirement. A skid steer grapple bucket, on the other hand, would prove beneficial.

Landscaping Projects

Landscaping, stump removal, construction, and mowing are some of the most popular projects for skid steers.

Landscaping projects require efficient and dependable machinery to get the job done quickly and safely. Four-way and six-way dozer blades are ideal skid steer attachments for clearing land and spreading dirt. This may include clearing brush and moving dirt. Dozer blades are also beneficial when moving heavy piles of bricks, rock, or other debris.

Stump Removal

Whether you need to remove one stump on a residential property or many stumps from a commercial plot, you will need a skid steer stump bucket and stump shaver (hydraulic auger attachment). When removing a stump, the first thing you will want to do is use the stump shaver to drill and grind the stump into small pieces. Then, you will need to use the stump bucket to grab the rest of the stump and pull it up by the roots.

Construction

Construction projects call for a lot of clearing, digging, moving, and dumping. Auger attachments are useful for projects that require the installation of new fencing or posts. Dozer blades are beneficial for pushing dirt and moving debris. When the need to move heavy objects arises, grapple buckets are a go-to attachment. These will help you pick up, haul, and dump large rocks, heavy construction debris, and lumber.

Mowing and Maintaining

Skid steers make clearing overgrown lots and regular mowing jobs quick and easy. There are different types of brush cutters to consider in order to choose the right attachment. For unfamiliar terrains and jobs with tight time restraints, a direct drive brush cutter would be your best bet. For familiar terrains and tight budgetary restrictions, a gear-driven brush cutter attachment would be best.

The Benefits of Choosing the Right Attachment

When you choose the right skid steer attachment, you will enjoy various benefits such as saving time, saving money, and getting more work done.

Let’s say you need to clear a plot of land to prepare for a construction project. If you rent a skid steer and choose a bucket attachment, you will have difficulty clearing debris and spreading dirt. Because of this, you will spend a lot longer on the task at hand—effectively spending more on rental fees, pushing other jobs back, and extending the project’s deadline. But, if you choose a dozer blade, you will accomplish the task much more quickly—saving money on rental fees, saving time spent on the job, and successfully adhering to the project’s deadline.

One last tip: in addition to choosing the best attachment for your skid steer rental, it is advisable to ensure that you choose the right contractors for the job. Ensure that the contractors you hire are trained and certified to operate the skid steer and the attachment you choose.

McLaren Industries offers a premium lineup of skid steer attachments for you to peruse. Learn more about our skid steer attachments and get a quote by contacting a McLaren Industries representative. You can reach us online or by calling (800) 836-0040.