Charging

The used Bobcat skid steer buyer's guide: hours, inspection and price

I have walked a lot of used equipment lots, and I keep coming back to a simple rule: hours, condition, and price are not three separate questions. They are one decision, and any used Bobcat that looks like a bargain on one is usually hiding a problem on another. Whether you are a small contractor on a first purchase or a homesteader weighing a ten-year-old machine against a loan payment, this guide folds all three into a framework you can run in about fifteen minutes on the lot.

How many hours is too many on a used Bobcat skid steer?

There is no magic number, but there are real brackets. Per the Machinery Trader blog's used-skid-steer checklist and consensus on skidsteerforum.com, under roughly 2,000 hours reads as "low hours." Between 2,000 and 3,000 hours the machine is middle-aged. Past 4,000 to 5,000 hours the trade press calls it high hours, and that is where fleet owners cycle machines out as failure rates climb.

Frame size matters. As Equipment World has reported, a 40 hp loader typically wants an engine overhaul around 4,000 hours, while an 80 hp machine can go 8,000 before a top-end job. A Bobcat S650, which per Bobcat's spec sheet runs a 74 hp Tier 4 diesel at roughly 8,327 lb operating weight, sits in the bigger-frame bracket. A well-maintained S650 or T595 can realistically see 8,000 to 10,000 hours. The ceiling is maintenance, not the meter.

My rule: on a 600- or 700-frame Bobcat, 3,000 hours with full records beats 1,500 hours with none.

The fifteen-minute used skid steer inspection checklist

Machinery Trader, Boom and Bucket, and Total Landscape Care all publish walk-around checklists that overlap heavily. Here is the compressed version I use, ordered so that any single failure kills the deal before you waste time on the next step.

Structure and welds

  • Crawl under the machine. Look at the main frame, the lift-arm pivots, and the loader tower for fresh welds, grinder marks, or fresh paint that does not match the factory finish.
  • Per compactequip.com and the Machinery Trader blog, a cracked or re-welded boom is a walk-away. So is a bent lift arm.
  • Fresh paint on a machine under five years old is a red flag, not a selling point. It often hides repaired structural damage.

Engine and emissions

  • Cold start it yourself. White smoke that clears quickly is usually fine; blue means oil burning; persistent black at idle suggests injector or turbo trouble.
  • Bobcat's 600-frame Tier 4 engines use a DPF, while the 700- and 800-frame 3.4-liter Doosan engines use an ultra-low particulate combustion design without a DPF, per compactequip.com and For Construction Pros. A DPF delete is an EPA violation and Bobcat does not support de-tiering.
  • Check the dipstick. Milky film means coolant intrusion.

Hydraulics

Hydraulics are where expensive surprises live. Two tests I never skip, both echoed by the Machinery Trader checklist and Boom and Bucket:

  • Boom hold test. Raise the arms to full height with an empty bucket, shut the engine off, and watch. A healthy machine holds for several minutes. Creep under a minute points to worn cylinder seals or a leaking control valve.
  • Bucket drift test. Curl the bucket, shut off, watch for self-rolling.
  • Listen during operation. A whine under load, or hesitation and shimmy in the arms, signals a weak pump or air in the line, per Texas Final Drive.
  • Pull the hydraulic dipstick. Clear honey-amber is good. Black or burnt means neglect. On an expensive machine, pay a lab $30 for a fluid sample.

Undercarriage and tires

  • On a compact track loader like the T595, check the rubber tracks for chunking, exposed cords, and even wear. A new set of tracks runs well into four figures.
  • On a wheeled machine like the S650, measure tread and check for uneven wear that suggests frame or axle issues.
  • Look for final-drive oil weeping at the hub. A leaking final drive is one of the more expensive repairs on any skid steer.

Cab, ROPS, and safety

  • Per OSHA 1926.1001, rubber-tired skid-steer equipment used in construction must have a rollover protective structure meeting the performance criteria. Confirm the ROPS is uncut, undamaged, and has its manufacturer's data plate.
  • NIOSH publication 98-117 specifically flags missing operator restraints and side screens as a major injury driver. Verify the seat belt, seat bar, and door interlocks all function.

Maintenance records — what to ask the seller

Bobcat's own service literature publishes intervals at 8 hours (daily), 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 hours. At minimum I want to see engine oil and filter changes at 250-hour intervals, hydraulic filter changes at 250 hours, and fuel filter and chain-tension checks at 500 hours. If the seller cannot produce records, assume none were done and price the risk in. Compactequip.com is blunt on this point: a seller hesitant to hand over paperwork is a red flag on its own.

Used Bobcat price bands by year and hours

Prices move with the market, but the bands below reflect listings I pulled from Machinery Pete and MachineryTrader.com at the time of writing.

  • Bobcat T595 compact track loader. MachineryTrader.com lists T595s roughly $22,000 to $80,000 depending on year and hours, with an average in the high $30,000s. A 2020 T595 with ~2,000 hours was listed at $38,900; a 2022 open-cab T595 with ~1,500 hours at $34,900. Online sellers like bobcatforsaleonline.com list T595s in a similar $22k–$60k band.
  • Bobcat S650 skid steer. MachineryTrader.com and Equipment Trader show S650s from about $13,500 on high-hour early units up to $67,000-plus for near-new machines, with averages clustering around $35,000. A clean 2015 S650 under 2,000 hours typically asks in the mid $20,000s.
  • Bobcat E26 mini excavator (for buyers cross-shopping formats). Per Bobcat's spec sheet the E26 has an operating weight near 6,200 lb and a 24.8 hp engine, and used listings on MachineryTrader.com run roughly $25,000 to $45,000 depending on cab configuration.

Cost of ownership per hour

Equipment World and the trade publication Construction News peg skid steer owning-and-operating cost at roughly $30 to $35 per hour once you add fuel (typically 2 gal/hr at current diesel prices), tires or tracks, filters, grease, and amortized repair. That figure is the one I use to back into a maximum offer: if a machine needs $5,000 of deferred maintenance, I subtract it from the listing price outright.

Operating weight and ROC — what they really mean

Bobcat's own spec pages are specific. The T595 has a 2,200 lb SAE rated operating capacity (ROC) on an 8,055 lb operating weight. The S650 carries roughly 2,690 lb ROC at a similar weight class. ROC is 50% of the machine's tipping load, per SAE J818. If you plan to run a grapple, a mulcher, or a pallet fork with a loaded skid, size the machine to the attachment's weight, not the other way around.

Final red flags

  • Hour-meter swaps. Cross-check the meter against wear on pedals, seat cushion, and grip paint.
  • Mismatched serial plates or missing ROPS data tag.
  • "Just rebuilt" claims with no invoices.
  • A seller who will not let you run the boom-hold and bucket-drift tests.

Buy on records and condition first, hours second, price third. A well-kept S650 or T595 with 3,500 documented hours is the machine I would rather own than a neglected low-hour unit with a fresh coat of Bobcat white.