I have a Kubota B6100 with FEL that might be about what you're thinking. I love the maneuverability of it. Of course, i did also buy a tiny skidsteer that is roughly the same size (ford CL20 equivalent, mine's an Erickson) but it was cheap and broken and i spend a lot more time fighting it than using it. Even owning the two of those, i still find myself brainstorming a smaller, almost 'pin on' FEL for an engineless Case 442 garden tractor that's sitting here, so i relate to your 'I have things but i still want to BUILD more things' thought here.
I would say that if you already have skidsteers and IF you can actually get them into the space you are trying to work in and they aren't just too big to fit through gates or some such, you might consider adding a caster/casters to the back of one of the skidsteers. That would allow you to maneuver it with a lot less ground disruption and overall would be a simpler project than most loader builds i can scheme up.
But if they're too big or too heavy regardless and you just want something smaller, I would say finding something with some kind of existing 3 pt lift would make things a lot easier to build a light duty loader from. How high do you need to lift anything? Just extending/modifying the 3pt arms might get you an acceptable range of motion if you're not trying to get up very high. Of course, the further out the less lift capacity and the more front counterweight required which eventually causes problems with steering and axles on something light duty. Bucket tilt could be done with an electric linear actuator or if you really just need to carry and then dump you could just build a latching 'dump bucket'. To get stuff to stay in the bucket more when lifted, moving the inboard end of the top link down further would make the bucket roll back a bit when lifted. Anyway, lots of 'rear loader'/'back loader' videos on youtube you can get some design ideas from.
Last edited by Vigo327; 06/24/2021 11:20 PM.
