Jonathan here I teach math and woodshop
and advanced manufacturing in Colfax
high school we mill our own lumber we
build cool projects out of it so I've
been looking at mini skid steers and I
was able to secure some grant funds to
buy this Vermeer mini skid steer CTX 50
with a grapple attached so this is
really the first day of use and in this
video I'm going to go through in a
deliver and operation of the new tool
and how it's going to work in our shop
so stay tuned in this video and I'll run
through this super cool mini skid steer
look at that
man is that thing shiny CTX 50 from RDO
equipment boy
parking brake hop back on make sure you
re-engage it otherwise your right track
isn't going to be going at all and then
basically all we start an idle throttle
it up to whatever rpms you need in order
to get the right performance right stick
does all your bucket manipulations so
backward is to raise the arms forward is
to drop the arms left is to tilt up
right is tilt forward and all of your
driving manipulation comes from this
joystick here so back it straight back
forward straight forward pretty straight
forward there forward to the right will
turn it to the right backwards to the
left will actually turn you to the right
as well so that's the only thing that's
not initially completely intuitive you
got to kind of think of this as if
you're operating the left track by going
in Reverse rather than turning to the
right other than that this will take
care of all of your attachment
manipulations for your hydraulic
auxiliaries there this is always going
to be in a high flow so when you're
running your log grapple if you aren't
if you open it if you completely squeeze
this in you will squeeze that and then
hit Hydra there's no hydraulic relief so
potentially you can kill the motor so
just make sure you never go all the way
back with it and tether it properly when
you hear the engine bog that's a good
time to release okay
as far as maintenance of the unit we
have got our grease chart right here
which is broken down that's you one hour
interval so every grease point on this
machine needs to get greased at 10:00
every ten-hour increment and each
position is labeled the number outside
of the grease gun tells you how many
grease zerks you should be greasing for
that point how many how many individual
zerks you need to hit and then the number
inside of the grease gun tells you how
many shots of grease you need to put for
each of those zerk so for example
yeah we're pointing right here so this
is two sides left and right two zerks
each of them getting two shots so one's
gonna be right here the other one I
think you actually have to raise the
lift arm to get to the lower zerk
fitting on here um but it's inside that
channel converter our clock in it once
the things running it flicks back and
forth it is starting at 11 hours so the
first service is at 21 this is air
filter down here this is a hydraulic
fluid filter on the inside right there
and then down in front here there's a
twentyfive-horse kohler engine code o2
sensor on the exhaust dipstick and then
there's oil fill through the panel arm
has to be up then in the front here is a
hydraulic reservoir and inside that
hydraulic reservoir the top cap is a
dipstick for a hydraulic fluid before
you leave thumbs up the dip the red
safety bracket off there
goes in there with a lock and that's to
prevent losing hydraulic pressure for
those arms to drop down to prevent those
arms from coming down battery manuals
attached fuel regular octane 87 octane
on the fuel cap forget mechanical hand
brake so that's just a cable break
around the idler pulley on this side so
up is off down this on and that's where
the sleeve to lock that thing up is
stored we got three attachments we've
got a port six give it to a bucket and a
raffle
you don't come to your attachments
always want to be an idle going slow
make sure that you have your locking
pins rotate it to the outer position
when they're rotated inward they go down
lock the attachment in when you're
hooking up to them make sure you rotate
them open that way
you don't have to worry about finding
those pins if you come in and tilt too
far back to shoot so when you come in
you want to come in and then tilt into
the attachment that you're picking up
that way you're not pushing down on
you're attaching your hydraulic lines
Thanks they've been stored that you just
wipe any dirt off of it to keep your
hydraulic system clean usually with the
red rag or any rag if you have it handy
and then each line is keyed for the
corresponding plot and then you have too
much pressure in the system like we have
right now you can usually get one in
you'll come around to the operator
station rotate a quarter turn on the key
stand on the operator platform and then
here you'll have hydraulic you won't be
able to cycle your hydraulic system to
neutralize any pressure in it okay and
usually that'll fix any pressure issues
minor lost a lot of water content if
you're pushing logs around you always
want to use that back thumb it's a
strong weld so that's good for pushing
if you push with the grapple you're
putting on lateral forces on that pin a
single attachment for the grapple a
grapples designed for tension only so
that's only for lifting not pushing the
longer the load sticking out the more
likely the less capacity you have so if
you turn that grapple 90 you keep the
load and tighter and then working on a
hill always have that load on the
downhill side so that if we're to go
over it wouldn't have far to go
versus if it were on that hillside it
would fling you that whole hundred and
eighty degrees ton of potential energy
all-out force on you so keep the load on
the downhill side always 600 pounds at
the center pin six feet in the air and
the tipping capacity on this unit is
roughly
1800 pounds two feet off the ground now
that's not taking into consideration the
weight of the attachment nor is it
taking into consideration the extra
leverage to that the load will have from
the center pin to the end of the
attachment so all those are pretty rough
numbers but it's a good number to stand
by and then on the other attachments
here you can't overload them these
capacities exceed the machines
capacities so no issues with overloading
the forks or the bucket a more
perpendicular load it rotates 120
degrees perfect so it'll rotate 120
degrees you can leave the pen unlocked
right here or lock it into position to
keep your load more stable so this is
the position you want to have your
grapple in from max lifting capacity
it'll keep the load close this to the
machine and will give you the least
amount of leverage working again
Johnna going to pick up his first log
his new little skid loader
big cedar rounds
now we return the grappler
sideways
