Best Skid Steers and Track Loaders for Landscaping | Equipment Solutions

Buyer's Guide · 2026-06-05

A landscaping machine has to do a little of everything - grade and prep, move material, dig, plant, haul - and do it without tearing up the lawn you just installed. Here's how we'd size one.

What to look for

• Footprint and weight on turf. A compact track loader spreads its weight across the tracks, so it floats over soft ground and finished turf with far less rutting than a wheeled machine. If you work on lawns a lot, that matters.
• Right size for the gates. Measure the tightest spot you have to get through. A smaller-frame loader gets into backyards a big one can't.
• Auxiliary hydraulics. Augers, grapples, tillers, brooms and trenchers all run off the machine's hydraulics. Make sure the flow matches the tools you'll run.

Machines we'd start with

• The Gehl R105 and R135 Gen:2 are compact, nimble skid loaders that get into tight residential jobs and still carry a real load.
• The Gehl VT320 track loader is the turf-friendly pick - tracks for flotation on soft ground and finished lawns.
• Need more muscle for grading and bulk material? Step up to the Gehl R165.

The attachments make the machine

This is where a loader earns its keep. Grading buckets and box blades for prep, augers for planting and fence posts, grapples for brush and rock, brooms for cleanup. Browse the attachment catalog and we'll build the kit around the work you do.

We're a local Manitou and Gehl dealer in Laddonia, MO - in-house service and parts, and finance programs to keep the payment manageable through the season. Tell us about your crews and your jobs and we'll spec it.

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