5 Essential Skid Steer Attachments

Whether you work in construction or consider yourself a weekend farmer, these 5 essential skid steer attachments will help you efficiently and effectively complete projects.

The skid steer is a vital piece of equipment in many industries; its versatility ranging from commercial and residential construction to full-time and weekend farmers. But to maximize the efficiency of your machine, you’re going to need some skid steer attachments. To figure that out you must consider your working environment, the project or task at hand, your machine, and perhaps most importantly, the mounting system on your machine - we’ll talk more about that later.

Essential Skid Steer Attachments

The following five skid steer attachments are what we think of as a “good place to start” as you build your repertoire. Now that does not mean you need to run to a lot and purchase all five at once. Again, what is the most important project you need to complete with your skid steer? If it’s dirt removal, you may think about a bucket. If you’re building a fence on a farm or residential construction site, then you may opt for a pallet fork and post driver. 

Bucket

Buckets are skid steer attachments that help reduce the time and sweat equity you’d put into a shovel and wheelbarrow. Not that many of us are using the shovel and wheelbarrow in the 21st century, especially on large projects, but you get the meaning. Buckets are not only essential for loading and hauling, but also digging and even grading a dirt or gravel road. A tooth bucket might be the way to go if you’re working on really rocky ground.

Buckets are not only essential for loading and hauling, but also digging and even grading a dirt or gravel road.

Brush Cutter

Don’t let anyone tell you differently: brush cutters are fun to use. And an essential skid steer attachment. If you need to take on trees, heavy brush, thick grass with stands of privet or other small trees, then a brush cutter for your skid steer might be the first attachment you buy. 

They can help you clear tracts of land for gardens, building sites, or food plots in an afternoon. 

Some models even include stump grinding teeth. Center the stump with the middle of the unit and come down on it until that surefire hazard is nothing more than wood chips. Did we mention brush cutters are a heck of a lot of fun?

Pallet Fork

As far as skid steer attachments go, pallet forks provide a level of usefulness that a lot of us simply don’t think about. Sure, you use them to move pallets. However, the two forks on a pallet fork allow you more maneuverability when it comes to hauling, clearing, and lifting. Working the one fork into a tight spot to wrap a chain around a fallen tree is much easier and less time consuming than squaring up a bucket. 

As far as skid steer attachments go, pallet forks provide a level of usefulness that a lot of us simply don’t think about.

As a lifting tool, one person can easily stand on each fork as you raise them onto a roof. Or if you’re moving hay up into a barn loft. Lastly, for the big game hunters who bought a farm mostly for that purpose, a pallet fork is an essential tool in the butchering process.

Post Driver

T-posts, tent stakes, or chain link fence posts, this is a tool that is absolutely necessary. While using traditional, hand-held post hole diggers in soft loamy soil is hard work in itself, add a few rocks into the earth and a machine is the only answer. The post driver can turn a month’s or even a year’s worth of work into a long weekend. By using hydraulic technology, these skid steer attachments are capable of driving large gate posts into the earth no matter the soil condition. 

Root Grapple

Grapples are one of the most effective relocating tools among all skid steer attachments. Whether it’s brush, rocks, roots, or even hedgerows still in the ground, its skeletal teeth will maximize the size of your load and keep from damaging the ground when you scoop. A smooth hydraulic system will eliminate any jerking or rocking action as you lift, lower, and move across the property. 

Root grapples may also be used in place of a tiller. By raising the grapple, opening the teeth, and angling them straight into the earth, you now have a tool to create furrows. Or prep a stretch of ground for a driveway. Should you decide to use the grapple in this manner, always do so in reverse.

Everyday we have the opportunity to speak with customers who are in the market for a new skid steer attachment. Perhaps the number one question we ask is “what kind of hitch system do you have?” The machine is one part, as is the attachment. But a necessary part of the equation is the connection of the two, which in some cases includes the hydraulic system on your machine. Check and see before making the purchase. Or, we’re always happy to help you figure it out.