Skid Steer Loaders/Farming Simulator 17
A Skid Steer Loader (or Skid Steer) is a type of Vehicle in Farming Simulator 17. More specifically, it is one of four different types of Loaders - vehicles designed for lifting, shoveling, and otherwise manipulating materials and cargo. Skid Steer Loaders are essentially forklifts, designed primarily to lift solid objects up from the ground, load them into transports, or stack them up on top of each other.
Skid Steers are some of the smallest vehicles in the game. Their tight wheel/track configuration gives them excellent maneuverability and fine control. This allows them to manipulate objects with great precision. They are by far the best vehicles in the game for stacking Pallets, and can also work well with Bales of all shapes.
Skid Steers have access to a very wide variety of tools. Other than lifting cargo they can also shovel small quantities of materials on the ground, but some of their best tools are for Forestry work; The small size and excellent steering allows them to navigate easily between trees, cut them down, and arrange them with precision into piles for larger vehicles to later load into transports.
List of Skid Steer Loaders
Farming Simulator 17 features only two Skid Steer Loaders by default. They can both be found in the "Skid Steer Loaders" section of the store.
Note: Both vehicles have near-identical stats, but there are a few important differences between them. Read the articles for more information.
| Name | Price | Maintenance cost per day |
Horsepower | Max Speed (km/h) |
Fuel Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JCB 260 | 49,000 | 70 | 74 | 40 | 103 |
| JCB 325T | 64,000 | 70 | 74 | 40 | 103 |
Skid Steer Loader Tools
Farming Simulator 17 offers nine different Loading Tools for Skid Steers. These can all be found in the "Skid Steer Loaders" category at the store. Skid Steer Tools will only attach to a Skid Steer's arm - they cannot be fitted to any other vehicle in the base game.
| Name | Price | Maint. Cost per Day |
Tool Type | Capacity | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JCB Universal Shovel | 800 | 5 | Buckets | 2,000 | 334 |
| JCB Pallet Fork | 700 | 5 | Pallet Forks | -- | 267 |
| JCB Bale Fork | 600 | 5 | Bale Forks | -- | 109 |
| JCB Manure Fork | 1,800 | 5 | Manure Forks | 1,700 | 340 |
| JCB Log Fork | 1,200 | 5 | Log Forks | -- | 1,159 |
| JCB Stump Cutter | 4,500 | 5 | Stump Cutters | -- | 221 |
| DFM TG84 | 1,400 | 5 | Log Forks | -- | 523 |
| DFM RT3000 | 9,400 | 10 | Tree Cutters | -- | 447 |
| DFM CFB-16 | 12,000 | 10 | Tree Cutters | -- | 695 |
Comparison with other Loaders
Skid Steer Loaders are one of four different types of Loaders. Below is a list of advantages and disadvantages of Skid Steers over the other three categories.
Advantages
- Extremely Maneuverable: Skid Steers rely on a special steering technology that gives them a tiny turn radius - allowing them to turn almost in place (in real life, a Skid Steer can pivot without moving!). This gives them perfect control of their position and the position of their loading tool, which is a great benefit in all Skid-Steer jobs.
- Very Small: Skid steers are very small, and can easily be loaded onto Low Loaders or other platforms. They are also tiny enough to easily navigate cramped spaces, such as near Animal pens, in dense forests, or in places crowded with vehicles.
- Wide Variety of Tools: Skid Steers have the largest selection of Tools to choose from, including some tools that are not available to other Loaders, such as Stump Cutters and Tree Cutters. Unfortunately many of these tools are too small to be very effective - but the ability to use them at all is an advantage in any case.
- Cheap: Skid Steers are so cheap to purchase and maintain that you can easily afford buying one for each position that requires it - e.g. one for loading Pallets at the Store, one for managing each Animal pen, one for Forestry, and so on. This way you don't even need to transport them from place to place.
Disadvantages
- Very Light: Skid Steers are exceptionally light, and prone to tipping over at the slightest provocation. Careless driving while carrying heavy cargo (e.g. Pallets) can cause the vehicle to tip.
- Small Tools: Skid Steers only have access to tools with relatively low capacity - larger than Front Loaders tools, smaller than Telehandlers tools. This only applies to Buckets and Manure Forks, but it does mean that shoveling with a Skid Steer is needlessly inefficient. They are not designed for this task.
- Low Maximum Speed: Skid Steers are some of the slowest vehicles in terms of maximum speed. To transport them from place to place, consider purchasing a Low Loaders (several Skid Steers can fit on a single loader!). Alternatively, if you have a little money you can simply buy one Skid Steer for each place where it might be needed.
- Can't Tow: The Skid Steer models in the game have no rear attachment, and cannot tow any trailer or other equipment of any kind.