skid steer or tlb?

As I'm getting older, and my ford 4500TLB is too, I'm thinking of the future.
The 4500 along with my 8n have been indispensable. the backhoe might need to be replaced soon. What should I plan on?
I have 33 acres of woods that needs to be logged each year for firewood. A long shale driveway that needs snow plowing during the winter.
Thinking of a skid steer. I have no experience with them, just u-tube educated. Would the skid steer be a better choice for me?

While skid steers are real nice and much quicker in the plowing snow and loader type work, they will not completely replace your TLB for the backhoe type work.

Your choice should keep in mind just what you are needing to accomplish. Good luck.

I agree completely with Diesel Rider, one thing that may help you decide is to rent a skid steer for a day or two and see the difference first hand on your place and your uses/needs just my thoughts
cnt

I have both. The only place a skidsteer isn't much better/faster is for the backhoe portion where deep hole or trench is needed or possibly digging out a stump. But when it comes to loader work, skidsteer is by far the better of the two machines. Just need to make sure the skidsteer is a decent sized machine. I'd not go less than a 1500lb operating machine. Any smaller and I think you'd be disappointed. I also have a 600lb operating machine for little jobs, but it is not very stable at all.

Keep in mind skidsteers go NO WHERE in mud, or slick conditions. Now if you are going to spend the money on a tracked skidsteer thats a different story. Skidsteers dont have a lot of pushing/pulling power. They make up for it in manuverability. You wont hook a chain onto a skidsteer and pull a log out of the woods. At least not a big log...

I have had to pull my neighbors stuck skidsteer out of the mud, other neighbor uses his TLB to pull out his stuck tractors. 'Nuff said.

Being a Kubota dealer I sell both. Now realize there is a place for both. Skid steer Harder for aged folks to get into, no view to the rear, higher operating cost per operating hour, Pros better visibility to the front, works in tight places, TLB you have the backhoe if you need it, maybe a little easier to get on and off. Now here is another thought.. find a KUBOTA L 35 tlb. The backhoe comes off in 10 minutes and you have standard 3 point tractor. Lots of uses, like a big heavy box blade for your drive way.

Very good replies, got me re-thinking.
My 4500 loader capacity is about 2 tons. I didn"t know the skid steer was so limited.
Isn"t the skid steed 4wd? I would definitely rent one before buying. good advice!

The skid steer is 4 wheel drive,but they're about worthless off of concrete. You can get those things stuck in wet grass.

My tracked skidsteer has replaced all of the tractors, other then the Case backhoe, that the ranch owns. With a grapple/rockbucket,6 way blade, brush mower, pallet forks, and regular bucket, I can do about anything with it. It goes places where you would never dream of taking a normal tractor. Mine has 1 set of boggies under it. The next size bigger has 2, and rides even better. If I were to do it again, I would go for one with a 2 speed.
Like I say, we have gotten rid of a IHC Hydro 70, a Veratile 276, and an antique Cat D-4. Will the skidsteer do everything? No, but it will come close.

I am getting older myself and find it harded to get in the skidsteer and use the tractors more because of that . Without tracks it is a fair weather machine as everyone has said . If you are just working on your land and woodlot I would get a 50 hp tractor with FWD and QT loader . Then you can do anything you want on the back , backhoe , winch , bushhog , grader blade , the list is endless . Just make sure you get a real tractor and not a big garden tractor .

My 2 cents having operated both types of machines for over 30 years, a skidster is a great supplemental machine, but if it's one or the other I would pick the TLB which for me would be a 580 Case of whichever letter D thru M.

Apples and oranges.
I replaced my Cat 416 backhoe about 5 years ago with a Bobcat T250. Backhoe was fine for its intended use of digging and loading but for me wasn't versatile enough, cumbersome and prone to flat tires anytime I was near brush.
In addition to using the bucket for pond maintenance in our aquaculture ponds , I also use my Bobcat with a root rake/grapple for clearing, pulling and for skidding/stacking logs. No worries of getting locust thorns or stickups in tires and the 18" tracks don't rut things up. I bought a tree saw for it last week and can take 12" trees out below grade with one cut, skid & stack them with the same implement.
Does fantastic on soft ground/mud but I DO NOT recommend it for snow removal or for use on pavement. I do figure per hour into my operating budget for tracks and undercarriage replacement although I have over 1500 hours on my current set of tracks and 2800 hours on the undercarriage.
Best advice is to demo something for a couple of days. There are multiple attachments for skid steers/compact track loaders from buckets, blades, rakes, rotary mowers, backhoe, etc. Bottom line for me personally is the Bobcat works circles around my backhoe. Again - apples and oranges.

jm,
I was born during the Truman era, which I guess makes me "aged".
Since you said you sell them, you would know first hand if the new Kubota CTL's were hard to get in and out of and had poor visibility to the rear. Have read mixed reviews on them but haven't heard that complaint.
Being the owner of several size range tractors and a T250, I haven't experienced any unique physical limitations of getting into the low setting Bobcat or swiveling my head to look behind me - yet.LOL

i have run both and my take is the tlb too, the skid steer is great,,,as long as your on a hard surface and working it facing foward, rearward visibility is very limited, tracked skidsteers are better, but replacing those tracks is expensive! if you do go tracked, get a tracked skid steer, not tracks running on normal skid steer wheels, but you need to rent one for a weekend and log with it, i dont think for this purpose you will be happy with it at all

My thinking is ANY skidsteer is hard to get in to in that you have to crawl or step over the bucket ect. Also no offer good visibility to the rear even if you can turn your head still hard or impossible to see close up behind. Bottom line like ever one stated place for each machine. I had several of the guys that had been using tractors with loaders for driveway work jump over to skid steers and several have came back to 4 wheel tractors most because of not being able to charge enough to offset the additional operating cost.

The 4500 is a good machine. Maybe you'd be money ahead to fix whatever is wrong with it and buy a more versatile tractor to replace your 8n?

Firewood duty pictures from this past summer. Need to change dates on my camera.

"The 4500 is a good machine. Maybe you'd be money ahead to fix whatever is wrong with it and buy a more versatile tractor to replace your 8n?"

"If you are just working on your land and woodlot I would get a 50 hp tractor with FWD and QT loader"

"I have run both and my take is the tlb too,"

"find a KUBOTA L 35 tlb. The backhoe comes off in 10 minutes and you have standard 3 point tractor. Lots of uses, like a big heavy box blade for your drive way."

Really opened my eyes about the pros and cons of a skid steer. I'm leaning towards getting something like a kubota L35 setting it up with a snowplow. Won't need the backhoe, I'll fix up my ford4500. Of course I'll always have the 8n for raking, york raking etc.
Thanks everyone.!!