Bobcat

Bobcat T450

$64,245before options, dealer-quotedRadial LiftRubber tracks
Bobcat T450
Rated capacity of tipping load35%
1,490 lb rated4,257 lb tipping

The bright segment is what Bobcat T450 is rated to carry; the grey run past it is the rest of its tipping load. Bar length is tipping load drawn to the same scale on every machine on the site, so a short bar is a smaller machine and not a conservative rating.

One caveat on this machine: we could not find a published tipping load for it, so the figure above is its advertised capacity divided by the fraction its maker rates at. That makes the grey run arithmetic rather than a measurement, and it is the number worth asking a dealer to confirm.

Just 55 inches wide and running 55 hp, the T450 is the smallest compact track loader in the Bobcat lineup. This radius-lift machine is built for backyard access, fenced-in jobs, and buyers who want a real steel-tracked Bobcat that a half-ton truck can still tow.

Suits: Backyard access where a full-size CTL won't fit, for landscapers and homeowners Its radial lift path reaches furthest at mid-height, for digging, grading and backfilling.

Lifting and reach

Rated operating capacityTrack loader rating convention
1,490 lbs
Tipping loadDerived from the advertised capacity, not published
4,257 lbs
Lift height to hinge pin
109.5 in
Lift path
Radial Lift
Operating weight
6,424 lbs

Power and hydraulics

Engine power
55 hp
Engine
Bobcat (Doosan) D24
Auxiliary flowStandard circuit
16.7 GPM
Flow type
Standard
Warranty
2 yr / 2,000 hr

Fitted or available

What this machine can be ordered with. Some of these are standard and some cost extra, and which is which moves between trim levels, so check them against the quote rather than against this list.

Enclosed CabTwo-SpeedA/C & HeatTracksRadial LiftA/C

What owners report

Summarised from the sources listed below. Nothing here was tested by us.

Width is the whole argument for this machine. At 55 inches it fits through gates, between houses and onto finished ground where a mid-frame track loader cannot go, and everything else about it is a consequence of that choice: 55 hp, a 1,490 lb rated capacity, a 16.7 GPM auxiliary circuit and a radial lift path reaching 109.5 inches at the hinge pin. Owners who buy it for access work are happy; owners who buy it as a cheap track loader and then try to do mid-frame work with it are the ones who regret it.

The things that go wrong are specific and worth knowing. Early Doosan-engined units had fuel system problems, with 2014 the first model year and owners warning that 2015 is not clearly clear of it either, and repair quotes in that area run into four and five figures. Heat-related left-drive faults, where reverse disappears after twenty or thirty minutes and returns once the machine cools, are a known pattern and have survived idler and drive motor work at dealers. A slow-to-wake machine on a cold start is usually a failed check valve in a control valve fitting, not the oil. The drive belt is small and breaks. Because so many came out of rental fleets, the used supply is good but hard-used, and an auction machine typically arrives with a weeping lift cylinder and a tired alternator belt as the opening bill.

When a gate, a fence line or a finished lawn dictates your machine size, this is the answer, and buy the 200 lb counterweight with it. Do not buy it if you want to run a mulcher, because there is no high-flow path to get there. New pricing starts near $64,200, which is close enough to the bigger frame that you should price a T64 before signing, and used ex-rental machines around 1,000 hours have traded near $26,000 with a full service due. Before agreeing on any used one, run it warm for half an hour and work both tracks in reverse.

What owners like

  • At 55 inches wide it goes through a standard gate and down a side yard that stops every mid-frame machine, which is the entire reason fencing, pool and backyard contractors buy one.
  • The 55 hp engine meets Tier 4 without a particulate filter, so there is no regen cycle, no soot loading and no limp mode on a machine that spends its life doing short bursts of light work.
  • At 6,424 lb bare with 4.82 psi ground pressure it is the rare track loader that fits on a dump trailer behind a truck you might already own, which saves small operators from buying a bigger rig to move the machine.
  • The radial lift path arcs out at mid height, and operators say that is genuinely the better geometry for backfilling against a foundation, dumping over a wall and unloading a flatbed.
  • An optional 200 lb counterweight takes rated capacity from 1,490 lb to 1,656 lb, which is a cheap and worthwhile box to tick given how close to the limit this machine runs with forks.

What owners complain about

  • Early Doosan-engined machines had fuel system trouble. 2014 was the first year the engine went into Bobcats and owners advise checking 2015 units carefully too. One owner was quoted $8,300 for a fuel system at 750 hours, and another bought a 2015 whose injectors had been destroyed by the wrong fuel.
  • Left-track drive faults that appear only once the machine is warm are a recurring story: reverse drops out after 20 to 30 minutes, comes back once it cools, and throws a drive solenoid code. One owner went through rear idlers and a drive motor inspection without a fix.
  • A delayed-response complaint on startup, where neither the drive nor the loader works for the first minute or two, traces to a failed check valve in a control valve fitting rather than cold oil, and it catches first-time owners who assume it is normal.
  • There is no high-flow option at all, and the standard circuit is 16.7 GPM with relief at the couplers of only 3,250 psi. That rules out mulchers, cold planers and stump grinders outright, not just makes them slow.
  • The drive belt is small, owners report it breaking repeatedly, and the job involves getting the A/C belt out of the way. It is a maintenance item people do not expect on a machine this new.
  • The short, narrow footprint is tippy across a side slope and bouncy at travel speed, and the cab is tight enough that taller operators complain their knees hit the door.
  • Pricing lands uncomfortably close to the bigger T64 frame, and plenty of buyers work through the numbers and conclude the extra few thousand for the larger machine is the better spend unless width is a hard constraint.

Drawn from skidsteerforum.com, bobcatcce.com.

What buyers ask

Can the T450 run a forestry mulcher?
No. There is no high-flow option for this machine, so you are stuck with 16.7 GPM and relief at the quick couplers of 3,250 psi. That is below what drum mulchers, cold planers and stump grinders need, and running one anyway just cooks the hydraulics slowly. If mulching is the plan, this is the wrong frame size entirely.
How many hours are too many on a used one?
Hours matter less than what they were. Most used T450s came out of rental fleets and were run hard by people who did not own them, so a 1,000-hour rental return can need more work than a 2,000-hour owner-operator machine. Prioritise maintenance records, fuel system history and a warm-up test over the hour meter. Machines around 1,000 hours have traded near $26,000 needing a full service.
Why does it take a minute to respond after starting?
If neither the drive nor the loader works for the first minute or two and then everything wakes up, that is usually not cold hydraulic oil. Owners have traced it to a failed check valve inside a fitting on the control valve, and the fix is removing that check. Five or six minutes of warm-up making no difference is the tell that it is mechanical rather than viscosity.
Will a half-ton truck tow it?
Marginally, and only with a light trailer and nothing else on board. At 6,424 lb bare plus a bucket and a trailer you are already near a half-ton's real limit, and adding a second attachment puts you over. Most owners doing this for a living end up with a three-quarter-ton anyway, but the T450 is at least the size where a dump trailer behind a heavy half-ton is a conversation rather than a fantasy.
T450 or the larger T64?
Take the T450 only if width is a hard requirement, because on price they are closer than the capability gap suggests. The T64 gives you meaningfully more rated capacity, a better ride, a roomier cab and a high-flow path for attachments. Buyers who do not have a gate to fit through almost always talk themselves into the bigger frame once they see both quotes.

Put the Bobcat T450 against

Bobcat S64-2Bobcat S66-2JCB 250T

Machines in the same range

The rest of the Bobcat line
Bobcat T595

Bobcat

Bobcat T595

$66,528

Vertical Lift · rubber tracks
2,200 lb rated35% of 6,000 lb
Engine
70 hp
Aux flow
17.1 GPM
Weight
7,906 lbs

A 70 hp vertical-lift track loader that fills the gap between the small T450 and the 74 hp T650 in Bobcat's Classic line. It is aimed at landscapers who need track flotation and vertical lift but do not want 650-frame weight or price.

Full sheet & owner reports
Bobcat T650

Bobcat

Bobcat T650

$74,564

Vertical Lift · rubber tracks
2,500 lb rated35% of 7,143 lb
Engine
74 hp
Aux flow
23 GPM
Weight
8,980 lbs

For over a decade the T650 anchored Bobcat's M-Series, and this mid-frame vertical-lift compact track loader now sells as a value-priced Classic model. With a 74 hp non-DPF diesel and 2,500 lb rated capacity, it's one of the most common CTLs on American jobsites and in rental fleets.

Full sheet & owner reports
Bobcat T64-2

Bobcat

Bobcat T64-2

$74,735

Vertical Lift · rubber tracks
2,300 lb rated35% of 6,571 lb
Engine
68 hp
Aux flow
17.6 GPM
Weight
8,440 lbs

Smallest of Bobcat's Pro track loaders, with 68 hp, 2,300 lb of rated capacity on the solid undercarriage and the full Pro cab and control package. It is for operators who want the -2 platform's tech in the lightest tracked frame it comes in.

Full sheet & owner reports