Bobcat T76-2

Bobcat's largest 74 hp track loader sits at the top of the Pro line below the 115 hp T86-2, and owners talk about it less as a dirt machine than as an attachment carrier that happens to load trucks well. The vertical-lift geometry and 128-inch hinge pin height are the reason it gets specified over the radial-lift options, and the DPF-free engine is the reason mulching and land-clearing crews stay loyal to it - one fewer aftertreatment system to plug up in a machine that lives inside its own debris cloud.

Cab quality is the strong point: sealed and pressurised against dust, quiet, and with visibility that reviewers rated as excellent even with brush screens fitted. The standard torsion-suspension undercarriage is the other thing operators notice immediately, because it takes the sting out of rough ground in a way solid-mounted undercarriages do not. What breaks is predictable and mostly self-inflicted - final drive motors on this family fail because hub bearing oil went unchecked past 500 hours or because the inline case drain filter was never replaced, which backs pressure into the motor and eventually mixes gear oil with hydraulic oil. Cab access for anything deeper than the rear swing-out door means tilting the whole cab, and that is a two-person job.

It is worth the money if you run attachments hard, need vertical lift into high-sided trucks, and value not having a DPF more than you value horsepower per dollar. At around $96,000 published it is priced against machines that offer more engine, and the -2 electronics are unproven enough that a cautious buyer should look hard at a late-run previous-generation T76 at a discount. Before signing, confirm which high-flow circuit the build carries, get the case drain filter and final drive oil intervals written into the service plan, and ask the dealer what their loaner situation is - this machine's diagnostics increasingly need their laptop.