Caterpillar
Cat 262D3
The bright segment is what Cat 262D3 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.
Caterpillar publishes no list price for this machine, and we found no dealer listing worth quoting, so there is no number here to give you. What we can say is what the machines around it cost: the middle half of the 14 wheeled machines within 15 per cent of its capacity list between $60,493 and $68,000. That is a fact about them, not a quote for this one.
The largest of the outgoing D3 wheeled machines at 2,700 lb rated, on the same 74 hp C3.3B as the two below it. The next-generation 260 replaces it, so it is a stock machine rather than a current one.
Suits: Pallet and material handling at 2,700 lb without stepping up to the next-generation frame Its vertical lift path reaches highest at full extension, for loading high-sided trucks and stacking.
Lifting and reach
- Rated operating capacityWheeled rating convention
- 2,700 lbs
- Tipping load
- 5,400 lbs
- Lift height to hinge pin
- 124.9 in
- Lift path
- Vertical Lift
- Operating weight
- 8,296 lbs
Power and hydraulics
- Engine power
- 74 hp
- Engine
- Cat C3.3B DIT
- Auxiliary flowStandard circuit
- 23 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.
What owners of the same hardware report
Nobody has written up this exact machine yet, so this is drawn from reports on the machines that share its hardware — the model it replaced, a sibling on the same platform, or the same machine sold under another badge. The prose says which in each case. It is accurate about the iron rather than about this particular model.
Capacity is what moves buyers up to this one. At 2,700 lb rated it carries 500 lb more than the 242D3 and 246D3 below it while running the same 74 hp engine, which makes it the pallet-and-material machine of the outgoing D3 wheeled trio rather than a faster or more powerful one. Masonry suppliers, landscape yards and farms tend to be the buyers.
The D3 version itself has not been written up at length by anyone who runs one, but the 262D and 272D it descends from have been, and the picture is of a capable machine with a couple of specific irritations. Owners rate the cab, and the D3 update widened the doors and opened up the space around the controls further. The complaints are consistent and worth pricing in: a wiring harness design on the earlier machines where one fault meant replacing the whole loom, a load noise from the left underside that operators were told came from the drive chains, and a radio mounted somewhere you cannot comfortably reach. Wheel speed sensor codes turn up on D3 units and need a proper wiring diagram to chase.
Buy this one if you are handling palletised material at the top of what a mid-frame wheeled machine can do and you want a Cat dealer behind it. Before signing, weigh your trailer honestly against 8,296 lb, confirm whether the unit has the XPS hydraulic package if attachments are in the plan, and on a used machine ask specifically about harness and sensor history. Then get a quote on the next-generation 260 as well, because the only reason to choose the outgoing machine is a discount large enough to be worth the shortening support tail.
What owners like
- 2,700 lb rated is the most of the three outgoing D3 wheeled machines, and it gets there on the same 74 hp C3.3B, so a mixed fleet keeps one engine to service and stock filters for.
- High Flow XPS at 32 gpm and 4,061 psi is available here, which is the pressure tier that planers, mulching heads and brooms are specified against.
- Vertical lift to 124.9 in at the pin clears the sides of a tandem truck, which is the job this frame size mostly gets bought for.
- The D3 cab picked up 15 percent more space between the controls and 40 percent wider doors over the machine before it, and the sealed, pressurized cab option is worth having anywhere dusty.
- Running gear is conventional and serviceable: 100HS continuous roller chains and 12x16.5 tyres, both of which a local shop can deal with rather than a dealer.
- The used market is deep and well documented, with machines listed everywhere from under 700 hours to past 3,300, so you can actually shop on condition and history instead of taking what is available.
What owners complain about
- 8,296 lb is past what most half-ton and many three-quarter-ton setups should be towing, so the real cost of this machine includes the trailer and possibly the truck.
- Owners of the 262D and 272D generation flag a single primary wiring harness design where a fault in one circuit meant replacing the entire harness. Cat addressed it, but on a used machine it is worth establishing which side of that change the unit falls on.
- Operators who put early hours on the 272D beside it report a loud noise under heavy load from beneath the left side, attributed to the drive chains, and it is the kind of noise that is hard to un-hear once you notice it.
- The radio sits behind the operator's left shoulder on this cab generation, which owners describe as genuinely awkward to reach while working.
- Wheel speed sensor faults show up on these machines, and the diagnostic path needs the right wiring diagram rather than guesswork.
- It is the outgoing generation. The next-generation 260 replaces it and the 250 replaces the 242D3, so the whole D3 wheeled trio is now stock rather than current line.
Drawn from skidsteerforum.com, hawthornecat.com, heavyequipmentforums.com, constructionequipmentguide.com.
What buyers ask
Is the 262D3 too heavy to tow with a normal pickup?
What is the difference between the 262D3 and the next-generation 260?
Does the 262D3 have high flow hydraulics?
What breaks on these?
What does a 262D3 cost?
Put the Cat 262D3 against
Machines in the same range
The rest of the Caterpillar line
Caterpillar
Cat 226D3
$46,000
- Engine
- 67 hp
- Aux flow
- 18 GPM
- Weight
- 5,849 lbs
Caterpillar's entry-level small-frame radial-lift wheeled skid steer, the 226D3 is a lightweight, agile machine popular with rental fleets, homeowners, and light-duty contractors who value the Cat dealer network.
Full sheet & owner reports
Caterpillar
Cat 250
$60,493
- Engine
- 74 hp
- Aux flow
- 20 GPM
- Weight
- 7,829 lbs
Launched in late 2024 alongside the 260 and 270, the Cat 250 is the entry point to Caterpillar's next-generation wheeled skid steer line. The C2.8T engine delivers 74 hp with peak power held across a wide RPM range, and its 124-inch lift height is 3 inches taller than the outgoing D3 machines it supersedes.
Full sheet & owner reports
Caterpillar
Cat 260
$67,909
- Engine
- 74 hp
- Aux flow
- 20 GPM
- Weight
- 8,523 lbs
Anyone replacing a 262D3 wheeled skid steer gets the direct next-generation answer here. The Cat 260 lifts 3,160 lbs to a 132-inch pin height - both meaningful gains over the D3 - and pairs the 74 hp C2.8T with High Flow XPS hydraulics up to 34 GPM in Cat's new sealed, pressurized cab.
Full sheet & owner reports