Kubota SSV65

Kubota's small wheeled skid steer is the one farmers and acreage owners buy when they want a Kubota dealer and a Kubota engine in a machine that will live in a shed for twenty years rather than get traded every three. The pitch is the cab - a slide-up overhead door that works with the arms at any height, wide glass, real legroom - plus a 121.5-inch hinge pin that is tall for a 7,055 lb machine and the absence of any urea aftertreatment, because 64 hp sits under the line where DEF becomes mandatory.

In service the drivetrain is the strong part and the electronics are the soft part. Owners describe the maintenance as straightforward, with accessible filters, fluids that drain through existing hoses and grease points people actually reach. What they get stuck on is a documented 5-volt reference failure inside the ECU on 2017-2018 machines that knocks out the throttle dial, the auxiliary thumbwheel and the hydraulic pressure sensor at the same time and ends in a control-unit replacement, with a service manual whose connector numbering has sent people down wrong paths. Alternator belts have failed as early as around 150 hours on more than one unit. Cold weather brings its own list: the two-speed refuses high range until the hydraulic oil warms, which takes about ten minutes and longer as the temperature drops, and the door locks freeze.

Say yes if the work is loading, feeding, moving pallets and snow around a farm or a small property, if the nearest good dealer is a Kubota dealer, and if avoiding a DEF system matters to you. It prices below a comparably equipped Bobcat or Cat small frame, and the financing terms are often the deciding factor. Before signing, read the 1,950 lb rated capacity correctly - it is a 50% figure and does not compare to the 35% numbers on track loaders - plan on a block heater if you work below freezing, and on a used unit ask specifically whether the machine has had ECU or electrical work, because that is the repair that costs real money here.