Wacker Neuson
Wacker Neuson ST45
The bright segment is what Wacker Neuson ST45 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.
A 4,500 lb rated operating capacity and 134.8-inch hinge pin height come out of a 74.3 hp Kohler diesel with no DPF. The Wacker Neuson ST45 is a large-frame vertical-lift compact track loader built in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin - the proven Series-II platform positioned just below the 100 hp ST50 flagship.
Suits: Crews that need serious lift capacity and height but prefer the simpler 74 hp no-DPF powertrain Its vertical lift path reaches highest at full extension, for loading high-sided trucks and stacking.
Lifting and reach
- Rated operating capacityTrack loader rating convention
- 4,500 lbs
- Tipping loadDerived from the advertised capacity, not published
- 8,999.3 lbs
- Lift height to hinge pin
- 134.8 in
- Lift path
- Vertical Lift
- Operating weight
- 10,315 lbs
Power and hydraulics
- Engine power
- 74 hp
- Engine
- Kohler KDI 2,504
- Auxiliary flowStandard circuit
- 22.1 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 report
Summarised from the sources listed below. Nothing here was tested by us.
Large-frame lift without the emissions hardware is the argument, and it is a good one. Everything above this machine in the range moves to selective catalytic reduction and diesel exhaust fluid, so if you want a 10,000 lb-class loader that never asks for a fluid top-up or a regeneration cycle, this is where the line stops.
What it is not is a more powerful ST37. The spec sheet is unusually candid about that: this machine has slightly less bucket breakout force and slightly less standard auxiliary flow than the smaller model below it, while carrying 1,253 lbs more weight and an extra six inches of hinge pin height. It is a lifting and placing machine - 4,500 lbs at the 50 percent basis, 9,000 lbs of tipping load, a 44-degree dump angle and a 50-gallon tank. The 74 hp comes from the larger Kohler 3404 block turning slower than the 2504 does in the small machines, which suits that duty. Two things to plan around are the 78-inch width and the 27-degree departure angle, which is the shallowest in the line.
Placing heavy material on open sites - block, sod, pallets, hoppers - is the job it fits, rather than dozing or mulching all day. Before signing, confirm the dealer's diagnostic capability given how little fault-code documentation is published, check your trailer ramp angle against that 27-degree departure, and decide honestly whether you want the ST37's extra breakout and flow instead of this machine's extra height.
What owners like
- It is the largest machine in the range that stays completely free of diesel exhaust fluid and filter regeneration. The 74 hp here comes from the bigger Kohler KDI 3404 running a passive oxidation catalyst with exhaust gas recirculation - the same simplicity as the small machines, in a 10,267 lb frame.
- Because that 74 hp comes from the larger 3404 block at 2,500 rpm rather than the 2504 at 2,750, the engine is doing the same work less strenuously than it does in the lighter models - a quieter argument for this machine than the spec sheet makes.
- A 134.8-inch hinge pin with a 44-degree dump angle is proper truck-loading geometry, and the 44 degrees is shared only with the ST50 above it.
- Rated 4,500 lbs at 50 percent of tipping load and 3,150 lbs at 35 percent, on a 9,000 lb tipping load, which is genuine large-frame lift - it forklifts pallets of block and sod that mid-frames decline.
- The 50-gallon fuel tank is nearly double the ST27's and matches the flagship, so a full day's work does not include a fuel stop.
- Kohler's 4-year, 4,000-hour engine warranty sits on top of the 2-year, 2,000-hour machine warranty, which puts the longest coverage on the most expensive part.
What owners complain about
- Stepping up from the ST37 buys size, not strength, and the spec sheet says so plainly: bucket breakout actually falls from 7,042 lbf on the ST37 to 6,941 lbf here, and standard auxiliary flow falls from 23 gpm to 22.1. You gain lift height and capacity and give up a little digging muscle and hydraulics.
- Seventy-four horsepower moving 10,267 lbs is tuned for lifting rather than dozing. Push hard into a pile for an hour and the missing 26 hp that the ST50 has is what you will be thinking about.
- Angle of departure is 27 degrees, the worst in the range by nearly three degrees. On steep trailer ramps and sharp break-overs the tail is the part that finds the ground first.
- At 78 inches wide it is fully committed to open sites - that is 14 inches wider than the ST31 and rules out the gate and side-yard access that draws people to this brand's smaller machines.
- The 4,500 lb headline is measured at 50 percent of tipping load where most brands use 35 percent, so it holds back less reserve than an equal number from a conservative maker. The honest comparison figures are 3,150 lbs, or the 9,000 lb tipping load.
- Owners report that machine fault codes are not published in plain language, with accounts of a dealer technician having to phone a code in for translation. On a machine of this size that is a real diagnostic cost when something goes wrong away from the yard.
- Dealer coverage for the brand's compact equipment is patchy across the US, and this is the size of machine where being two hours from support genuinely hurts.
Drawn from d12oqns8b3bfa8.cloudfront.net, wackerneuson.com, compactequip.com, skidsteerforum.com.
What buyers ask
Should I buy the ST45 or the smaller ST37?
Does the ST45 use DEF?
Is 74 hp enough for a 10,000 lb machine?
Will it fit through a standard gate?
How does the 4,500 lb rating compare with other brands?
Put the Wacker Neuson ST45 against
Machines in the same range
The rest of the Wacker Neuson line
Wacker Neuson
Wacker Neuson ST37
$76,000
- Engine
- 74 hp
- Aux flow
- 23 GPM
- Weight
- 9,014 lbs
Largest of Wacker Neuson's new uni-body generation of compact track loaders, the ST37 joined the line in 2024. Built in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, it combines a 74 hp no-DPF Kohler diesel, a 3,700 lb rated operating capacity, and just 4.3 psi ground pressure thanks to wide tracks spreading its 9,014 lb operating weight.
Full sheet & owner reports
Wacker Neuson
Wacker Neuson ST27
$69,000
- Engine
- 74 hp
- Aux flow
- 19.4 GPM
- Weight
- 7,350 lbs
The stiff uni-body frame design Wacker Neuson introduced in 2023 arrived on the ST27, the small-frame entry to its ST-series compact track loaders. Designed and built in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, it pairs a 74 hp Kohler diesel that needs no DPF with a 2,700 lb rated operating capacity and vertical lift path.
Full sheet & owner reports
Wacker Neuson
Wacker Neuson ST31
$67,000
- Engine
- 74 hp
- Aux flow
- 19.8 GPM
- Weight
- 8,241 lbs
Volume mid-frame model in Wacker Neuson's ST-series compact track loaders, the ST31 moved to the uni-body frame design in 2024. Built in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, it carries a 74 hp Kohler diesel with no DPF or DEF, a 3,100 lb rated operating capacity, and a vertical lift path with a 10-foot-8 hinge pin height.
Full sheet & owner reports