Yardmax YD8103 Track Barrow

I am a contractor with occasional need for a power buggy. I couldn't justify the cost of the real contractor grade buggies that carry 3x the load and have fully hydrostatic drive systems. I read the other reviews and expected the notchy gear shifting thing. It's a bit frustrating to fight the transmission, but it only slows me down a few seconds. I found that nudging the drive engagement level just a bit makes it drop into gear easily. This is an easy thing to learn in 5 minutes of working with it and well worth the cost savings over the smoother hydrostatic drive found on real contractor-grade machines. I find that 2nd and 3rd gear are plenty slow enough and throttling down for lower speed actually works better than downshifting. Even at near idle speed, the engine has plenty of power to move and dump. The hydraulic system will kill the engine at the end of the stroke so be ready to release the dump control lever at both ends of the stroke. The lift cylinder has more power than will ever be needed to dump whatever you can put in the bin and it goes up and down plenty fast even with the engine at idle. Steering is simple skid-steer by squeezing a brake lever on either handle. Squeeze it just a little and it disengages the drive, squeeze it a little more and it applies braking. With a little practice, it's easy to point it exactly where you need it to go. If you get scared maneuvering it, just let go. The machine will stop instantly and the brakes apply automatically so it won't roll down a hill. In fact, you can't push this thing at all. I haven't figured out a way to move it unless the engine is running. The tracks work great on lawns and cause almost no damage. You won't even be able to tell it was there 2 days later.I know products live and die by reviews so I considered 4 or 5 stars. The reasons I considered removing one are: 1) The handles vibrate quite a bit so after a few hours of work your hands get pretty sore. Better rubber isolators would be a nice improvement. 2) The exhaust from the engine blows directly onto the back of the bin. This will leave a distinct dark spot on the paint plus the noise echos right back to the operator. Extending the exhause pipe down so it blows the noise into the grass or farther out the side would help with both. 3) The previously mentioned engine kill by the hydraulics. It probably needs a hydraulic system relief valve added or it needs the valve adjusted to a lower relief pressure. 4) This seems odd to complain about, but the hydraulic lift is a little too fast for me. I would prefer a slightly smaller hydraulic pump to slow down the lift speed. This would also help with the engine stall issue.Reasons I didn't remove a star: 1) The engine, transmission, and tracks are very well matched for power and speed. Hills and rough terrain are no problem at all. 2) Hydraulic lift with the pivot point all the way at the front makes placement and dumping a zero effort deal for an old man with a bad back. 3) The notchy transmission is normal and expected at this price level. 4) The automatic braking and easy steering makes it very safe to operate.

My second one works great very heavy duty

The media could not be loaded. The YD8105 is working out great! We live in a fire prone area of western USA, with 6 acres of forest downslope from our driveway. Years of drought have killed many big trees, so we need to take them down and remove the fuel, but it's been a challenge.At first I was carrying the logs up the hill, one by one, to a place that I can access with my tractor. But the deeper I go into the forest, the further down the hill I'm working, and it's taking more and more effort and time to extract all that wood. The YD8105 is a total game changer.The shipping crate it came in was both clever and frustrating. There was a hole punched in it during transit, but no damage was done to the track barrow itself. Everything was fully assembled, just needed to add oil and gasoline and follow the starting instructions. It started on the second pull, and I drove it off of the pallet it came on.I am super impressed with how well it works on the slope. I'm still wary of going across a steep slope while heavily loaded, but up or down even at an angle it's rock solid with as much wood as I can fit in the bucket. Now each trip up the hill I'm moving 3x to 5x what I used to carry, with far less effort.The user documentation was good, though I got two different engine manuals and it's not clear which applies. The transmission is a bit rough — shifting gears is not at all reliable, but it's not something you do often. Also, the gas filler cap is inconveniently positioned. So I would give it 4½ stars if I could, but it's closer to 5 than 4 so 5 it is.Only time will tell how it holds up to heavy duty usage, but so far it seems quite rugged and well built.

The track barrow has the issues that are common to it (difficult to shift, leaking hydraulic fluid). Not a big deal. It makes up for it in power and convenience. It's well built. My problem is that the one that shipped over a month ago, Amazon returned due to damage. I re-ordered and received the next one a week earlier than expected. Nice, but now I'm still waiting on the refund for the first one over a month later! My $3300 is sitting in THEIR bank account doing me no good. The customer service link sends you through a self-help loop that doesn't solve anything either. My advice? Don't buy large ticket items from Amazon. They're not as trustworthy as I used to believe.

Well, after a lot a trial and error I finally resolved my problem. Unfortunately without the help of Yardmax tech support. After I Sussex out the problem I tried several times to contact them. As a last resort I went through the back door and got to tech via accounting. Guy was nice and was glad to get my feedback on a way to prevent the clutch problem. Offered to send parts. It’s a shame that they don’t have good customer support. They are short staffed. Good value product that still has some hurdles to make. Now that I have scoped out problem I am happy with the unit. Be glad to assist others with problems.