Skid Steer Attachments

Heavy Duty Skid Steer Attachments: What Is On This Page

All 76 attachments in this collection come from four manufacturers: Loflin Fabrication with 41 items, Star Industries with 19, Apex Hoppers with 11 and Vestil with 5. Listed prices span $3 to $12,923, so a small part and a full brush cutter share the same grid — compare grapple to grapple and hopper to hopper rather than across the page.

The lineup falls into five groups: grapples and grapple buckets, plain buckets, brush cutters, ground-engaging tools such as the Star Industries 130-72 power rake and the Star Industries trencher, and material hoppers. The decision usually comes down to three things — what the material is, how much hydraulic flow your loader produces, and how much weight you can hang off the front without losing stability.

Skid Steer Grapple Attachments: Root, Rock and Bucket Styles

A grapple attachment is a bucket, tine frame or fork set with hydraulic clamp arms that close on the load, so the machine holds brush, rock, pipe or demolition debris instead of only scooping it. Within the grapples, the real choice is about what you want to fall through.

• Root grapples — spaced tines that let dirt and fines sift out while holding roots, stumps and brush. Loflin Fabrication offers standard duty, medium duty, xtra heavy duty and vertical versions, plus the Monster Root Grapple; Star Industries lists a Root Grapple Bucket. This is the tool people mean when they search for a root bucket for a skid steer.
• Rock grapples — heavier tine and frame sections for sorting rock and rubble, such as the Loflin Fabrication Xtra Heavy Duty Rock Grapple Bucket.
• Grapple buckets — a closed bucket with clamp arms, for jobs that mix loose material and bulky debris. The demolition-grade Star Industries 175DG-72 is specified at 72 inches wide, 39 inches deep, 24 cubic feet and 1,090 lbs of attachment weight.
• Stump buckets — the Loflin Fabrication Skid Steer Stump Bucket Grapple pairs a narrow digging profile with a clamp for prying and lifting stumps.

Anyone searching for a front end loader grapple bucket should check the coupler first. The Loflin units here list a universal quick attach system, the common skid steer plate; a tractor loader needs that plate or an adapter.

Brush Cutters, Power Rakes and Trenchers: Match Hydraulic Flow First

Hydraulically driven attachments only work if your loader's auxiliary circuit delivers the flow they were built for. Our product data gives a range for each unit, and that is the number to compare against your machine's data plate:

• Star Industries 195-72 brush cutter — 72-inch cutting width, cuts up to 6 inches, 16 to 26 GPM, three bi-directional AR400 steel blades, a Parker hydraulic motor, a 100-hp gearbox and a 994 lb net weight.
• Star Industries trencher — digs to 48 inches with a 15-inch auger, 20 to 30 GPM, 900 lbs, in models 131-48C, 131-48D and 131-48R with combo, dirt, or rock and frost chains.
• Loflin Fabrication brush cutters — open-front and closed-front decks in 60 and 72 inch working widths, quarter-inch reinforced steel decks, direct drive through a heat-treated forged steel axle, geroller-style motors and bi-directional forged blades. Open-front discharges as it cuts; closed-front directs debris into a mulched pile.
• Star Industries 130-72 power rake — 72 inches wide, 450 lbs, carbide teeth and a floating design for grading and surface prep.

Two mistakes are common. One is running a high-flow tool on a standard-flow loader: the blades turn, but the cutter bogs in heavy material. The other is ignoring case drain — most high-torque motors need that line, and a loader without it plumbed will build pressure in the motor housing.

Hoppers: 5 Yard Hoppers and Smaller Sizes

Hoppers move loose material — spoil, scrap, waste, aggregate — that would otherwise take several bucket trips. Apex Hoppers volumes and rated capacities in this collection:

Vestil and Star Industries also list hoppers here, including the Star Industries Trash and Waste Hopper and the Vestil Skid Steer Hopper. Volume and weight limits are independent: a 5 cubic yard hopper loaded with wet or dense material can reach its 8,000 lb rating well before it looks full, so size on whichever limit you hit first.

Loader Capacity, Mounting and the 70/30 Rule

Attachment weight comes straight off your payload. SAE J818 defines rated operating capacity for skid steer loaders as half the tipping load, and that rating assumes a standard bucket — hang the 994 lb Star Industries 195-72 cutter or the 1,090 lb 175DG-72 grapple bucket on the same machine and both the added weight and the longer reach change what you can safely pick up.

Mounting is the other gate. Full-size attachments here list a universal quick attach plate. Mini skid steers use a smaller mount plate, and not every manufacturer uses the same one, so a full-size attachment will not bolt to a mini machine without an adapter — and even adapted, the mini loader's flow and lift capacity usually rule out the larger tools.

For lifting rather than carrying, the Vestil Hydraulic Skid Steer Boom extends the load away from the machine. Suspended loads swing and move the load center forward, which cuts effective capacity, so work to the boom and loader manufacturer's ratings, not the bucket rating. On construction sites, OSHA 1926.602 sets seat belt and general safety requirements for material handling equipment.

Buying Checklist and Upkeep

• Flow — compare your loader's auxiliary GPM and pressure to the attachment's stated range before ordering.
• Coupler — confirm your plate matches the universal quick attach used on these units.
• Weight — subtract attachment weight from rated operating capacity to get real payload.
• Wear parts — replaceable forged blades on the Loflin closed-front cutter, carbide teeth on the 130-72 power rake, three chain options on the trencher.
• Storage — Star Industries Auger Racks keep bits off the ground and organized.
• Daily checks — relieve hydraulic pressure before disconnecting couplers, grease pivot pins, check tine and cutting-edge wear, and confirm the quick attach pins are fully engaged before lifting.