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Skid Steer and Track Loader Rental in Amarillo, TX
A skid steer is a compact loader that turns by driving the wheels or tracks on one side faster than the other, and in Amarillo the first choice is tires or tracks, settled by the ground and the load. ASV's examples show the difference. Its wheeled RS-75 rides on 12 x 16.5 in. tires and lists a rated operating capacity of 2,600 lb at 50 percent of tipping load, while its RT-65-1C track loader weighs 7,405 lb and runs at what ASV calls "a low 4.2 psi ground pressure." Rated operating capacity, the load a maker says the machine should carry, is printed at 35 or 50 percent of tipping load, and ASV prints both for one model, so compare like with like. Slowly permeable clay, feedyards, farms and winter snow all shape the pick here. Below are the sizes, national rates, the OSHA rules and what our quote needs from you.
$200 to $600 a day for a skid-steer loader, national (Angi, updated July 2026) · full pricing guide
Skid-steer loaders come two ways. A wheeled machine runs on tires: ASV's RS-75 weighs 7,595 lb and rides on 12 x 16.5 in. wheels. A compact track loader, or CTL, carries the same lift arms on rubber tracks. ASV's RT-40 weighs 4,175 lb with 931 lb of rated capacity at 35 percent and 3.5 psi of ground pressure, the RT-65-1C weighs 7,405 lb and reaches up to 9.1 mph, and the large example, ASV's RT-135 Forestry, weighs 12,990 lb at 4.6 psi. Caterpillar says its track loaders are "well suited for general construction, landscaping, agriculture, snow removal and other applications." A bucket covers grading, backfill and loading; one price guide names pallet forks, snow blowers and augers as attachments that change the job and the bill.
The newest rates we found are national and broad. Angi, updated July 2026, lists a skid-steer loader at $200 to $600 per day, and HomeGuide's yard-grading guide (January 2026) lists $200 to $550 a day and $750 to $1,300 a week. A national rental marketplace's guide, last updated November 8, 2023, splits the types: wheeled machines at $200-$450 a day, $600-$1,000 a week and $1,200-$3,500 a month, and tracked machines at $300-$500 a day, $700-$1,500 a week and $2,000-$4,000 a month. It adds that pallet forks, snow blowers and augers generally cost extra. Another marketplace's 2026 guides for excavators, backhoes and dozers price a damage waiver at 10-15% on top of the rate. Texas taxes a bare rental under the Comptroller's Rule 3.294, the waiver and delivery charges included, and the combined rate inside Amarillo is 8.25 percent. The Amarillo cost page lines up every machine.
Three federal rules ride on a loader. Under 29 CFR 1926.1000, OSHA's rollover protective structure (ROPS) subpart covers "rubber-tired skid-steer equipment" manufactured after July 15, 2019 and used in construction, and each ROPS must carry a label naming its maker and the machines it fits. Under 29 CFR 1926.602(a)(2)(i), seat belts are provided on the earthmoving equipment the section covers, a list that names loaders, and under 29 CFR 1926.602(a)(9)(ii) a machine with a blocked rear view may back up only with a working reverse alarm or a person signaling. Digging counts too: Texas Utilities Code section 251.002(5) names auguring in its definition of excavating, so post holes that go down 16 or more inches need the 811 call two business days ahead, made by us or by you before the first hole.
Loader work around Amarillo follows cattle, crops and weather. The City of Hereford says the town "feeds more than 1 million head of cattle annually within its nearby feed yards," and our Hereford page covers work there. Rain is the weather to watch on clay: the USDA's Bushland laboratory calls the Pullman subsoil dense and very slowly permeable, playa-floor soils of the Randall series are "frequently ponded for very long periods in most years," and in late May and early June 2023 the National Weather Service logged monthly totals of 6 to 14 inches at many locations. Snow is the other season. On soft ground, compare ASV's published ground pressures; our Amarillo weather and ground data has the local records.
A loader quote starts with what the machine will move or dig, the ground it will run on (turf, gravel, wet clay, a slope), whether you need a bucket alone or forks, an auger or a snow blower, the address and the rental period. The written quote costs nothing and names wheels or tracks, the rate period, delivery and pickup, each attachment, the damage waiver and the tax lines. Each rental ships with its maker's operating information. If the job turns into digging below what a loader reaches, look at excavator rental; for loading trucks or moving bigger buckets of material, compare our backhoe and wheel loader page.
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ASV Loader Examples: Weight, Capacity, Ground Pressure
Four ASV models, three on tracks and one on tires, show how weight, rated operating capacity and ground pressure change across the class. ASV prints capacity at 35 or 50 percent of tipping load, so each cell says which.
| Example model | Type | Operating weight | Rated operating capacity | Ground pressure or tires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASV RT-40 | Compact track loader, small | 4,175 lb | 931 lb at 35% of tipping load | 3.5 psi |
| ASV RT-65-1C | Compact track loader, mid-size | 7,405 lb | 2,000 lb at 35%; 2,857 lb at 50% | 4.2 psi |
| ASV RT-135 Forestry | Compact track loader, large | 12,990 lb | not recorded | 4.6 psi |
| ASV RS-75 | Wheeled loader (skid-steer) | 7,595 lb | 2,600 lb at 50% | 12 x 16.5 in. tires |
ASV's published figures for each model. The capacity on a job is the maker's rating for the setup and attachment in use. The four models illustrate the class and are not a list of what we rent out; "not recorded" means we did not take that figure from ASV's page.
When the Work Calls for a Compact Loader, on Wheels or Tracks
These conditions point to a compact loader rather than a shovel, a farm tractor or a full-size loader, and some point to tracks rather than tires. Each one is visible on the site before you call, and a few of them bring a rule with them.
- Material has to be scooped, carried and dumped in short trips, such as backfill, spoil, gravel or snow, in spaces too tight for a full-size loader.
- The ground is soft or wet clay, where the ground-pressure figure on a track loader's spec page becomes the number to compare.
- Pallets need moving across a yard or onto a trailer, a job for pallet forks, which one price guide says generally cost extra.
- Fence posts or footings need holes 16 or more inches deep, which Texas law counts as excavating and which needs an 811 call first.
- Snow has to come off a lot or a drive, one of the uses Caterpillar lists for its compact track loaders.
- The work is construction and the machine is a rubber-tired skid-steer loader built after July 15, 2019, so OSHA's rollover protection subpart covers it.
Rated Operating Capacity: Reading a Loader's Lift Number
Rated operating capacity tells you how much a loader should carry, and makers do not print it the same way. Caterpillar labels it on its skid-steer and compact track loader pages as "50% of tip load," the tipping load being the weight in the bucket at which the machine starts to tip forward. ASV prints both conventions on its RT-65-1C page: "Rated Operating Capacity @ 35%" of 2,000 lb and "Rated Operating Capacity @ 50%" of 2,857 lb, from a "Tipping Load" of 5,714 lb. Its smaller RT-40 lists 931 lb at 35 percent, and its wheeled RS-75 lists 2,600 lb at 50 percent.
One machine can therefore show two capacity numbers in print, and a 35 percent figure from one maker and a 50 percent figure from another are not comparable until they share a basis. When you compare quotes or spec sheets, ask which percentage the capacity uses. Weight matters twice: once for the load in the bucket and once for the trailer, since ASV's three track-loader examples run from 4,175 lb (RT-40) to 12,990 lb (RT-135 Forestry). A full bucket of wet clay, a pallet of block or a load of fence posts is the weight to check against the rating before the machine is chosen.
OSHA's Rollover, Seat Belt and Backup Alarm Rules on a Loader
Three federal OSHA provisions decide what a loader working in construction must have. The rollover protective structure subpart, 29 CFR 1926.1000(a), lists rubber-tired front-end loaders, crawler tractors and crawler-type loaders among the machines it covers, and a later sentence brings in "compactors and rubber-tired skid-steer equipment, with or without attachments," manufactured after July 15, 2019 and used in construction. Paragraph (c) requires that material handling machinery made on or after that date be equipped with rollover protective structures meeting the performance standards in section 1926.1001(c). Paragraph (e) requires each ROPS to carry a permanent label with the maker's or fabricator's name and address, the ROPS model number if any, and the machine make, model or series it was designed to fit; that label is the first thing to read at delivery.
Section 1926.602 lists loaders among its earthmoving equipment, requires seat belts that meet SAE J386-1969 on all equipment it covers, and bars backing a machine with an obstructed rear view unless a reverse signal alarm can be heard over the surrounding noise or a worker signals. A rented loader that will work on a construction site should be checked against all three before it moves. The text of 29 CFR 1926.602 and the rollover subpart are short and worth reading in full.
Wet Clay, Snow and Feedyards: Loader Days on the High Plains
The High Plains around Amarillo hands a loader three kinds of hard days. The first is wet clay. Pullman soils, large in extent by the USDA's rating, run 35 to 50 percent clay below the surface with slow permeability, playas fill primarily with rainfall, and water drains through cracks in their clay linings that, Texas Parks and Wildlife says, "eventually swell shut" once wet. The Weather Service's record for 24 hours is 7.25 inches on July 7-8, 2010, and in early June 2023 water escaped the full Lawrence Lake and flooded streets. The second is snow: the 1991-2020 normals give Amarillo 17.2 inches a year, the record for 24 hours is 20.6 inches on March 25-26, 1934, and the March 1957 blizzard left 30 ft drifts in the Texas Panhandle by the Weather Service's count.
The third is scale. The Texas Cattle Feeders Association says Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico market approximately six million fed cattle annually, over 25% of the nation's fed cattle production, and that a typical feedyard employs 30 people. West Texas A&M reported in November 2025 that it had broken ground on an "innovative, $15 million research feedlot complex" with 90 10-head pens and 40 70-head pens near the Nance Ranch, about seven miles east of Canyon, with feedlot construction expected later in 2026; our Canyon and Randall County page follows it. Tracks, attachments and the rental period all follow from which of these days the job brings.
Tires or Tracks: Choosing a Wheeled Loader or a CTL
Decide wheels or tracks first, then size. The marketplace guides separate the two types, and ASV's pages give each machine's weight, rated operating capacity and, for its track loaders, ground pressure. Read the capacity at the same percentage of tipping load on every machine you compare.
Wheeled skid-steer loader
ASV's RS-75 weighs 7,595 lb, rides on 12 x 16.5 in. tires and lists 2,600 lb of rated operating capacity at 50 percent of tipping load. The marketplace guide updated in 2023 prices wheeled machines at $200-$450 a day and $600-$1,000 a week. Wheels fit paved lots, slabs and firm, dry yards.
Compact track loader
ASV's RT-65-1C weighs 7,405 lb and rates 2,000 lb at 35 percent or 2,857 lb at 50 percent of its 5,714 lb tipping load, at 4.2 psi. The same guide prices tracked machines at $300-$500 a day and $700-$1,500 a week. Tracks fit wet clay, slopes and grading on soft ground.
Small or large track loader
ASV's RT-40 is the small end at 4,175 lb, 931 lb at 35 percent and 3.5 psi; its RT-135 Forestry is the large end at 12,990 lb and 4.6 psi. Size the machine to the heaviest bucket or pallet it must carry. The marketplace's own size example, as printed, says "a 1,000-pound skid loader might only cost $250 a day, while a 1,900-pound track loader runs upward of $350."
Then pick the period. The marketplace's monthly rows run $1,200-$3,500 for wheeled machines and $2,000-$4,000 for tracked ones, so a winter of snow work prices off a different column than a one-day cleanup. The quote names the period you choose.
Skid Steer and Track Loader Rental FAQs
What is the difference between a skid steer and a track loader?
The undercarriage. The wheeled machine runs on tires, while a compact track loader puts the same lift arms on rubber tracks. ASV's wheeled RS-75 rides on 12 x 16.5 in. tires; its three track-loader examples list 3.5, 4.2 and 4.6 psi of ground pressure, the figure to compare on wet clay and soft ground. In one national marketplace's guide, updated in 2023, tracked machines list at $300-$500 a day against $200-$450 for wheeled ones.
How much does it cost to rent a Bobcat for a day in Amarillo?
Most people who say Bobcat mean any make of skid-steer loader. Angi, updated July 2026, puts one at $200 to $600 per day nationally, and HomeGuide's January 2026 guide lists $200 to $550 a day or $750 to $1,300 a week. Both are national figures. Forks or an auger, the haul to your site, the waiver and the sales tax Texas charges on a bare rental are separate lines in the written quote we send.
How much weight can a skid steer lift?
Its rated operating capacity sets the figure, and it depends on the model and on how the maker states it. ASV's RS-75 lists 2,600 lb at 50 percent of tipping load; its RT-40 track loader lists 931 lb at 35 percent; its RT-65-1C lists 2,000 lb at 35 percent or 2,857 lb at 50 percent. Caterpillar labels its ratings as 50 percent of tip load. Compare machines at the same percentage.
Do I have to call 811 before augering post holes with a skid steer?
Yes, if the holes go 16 or more inches deep. Texas Utilities Code section 251.002(5) lists auguring in its definition of excavating, and section 251.151 requires notice at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends and legal holidays, and no more than 14 days ahead. Texas811 says getting the lines marked costs you nothing. Under section 251.159, if digging damages a line, the excavator must report it to the line's operator immediately.
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