Skid Steer Attachments — The Shop Behind The Attachment
Every contractor and farmer with a skid steer has a shed full of skid steer attachments that see hard weekly use — grapple buckets, pallet forks, tree shears, brush cutters, augers, snow pushers, trenchers, and rotary brooms. Every one of those attachments has hydraulic cylinders, hoses, couplers, mounting plates, and wear parts that eventually fail. Ames Hydraulics is where those failures get fixed. We do not sell new skid steer attachments — we service and repair the ones you already own, and we fabricate custom skid steer attachments for jobs the stock catalog does not cover.
What We Do With Skid Steer Attachments
- Hydraulic hose replacement — factory-length or custom-length hoses on any skid steer attachment. Same-day for common sizes; day-out for less common ends.
- Cylinder rebuild — grapple cylinders, tree shear cylinders, dump cylinders, tilt cylinders, angle cylinders, blade lift cylinders. Ship in the cylinder or bring the whole attachment.
- Custom fabrication — need a low-profile bucket, an oversized grapple, a specialty forestry attachment, or a one-off tool that Bobcat and CAT do not make? We fabricate to your drawing or draw it with you.
- Quick-attach retrofits — universal quick-attach mounts welded to older attachments so they fit any modern skid steer, and custom mount conversions for attachments that came off a compact tractor or a compact wheel loader.
- Auxiliary hydraulic upgrades — high-flow line kits, case-drain conversions for hydraulic motors, and pressure-line rerouting for tight-clearance attachments.
- Coupler and fitting swaps — flat-face, ISO, and JIC couplers all in stock; conversions from one style to another are a daily job here.
Common Skid Steer Attachments We See Weekly
The weekly service load on skid steer attachments at Ames Hydraulics runs the same list every week:
- Grapple buckets — bent grapple arms, weeping cylinder seals, broken pivot pins, hose chafe damage
- Pallet forks — bent tines, cracked backing plates, mount conversions from older brands to universal quick-attach
- Tree shears — blade sharpening and replacement, cylinder rebuild, mount reinforcement
- Snow pushers and pusher boxes — cutting edge replacement, side-plate reinforcement, hydraulic angle kit installs
- Augers — motor rebuild, drive shaft replacement, hex-to-round bit adapter fabrication
- Brush cutters and rotary mowers — motor rebuild, gearbox oil service, deck welding after strikes
- Trenchers and vibratory plows — chain replacement, tooth pattern change, hydraulic motor rebuild
- Angle blades and dozer blades — cylinder rebuild, cutting edge replacement, welded reinforcement at high-stress points
- Sweeper and rotary broom — bristle replacement, motor rebuild, water-tank plumbing repair
- Hydraulic breakers and hammers — chisel replacement, tie rod service, seal-set rebuild
Custom-Fabricated Skid Steer Attachments
Stock skid steer attachments cover the common jobs. Real customers have uncommon jobs. What we have built over the last several years for central Iowa customers:
- Extra-wide grapple bucket for landscape debris pickup at a golf course
- Narrow-profile forks for warehouse in-and-out where the standard fork was too wide
- Custom mounting frames to make a compact tractor 3-point implement work on a skid steer
- Rock-and-boulder tine bucket for a farm operation clearing new field acres
- Silage-fork attachment for a livestock operation, sized to their bunker geometry
- Grain-spear attachment for handling silage bags without puncturing
- Rear-mount tow hitch adapters for pulling trailers on private property
Every custom skid steer attachments job starts with a drawing conversation — sometimes at our shop, sometimes at your yard. We size the mount plate, the cylinders, the hoses, and the working geometry against the actual skid steer that will run it and the actual job it needs to do.
Quick-Attach Retrofit Work
Older skid steer attachments — from before universal quick-attach standardized around 2000 — often have proprietary mounts from Bobcat, Case, or Deere. Universal quick-attach plates can be welded onto those older attachments so they work on any modern machine. This is one of the highest-value repair jobs we do because it lets the customer buy used skid steer attachments cheap and put them on any brand of machine. Turn is usually two to three days.
Hydraulic Line Failures On Skid Steer Attachments
Hoses on skid steer attachments fail from three causes: chafe against the machine or the ground, kink from a hard swing, and internal age. Chafe damage shows up as a wear spot on the outside of the hose that eventually cuts through. Kink shows up as a permanent crimp with a leak at the fitting. Internal age shows up as a random blow-out on a hot day with no external damage. All three are fixable — we cut the hose, crimp new ends, and pressure-test before you leave the shop. Bring the failed hose or the whole attachment.
Auxiliary Hydraulic Upgrades
Newer high-flow attachments — big brush cutters, cold planers, larger stump grinders — need high-flow auxiliary hydraulics from the skid steer. Older skid steers can sometimes be upgraded to high-flow with a pump swap and a case-drain line kit. We do this work regularly. It is not cheap but it saves the cost of a new machine when the current machine has plenty of life left.
Ship-In and Local Skid Steer Attachments Service
Central Iowa customers bring the whole attachment or the whole machine and we work through it in our bay. Out-of-state customers ship the cylinder or the failed hose to our Ames shop; we rebuild it and ship it back. Fleet accounts get standing PO service — one call, one invoice, whatever service the attachment needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you sell new skid steer attachments?
Not new attachments off a catalog — we are the service and fabrication shop, not a dealer. If you need a completely new attachment, we point you at the right dealer. If you need a custom, we fabricate.
Can you weld a universal quick-attach onto my older attachment?
Yes. Very common job. Bring the attachment, we measure the mount, cut the plate, and weld it on. Two to three days.
Do you rebuild cylinders from any brand of skid steer attachments?
Yes — every brand. The cylinder is the cylinder; the mount and the geometry are what change. Ship in the cylinder or bring the whole attachment.
How long does hose replacement take?
Same-day for common sizes and ends. Day-out for less common configurations. Bring the machine or bring just the hose.
Can you convert an attachment from one brand’s mount to another?
Yes. Both directions — Bobcat to universal, Deere to universal, universal to Bobcat, and so on. Common job.
Related Iowa Hydraulic Repair Services
- For grader-blade attachment repair and custom fabrication, see box blade repair and fabrication.
- For fuel transfer tanks that run alongside your machine, see our auxiliary fuel tank fab.
- For the machine itself and travel motor work, see skid steer final drive repair.
- For full-machine skid steer service, see our skid steer repair near me.
- For pumps, cylinders, and hoses on any machine, see Ames hydraulic shop.