The Bobcat S550 is the perfect skid-steer loader for dumping over walls, backfilling or loaded flatbeds with ease and style.
Superior Lift ArmsChoice of Controls
Effective Weight Balance
Selectable Joystick Controls
Automatic Ride Control
HVO Ready
Premium Comfort
Improved Visibility
Seat Options and Adjustments
More Room
Pressurised CabGrease Point AccessHydraulic Oil Site GaugeTransverse Engine and Belt DriveChoice of tires
Uptime Protection
Simple Machine Tie-Downs
Keel-Shaped UndercarriagePower Bob-Tach
Bob-TachA tire is as much a choice of tool as an attachment — the wrong set costs you both fuel and time.
The most affordable tire in the Bobcat lineup — for low to medium intensity work on soft to intermediate surfaces.
Not intended for hard or abrasive surfaces: on asphalt and concrete tire life drops sharply.
The everyday all-rounder: it handles both the site and hard surfaces. Standard on R-Series machines.
The same tires, but the rim moves the wheel outboard — a wider stance. Extra stability where the work involves heavy attachments and slopes.
A reinforced tire for conditions that cut and tear an ordinary one: demolition, scrap, broken concrete, rebar.
There is no air inside at all, so there are no punctures — sites with nails, glass and rebar stop being a problem.
Heavier and stiffer than pneumatic tires: you feel it on longer moves.
A wide contact patch and low ground pressure — lawns, sand, peat, freshly graded ground.
Which of these is available on this particular machine is in the equipment table above.
The tire is inflated to the recommended pressure and mounted on a test rig: it rotates under a load representing machine weight while a surface made of steel saw blades moves side to side beneath it, reproducing turning motions on the most abrasive surface imaginable. The test runs until the tread is fully worn, measuring how much rubber is lost along the way. The laboratory replaces the field so that every sample meets identical conditions: terrain, weather and operator habits cannot distort the comparison.
This checks what wear testing cannot show: whether the tire carries its load on slopes as well as flat ground without deforming; whether it can foul any part of the machine in operation; whether it seats firmly on the recommended rim and stays put under high torque. This stage is what separates a Bobcat-approved tire from a generic off-the-shelf one of the same size.
How three generations of the Standard Duty tire compare in the same test, in revolutions to fully worn tread:
| First generation | 494 | |
|---|---|---|
| Second generation | 555 | +12 % vs. the first |
| Current generation | 618 | +11 % vs. the second, +25 % vs. the first |
| First generation | Second generation | Current generation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ply rating | 8 PR | 10 PR | 10 PR |
| Load capacity, kg | 1 875 | 2 120 | 2 135 |
| Pattern depth, mm | 17 | 17,5 | 19,5 |
| Overall width, mm | 277 | 260 | 260 |
| Overall diameter, mm | 766 | 768 | 773 |
Genuine Bobcat tires are backed by a 12-month prorated warranty.
Tire life on site varies with surface, duty cycle and operator habits. The figures quoted come from controlled laboratory tests run to Bobcat's standard internal method at the recommended tire pressure.
Source: Bobcat Standard Duty Tires
Factory builds by level. What each level includes is stated under its description.
A reliable base for everyday tasks: manual controls, a standard cab, bucket positioning, a deluxe panel and a backup alarm. Optional upgrades — tires, High Flow and a reversing fan — take on heavier work.
Base machine, manual controls, standard cab, bucket positioning, deluxe panel, backup alarm
Entry with joystick controls, two-speed travel and ride control. Options: High Flow, Power Bob-Tach and a reversing fan.
Entry plus joystick controls, two-speed travel, ride control
Joystick controls alongside heating, LED lights and a radio — for the operator who spends the whole day in the machine.
Comfort plus joystick controls, heating, LED lights, radio
The top level: joystick controls, HVAC and a cloth seat. High Flow and a reversing fan are optional.
Premium plus joystick controls, HVAC, cloth seat
A package is a factory build, not a set of dealer add-ons: the machine arrives already assembled to the chosen level. The individual options below can be added to any package.
Source: B4503470-EN (06-2025)
Broken down by stage of work — what the job consists of and what does each stage. What is available on this particular machine is in «Compatible attachments» below.
The five stages every site goes through — from ground nobody has touched in decades to a lawn that will be maintained for years. A wheeled machine wins on mobility: it moves quickly between points on site and spares the hard surfaces of the access roads, while tire choice covers soft ground.
Stumps, brush, self-seeded growth, construction debris. Remove everything unwanted without damaging what stays.
Pull out the big stones, break up the soil, bring it to level. The landscape rake picks up rocks from 19 mm while smoothing the surface; the grader blade is six-way with a reversible cutting edge and optional laser control. A mistake here shows up a season later as settlement.
Services, drainage, holes for posts and trees. The knuckle-joint auger holds vertical on any terrain and digs 30 cm deeper than standard units. The trencher puts pipe below the frost line in a single pass.
The seeder places seed at the right spacing and depth — germination is more even than broadcasting, and seed does not spread where it is not wanted. The soil conditioner follows the ground contour and prepares the bed for seeding or sodding.
The job does not end at handover: usually the same client asks you to maintain what you built — all year round. Swap the attachment and the machine turns from a build machine into a service machine.
Source: B4502790-EN (03-2024)
The full pavement repair cycle on one machine: strip the old surface, bring the base to level, clean, lay the new material, compact. A wheeled machine is in its element here — hard surfaces do not wear it, moves along the site are quick, and tire type is chosen for how abrasive the base is.
Removing pavement and cutting trenches through asphalt, concrete, frozen ground and wire mesh. The planer's hydraulic side-shift works tight to kerbs and walls, each ski has independent hydraulic depth control, and teeth can be replaced individually to match the material. The wheel saw cuts from 15 to 80 cm deep.
The base under the new surface. The grader blade is six-way with a reversible cutting edge and manual side-shift of up to 30 cm each way, optionally with laser control. The HD box blade cuts in both directions and tilts up to 20 cm — handy on car parks and pavements.
Before the bituminous layer the surface has to be clean and dust-free. Sweepers clean forward and in reverse; the HD open-frame sweeper carries its brush ahead of the bucket, which suits milled asphalt. The multipurpose sweeper's hopper opens hydraulically from the cab. The pressure washer runs from the cab or off a 20-metre hose reel.
Pavements, road widening, trench backfill, sub-base layers. Spread thickness is adjustable and there is hydraulic side-shift.
Compacting a trench bottom with an attachment removes the need to put a worker down there. For the road surface, use the vibratory roller attachment or dedicated light compaction equipment from the Bobcat range.
Source: B4503491-EN (11-2025)
The cutter turns a tree into mulch in one pass — no separate felling, skidding or haulage. The compact machine slaloms between trunks and takes out exactly what needs to go.
The cutter cuts, grinds and mulches a tree within minutes, leaving a clean site. Spiral tooth pattern, double-tipped carbide teeth, below-grade operation.
Grabbing, loading and chipping slash. The root grapple is built for branches, brush and heavy material — a heavy-duty design that improves wear life.
The stump grinder sits at 90°, so the stump stays in view from the seat, and it grinds away the concealed part up to 30 cm underground as well.
Source: B4489942-EN (04-2018)
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