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On a Monday morning in May, Bob Loula, vice president of sales for Atlas Bobcat, arrived at the Schiller Park, IL, location to a barrage of phone calls requesting rentals of rubber--tracked compact loaders. “We had so much rain in May,” he says. “On that morning, we were feeling the affects of 4 in. of rain over the weekend. Within a few hours, every one of our tracked machines (30 to 40 of them) was rented out.”

Tracks really seem to shine when the sun doesn’t, says Loula. “When you’re trying to work in inclement weather, there’s just less downtime with a rubber tracked loader,” he says. “We see some customers put two to three times more hours on their compact loaders equipped with tracks vs. skid steers equipped with tires.”

Ron Hoyle, sales representative at Altorfer, a Caterpillar dealer in Peoria, IL, has also seen increased interest and sales of compact track loaders. “We have seen a huge number of inquiries about tracked machines,” he says. “The main advantage is that a contractor can still make money on a rainy day. Contractors in northern climates can also extend their season to about nine months of the year.”

Hoyle cites a recent example. “Just the other day, a customer took delivery of his Caterpillar tracked machine on a day that it was raining. He still headed to the jobsite and proceeded to pull out a wheeled skid steer and a competitive unit with tracks. Then he went to work backfilling around just--poured concrete walls, he explains. “A rubber--tracked compact loader is really a great choice for contractors who want to work even when conditions are muddy.”

Rubber tracks have an advantage over tires in wet ground conditions because their long footprint can bridge a longer surface, keeping the loader afloat and improving mobility. “You can keep working with a track machine long after you’ve had to park one with tires,” says Randy Hrabe, sales manager at Theros Equipment, a Mustang dealership in Lorton, VA.