Skid steer vehicle

Abstract

A skid-steer mini-loader (10) has a compact chassis formed by two side walls (11,12) fixed to either side of a tank (13) which forms an oil reservoir for a hydraulic drive system for the mini-loader. A hydraulic pump (30) is located within the tank (13), and is driven by a motor (31) mounted directly on top of the tank. A panel (19), which forms the rear wall and top of a cover for the power plant, is pivotally mounted at its lower end to the chassis, enabling the panel (19) to be opened out and allow access to the power plant. The mini-loader has a lifting arm (17) of inverted channel configuration with a relatively wide central web which forms the front face of the arm. The lifting arm has a mounting plate (16) pivotally mounted at its free end for mounting a bucket (15) or other attachment. A toggle arm (34) is provided on the mounting plate (16) for automatically locking the attachment to the mounting plate. A self-levelling mechanism is concealed under the front face of the lifting arm, and has a sprocket (38) at the pivot axis of the lifting arm, a sprocket (36) at the pivot axis of the mounting plate, and a chain (37) interconnecting the two sprockets.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.