The Bobcat 732 is a skid-steer loader of the 700 series built by Bobcat Company, an American manufacturer of farm and construction equipment based in West Fargo, North Dakota. The 700 series is one of the long-running families of Bobcat loaders.
Bobcat 732 at a glance
| Maker | Bobcat Company |
|---|---|
| Type | skid-steer loader |
| Series | 700 |
| Company base | West Fargo, North Dakota |
| Skid-steer origin | Melroe M400, 1960 |
| Bobcat name | since 1962 |
| Ownership | Doosan Group since 2007 |
| European base | Czech Republic since 2017 |
| Source | English Wikipedia, Bobcat Company |
Model-specific specifications are not covered by the available source, the English Wikipedia article on Bobcat Company; the page is based on that single source.
History of the Bobcat 732
Where the skid-steer came from
In 1956 Eddie Velo, a turkey farmer near Rothsay, Minnesota, asked the brothers Louis and Cyril Keller for a machine small enough to work inside a pole barn and light enough to use on its upper floor. They delivered a three-wheeled machine on 4 February 1957 and patented a clutch-based transmission in 1958, which became the basis of the Melroe M60 loader.
Melroe builds the pattern
Melroe Manufacturing of Gwinner, North Dakota, showed the machine at the 1958 Minnesota State Fair and in 1960 launched the four-wheeled M400 Skid-Steer Loader. The Bobcat trade name arrived in 1962 on the 440 loader; Les Melroe and the advertising agent Lynn Bickett chose it on a drive between Minneapolis and Gwinner. Later machines carried numbers such as 732, 743 and 753 in the 700 series.
A brand that changed hands
Clark Equipment Company bought Melroe in 1969, Ingersoll Rand bought Clark in 1995 and in July 2007 sold the construction equipment group to the Doosan Group of South Korea for US$4.9 billion. Bobcat’s European headquarters moved from Waterloo, Belgium, to the Czech Republic in 2017.
Design and features
- Skid-steer layout: four wheels, no steering axle; the machine turns by driving its sides at different speeds.
- The Melroe inheritance: the 700-series loaders descend from the M400 of 1960 and the clutch transmission patented in 1958.
- Built for tight sites: the original brief was a machine that could work inside a barn, and the compact size remained the point of the range.
- A famous name: Bobcat is a registered trademark worldwide.
Bobcat 732 versions
- Bobcat 743: the best-known member of the early 700 series.
- Bobcat 751 and 753: later 700-series loaders.
- Bobcat 843 and 863: larger machines from the 800 series.
Compare the Bobcat 743 and the Bobcat 753, or browse the whole Bobcat collection.
Video: Bobcat 732 for sale
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Bobcat Company, English Wikipedia: company history, product range, ownership
