Strengths More power than I thought and the lifting capacity is amazing. Will lift an old 89 Buick up in a heart beat.

Weaknesses The wiring to the starter should have been shielded better since it was rubbing and cause an open.

Overall Very mighty 3 banger for such a powerful machine. Don't know why somebody would blow a motor at 400 hrs from the first review. Obviously anybody gonna wanna know why by taking the motor apart to get to the source. He is not telling you why cuz he must of flip it.

Strengths JOHN DEER 260 II OF 2004 MODEL IS INCREDIBLY STRONG, IT CAN DUMP HIGH ENOUGH TO LOAD A FULL SIZE DUMP TRUCK WITH EASE, LET IT SIT FOR SIX MONTHS IN THE WINTER, WENT OUT TO START IT FIRST TIME FIGURING I WAS GOING TO JUMP IT OR ATTEMPT A FEW TRIES, FIRST SECOND OF TURNING THE KEY IT FIRED RIGHT UP AND RAN LIKE I HAD BEEN RUNNING IT ALL DAY LONG, WAS CRAZY, HAVE NEVER DONE ANY WORK TO IT WHAT SO EVER, CAN RUN IT 10 HOURS HARD ON A TANK OF FUEL.

Weaknesses WOULD HAVE TO SAY THE TEN INCH WIDE TIRES I HAVE ON MINE IS ITS WEEKNESS, WOULD GET FATTER TIRES IF I WAS DOING LOTS OF WORK ALL THE TIME.

Overall JUST AN AWSOME MACHINE, IF I WAS TO EVER GET ANOTHER SKIDSTEER I WOULD GET A JOHN DEER MODEL NO DOUBT, AND TELL YOU THE TRUTH THE ONLY REASON I WROTE THIS WAS BECUASE A GUY WROTE A BAD REVIEW ON THE MACHINE THAT IS DEFFINETLY BETTER QUALITY THEN ALL OTHER MAKES ONLY MACHINE CLOSE IS CAT AND TO SAY THAT HE HAD TO REPLACE ENGINE AT 400 HOURS IS CRAZY, MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY COVERS FOR MUCH LONGER THEN THAT AS LONG AS YOU KEEP OIL IN IT.

Strengths none

Weaknesses Cab was really bad to get in and out of and engine blew up 3 weeks after warrantee ran out so I had to spend $9000 on a new engine that had only 422 hrs when it failed. After I fixed the engine I tried to trade it for a Case, NH, Gehl or a Mustang and non of the 16 dealers i talked with would take it in on trade so I sold it at an auction for $16500 less than I paid for it plus the $9000 to replace the engine.That's $25500 for less than 450 hrs of use.

Overall Don't find out the hard way that JD 260 loaders are crap like I did. I will never buy another JD skidloader again.