30710 Skid-Steer Loader LEGO Review - Technic, 2025

Small but interesting.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $4.99
• Pieces: 52
• Minifigure(s): No
• Sticker Sheet: No
  
• Pros: A good variety of parts, lots of potential for MOCs
• Cons: One-sided arm not quite accurate

Assembly: 

 Leftover Pieces

• Interesting Steps:
• description
• Interesting Techniques:
• The dark bluish grey dual-face gear fits within the ridges on either side of the bushing end of the orange 3L perpendicular connector. I always appreciate when things just fit like that.

• Play Features: 
  
• Turning the gear on the top raises and lowers the bucket arm.

• My Modifications:  
• There are a ton of different alternate builds that people have come up with, 55 of which are gathered at Rebrickable. I decided to try building the harbor crane MOC designed by user "A_Dilophosaurus". Not only does it look good, but the gears still work to raise and lower the arm.

• Overall:  This was a fun little polybag, and even though it was quick to put together, it still afforded more than $5 worth of enjoyment. I could see this being a good travel kit set, the sort of thing where you toss the parts in a little box for your child (or yourself) to play with during idle moments on the road. And with such a low price point (and no minifigs or other special parts), even if a few pieces get lost it wouldn't be the end of the world.

The one quibble I have is that having only a single arm to support the bucket isn't exactly accurate—indeed, one of the reasons most skid-steer loaders (so named because the fixed axle wheels move forward or reverse independently to steer the vehicle by skidding) have such extensive roll cages is to protect the operators' arms from getting pinched by the mechanical arms. Replacing the 4L axle with a 5L axle and adding in a second lift arm (with a slight change to which axle-and-pin connectors span the front end and join to the bucket) would have easily fixed this.

That aside, however, it's a good set for the original price. It looks like the resale market has appreciated its effectiveness, but the current resale average price of $10 is a bit too steep for what you're getting. Indeed, apart from the bucket and the "Black Technic, Liftarm, Modified Perpendicular Holes Bent Thick L-Shape 3 x 5," which seems to be a bit rare, you could probably just build it yourself from the pieces you already own.

Score (out of 5 🧱):

• Price: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
• Process: 🧱🧱🧱
• Presentation: 🧱🧱🧱🧱
• Play: 🧱🧱🧱🧱
• Pieces: 🧱🧱🧱🧱

• Total: 🧱🧱🧱🧱

Lego Instructions: here