A man who drove a front-end loader into oncoming traffic while high on methamphetamine during a police chase in outback NSW has been jailed for up to four years.

Joshua Kerr stole a car from Red Cliffs in Victoria in February before driving it north along the Silver City Highway and crashing into a truck near Broken Hill.

A witness said he saw Kerr and a passenger then flee into bushland.

Kerr later stole a ten-tonne front-end loader from a nearby property.

It sparked a one-and-a-half hour police chase as he drove on the wrong side of the highway with the bucket raised.

Court documents described this action as "causing police to fear for their lives".

Kerr tried to ram a police car and narrowly missed during the chase.

Police eventually opened fire on the vehicle, firing shots into the front tyres and through the cabin.

The vehicle's owner told the ABC in February that police feared Kerr would drive the vehicle into Broken Hill.

"As a panic station that he wasn't going to stop before he got to Broken Hill, the police made a decision to fire some shots through the cabin, blowing the windows out of the loader," Geoff Withers said.

"That didn't disturb him - he kept going, so in the end we had to blow the front tyre off the loader with a rifle."

Kerr pleaded guilty to 10 charges including driving recklessly, failing to stop in a police pursuit, using the vehicle as a weapon, not being licensed to drive, and driving under the influence.

He appeared in court via video link and will be eligible for parole in 2016.