ATV's
 

I have never owned one but I think I am in the market.

We bought a Polaris Ranger 6x6 in 2014 and we use it more than any other piece of equipment on the farm...multiple times a day. It is actually parked inside our house garage

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Which is frankly part of the reason why I am in the market for an ATV. The Ranger has really become my wife's go to for everything: We have a small trailer it tows that she rigged for tools, equipment, sprayers, etc. It is really a nice set-up with a ramp for wheel barrows when she weeds and prunes. The Range also has a generous tool box and a dump bed.

We go our separate ways for farm work and I really need/want to be able to get around the farm without starting a truck. I want my 2015 Tundra to be the last 1/2 ton I own and that means keeping the silly miles off it. We also need to drag the ring, spray, and I have a second trailer for other needs like fence repair and the other hundreds of tasks.

So. I am looking at Honda Ranchers in 4x4, new and used, but I want to expand my search. Any suggestions, experience?

I've got two Ranchers. Great little work horses with good 4x4 pulling power. I installed fore and aft racks for chain saws, fuel, etc. and usually have an itty bitty trailer hooked up behind one. I really only need one but when a grandson comes up to the cabin with a friend we need two. They turn into fun toys.

Rancher would be my recommendation. If you could find a good older 450 Foreman I'd strongly consider one of those. They're pretty much a bulletproof quad.

Something you might consider is a smaller UTV. Something like a Ranger 500 or a Honda Pioneer 500.

CFMOTOs are getting a good foothold in the west central wisconsin woods.
My brother and I got this 800 for our mom. She was getting too crazy in the sand whoops and falling off her quad, this might be a little safer.
I had it up to 65mph indicated on the gravel road going to get the mail. It falls nicely between a sport SXS and the ute models.


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^^^ Great picture.

There is a CFMOTO dealer near my place in Virginia. I had never heard of the brand...I'll stop by. The prices on their website are great.

Cab, I think the ATV is best but I need to wait until after the next hip surgery at the end of August before I commit!

Just spit ballin... but I'd think the hip surgery would make the smaller side by side the logical choice. No tossing the leg over the seat to ride. You could always do what my dad does and ride the thing side saddle!

Only concern with CFMOTO, Massimo, Hisun (all Chinese brands) is wiring. I haven't owned a Chinese made ATV or UTV that didn't have electrical issues. Loose connections were the biggest issues but it can be frustrating when you're out and about and the thing decides not to start. First thing I'd do before considering the Chinese UTV's and ATV's is research common problems. For my Hisun (they make Cub Cadet UTV's) it was electrical and head gasket issues.

A plus for the Chinese brand UTV's is the cost of parts. Rather than buy my parts through a Cub Cadet dealer, I went online, found a parts breakdown for the Cub, then typed the part number in a search to come up with the corresponding Hisun part number and ordered that part.

If you can find a nice one that someone is willing to turn loose of, an older Honda Fourtrax 300 in either 2 or 4 wheel drive is a very coveted machine in the world of ATV's. Something more tossible out of the mud would be a Kawasaki Bayou 220. I used both in my Land Surveying biz.

Actually, those aren't really ATV sport vehicles, those are utility vehicles, like the Kawasaki mules. I think of something else when I hear ATV...http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1658610613.jpg

My personal opinion, I’d skip the Chinese stuff because I hate China and the quality just isn’t there on their manufactured products. Did I mention I hate China?

I’d buy a Honda. I bought a 2 wheel drive Honda ATV years ago and put a zillion miles on it running geophysical exploration gear through endless miles of pastures and woods. Five days a week, all day long. A little routine maintenance, not much, nothing ever broke. After retiring from that life, it got to be used as a play toy for years. I rode it hard and every brother-in-law and nephew in my extended family had a go at it, including the crazy ones.

If you want to run it in snow, I suggest four-wheel-drive, as the 2WD versions don’t do great in snow and ice.

They are not hard to throw a leg over, you’ll be fine after your hip surgery. You’d be surprised how quickly you can jump on one and be underway.

It's hard to beat a Yamaha Grizzly 700 fuel injection and power steering.

I have no idea what a Honda Rancher is. Buggy prices went stupid crazy high during the pandemic shut down, but have come down recently by about 25% from the highs of a year ago.

I can absolutely recommend a Kubota 1100C. I have a Kubota x900, and a Bobcat 3400. Diesel utv will absolutely be worth every penny, and a Kubota is built like a tank.

For high speed response, I have a Polaris Ranger 1000 Northstar Ulimate. Having a cab with electric windows, AC and heat, a *****in' stereo, sun visors, extra cargo space, winch, 4x4 drive etc etc is the next progression. This is the direction that I took after 10 years of rolling around in the dirt and freezing rain, heat, etc. I got tired of getting dirty and hot, or cold and wet. Worth every penny.

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What about a 4 WD kei truck?

Seems like an elderly gentleman farmer, sporting bionic joints, might want a heater as he tours his ranch, views his marsh and the myriad exotic birds that frequent the area as they head North and South every year.

Besides, the dog has more sense than to ride next to you in the rain if your are in one of those buggies.

I had one back in the day. Wish I still had it. I was also thinking the same thing ATV vs UTV.
Mike

One of these might work if you can find one. Suzuki Samurai:

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I just used the brand new JD Gator on the family farm today. It’s waaay more than I wanted. But everyone seems pleased.

That is probably the best option, frankly. The Polaris we already own is a beast.

I think, after reading the replies here and two PMs that had a lot of practical advice and poor experiences with ATVs, I'll shelve the ATV angle and look at other alternatives.

Awesome stuff, folks. Thanks!

We have a Honda Rancher which is used a lot. We also have my Baja Bug which my son buggered up the engine on (need to fix that), my Tundra, and the newly acquired Cayenne.

Amazingly, the Cayenne was the cheapest of the above.

The PMs I received were from folks around my age with the same broken and worn getaway sticks as I have:cool:

I looked at Kei Truck prices this morning. They are not giving them away:eek:

everyone around here has polaris's i work on them all the time. they are pretty good. I use my willys jeep for farm tasks most of the time. But also have a kawasaki atc 250 for small jobs and a small dirtbike just for getting around and having fun

Long-term Rancher owner here! I purchased my Honda Rancher 350 the first year of production - in 2000. It has served me faithfully for 22 years! The newer one's, as you know, have a higher displacement engine (mine is only 329cc), are now fuel-injected rather than utilizing a carburetor, and water-cooled instead of air-cooled. My machine always fires right up and runs, and runs, and runs! We also have a newer 420 Honda Rancher with independent rear suspension and all the other, more modern, bells and whistles (this is my wife's machine, of course!).

One additional purchase I made for my 2000 Rancher involved a trailer from Bass Pro Shops - Yutrax HC1500 ATV Trailer (https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/yutrax-hc1500-atv-trailer?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&d s_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=BPS%7CShopping%7CSmart%7CAutoATV%7 CGeneral%7CNAud%7CTopPerf%7CNMT&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI 1bjqz9OR-QIVmonICh2jHghVEAQYBCABEgKkUPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds). I purchased it on a good sale and use the heck out of that trailer. I did have to purchase a different neck (is that the name?) so that the trailer could attach to the ball on my Rancher. Northern Tool also carries some very capable trailers for these as well (the four-wheeled versions should be very rugged - if your budget permits).

Other thing on the Kei truck that can be an issue is parts availability.

Knew a guy who had one that was a miniature dump truck. It was not street legal. He brought it over on an LHA in the well deck when they brought BUNCH of stuff back from Okinawa. I don't know how that worked exactly, fill out some form in triplicate probably. Baby dump truck was cool, but there were a couple of motorcycles that guys brought over that really piqued my interest. There were two stroke bikes they sold in Japan that never made it stateside that were so fast they would make your watch run backwards

You might PM Arizona_928 about the mini trucks. He imported one from Japan if I'm not mistaken.

Wouldn't hurt to surf CL and FB Marketplace a bit too. Those mini trucks pop up all over the place.

https://fortwayne.craigslist.org/grd/d/floyds-knobs-nissan-clipper-mini/7512697392.html

You can't go wrong with kei mini trucks. The only down side is the 25 year old ones are still carburetor (can be a positive for some guys). Heater and a full cab. If i was gonna import another one i would get one with ac just bc it's az. All steel bed that can handle 350kg and an atv. One of the local fiewood guys went to one after beating the crap out of the plastic side by sides.


The 4wd is amazing on these little trucks. I replaced the stock tires with bias ply trailer tires. Does amazing in dirt, mud and snow. There's an overlook that i frequent and it's a 45°+ and i climb it in 4wd high. I'll have to find that video. It surprises a lot of people i show it to.

Parts are pretty simple from vendors in Japan and Canada. Even eBay in a pinch.

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^^^
I gotta admit, I'm a little disappointed it wasn't the F350 pulling the mini truck out.

I remember your thread from, I think over a year ago. How is the on road performance?

Is the cab comfortable in terms of size? I see the measurements on line but that often doesn't tell the whole story.

Thanks!

I've had 4 in 25 years and still own 2.. A Yamaha 450(still), a Honda Rincon 650(still), a Honda 250 Foretrax and a Kawasaki 450. I sold the last 2 during the pandemic and got good money for them.

The Yamaha wins hands down. I wouldn't buy another Honda.

And they stopped making those 3 wheelers for a reason. People were flipping them like crazy.

Funny - I had to go pick up a shipment at a nearby AFB, it was maybe the size of a shoebox, from one of the international logistics flights that support "government stuff". Hilarious to get called up by the loadmaster for my little box of special things that got carried in that Globemaster (holey wah my house would fit in that plane). Shooting the crap with the crew while my courier arrived they discussed how much non-military-related materiel "some guy they knew" might have accidentally left in the plane for those overseas trips. Bikes, portable fireplaces, a gazebo(!) from Home Depot and I suspect more than a little EtOH-containing liquids.

Speaking of excess, as a program manager I had to sign off on a polaris side-by-side that cost more than my, then new, Mazda 3. Those ATV makers are just printing money! I can neither confirm nor deny that those things might just jump further than a GSA vehicle (or rental car).

Kubota RTV. most used piece on the farm. solid bit of kit.

6ft 230. And with one of my buddies in the truck we don't touch shoulders. Plenty of head room. I would compare it to a compact car. The mazda 121 i just imported is a hell of a lot harder to squeeze into.

I have the 4 speed and will cruise at 100 km/h. It'll go 115 but you're winding the engine up. Has plenty of power to throw sideways on the dirt roads. And is very fun to do too.

I only have 2800 into mine as it hit the port. There's one in flagstaff with higher kms asking 11.5k

Pshhh. Hmmwv's hydraulic winch. No need pulling. ��

I actually upgraded to warm hub locker on the f350. Way better than stock.

VVV Excellent. Thank you. To be clear I do have a Polaris 6x6 that we love, going on year eight with it. it just gets absorbed by my wife on weekends for her selfish needs:D

I've had a bunch of farm vehicles and other fun stuff.

Polaris new:

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Other stuff: Yamaha 80 ATV (in for maintenance, skins hanging on the wall), old dirt bikes...we have had fun. EDIT: All the fun stuff is goe, btw.

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My neighbor has a Honda ATV he is going to let me use for two weeks - he is headed out of vacation and we trade tools all the time. I'll spend some quality time with it next weekend.

That and I have a bunch of homework on other vehicles. As always, thanks!

I used to do all of my work at our hunting property with an ATV. I was constantly having to drag a trailer around with the tools I was going to use for the day. IMO it's just so much easier to put everything in the bed of the UTV and have no worries about dragging a trailer around. I suppose it all depends on what you're really planning to do with the ATV.


Changing the locking hubs was something I wanted to do to the truck but I always suffered through the vacuum operated SOTF system.

I parked my dandy little 2005 Subaru Legacy wagon with 135k that might be worth $3,000 on a good day in the parking lot of a Home Depot or Lowes the other day, and walking into the store noticed they were selling some side by side UTV's that were $17,000. I thought holy crap. IF I had a large piece of land and needed an off road vehicle to get around for chores, hunting, whatever, I'd just go and buy a beater Subaru Outback for pennies on the dollar. (Afterall, it IS the Subaru Baja pickup truck with a built in camper shell.)

vvv I should have never sold my 1999 Tacoma. It went to a good home (member here bought it) but in retrospect I could have just put a flat bed with a lift on it and lived the dream.

The interest now is the ability to drag harrows and horse ring groomers, tow spray rigs and small trailers, and look like I know what I am doing.

A Boy can dream the last part:cool:

For that sort of stuff, I’d use a tractor…

Don't you have a compact tractor?

I have three. The two MF 2300s are nearing 20 years old, with a lot of hours. I maintain them to a high degree but they have other jobs...mostly mowing at least 150 hours each a year.

One also has a bucket loader and PTO powered tiller that get a lot of work on our large composting and manure piles, hundreds of feet of the stuff.

The larger tractor isn't efficient in the roles I am thinking about for the next 'thing'.

I hope I like the ATV I am borrowing. It is by far the most efficient and cheapest option. The small tractors are booked if that makes any sense.

That and I hope I am out of here in five years so I want to minimize investment.

I spent a large part of the day winnowing tools and stuff I have accumulated over the past 26 years here to give away or sell at the Amish Auction in November.

I guess you will see if an ATV will do the things you want to do. They are pretty good for getting from point A to point B in a big hurry to accomplish some small task. I doubt they’re suited to pulling the equipment that you mentioned.

The drag harrow is small and the ring groomer is towed by one of our horse boarders with her ATV now. It is a great piece of gear. I'll take a picture in a few minutes since we are headed out to feed.

She is getting out of the horse business since her daughter is not interested but we have others inbound.