OK, took the plunge; Here's my story:
I am not very well versed in these matters, but really liked the idea of a UTV for some residential property in north Georgia, which is almost 2 acres with over 400 feet of river frontage. The bulk of the homes up here are on mountain tops, but to get to my place you have to go down some pretty steep grades.
A few years ago, I test drove a Mule, Polaris, and RTV 900. While talking to the Kubota salesman, I asked him why it would not simply be better to just buy a compact tractor. He (the supposed expert) agreed. As we live in an area that is very mountainous, you would think he would have asked me a few questions about what i wanted to do.
I started looking into the compact tractors, and found this board. Through the diligence of many here, I learned that my property was very poorly suited for a tractor, particularly for someone who had never used one before. In fact, a tractor would be downright dangerous with the grades on my land.
So I geared myself back to the UTV, and somewhere along the line, came across the Toolcat by Bobcat. I thought that was the coolest thing on earth, until I looked at the price.
I got to talking to someone from Bobcat about some specs, and he told me that they had a UTV with bucket on the drawing board. I waited patiently for it to hit the market, and when it did, I found some great reviews, but very little in the way of personal experience-- there doesn't seem to be too many of them around (at least in my area) and they don't seem to be too popular, even on this board, despite good press reviews all around.
I subsequently learned that Club Car makes the same unit, named the XRT 1550, and is the same vehicle as the Bobcat 2300. Club Car also makes an industrial version called the Carryall 295 and appears to be exactly the same except it has an all aluminum bed, instead of a bed made of an aluminum bottom with steel sides.
Both the Club Car models (XRT 1550 and Carryall 295) and the Bobcat 2300 are made by Ingersol Rand and come the Intellitach system. Husquvarna also sells the same unit as the HUV4421D, but it does not come with any hydraulics or attachments.
I got to thinking that between Club Car's experience with golf carts and hills, and Bobcat's experience with hydraulics and skid steers, that this ought to be a perfect match for what I wanted, so I decided to venture out into uncharted territory and try one out.
I came across a club car Carryall 295 with Intellitach at an incredible price because it is last year's model, so I grabbed it. Mine came with bucket, forks, electric dump, sealed CVT, mud tires, rear differential cover and all the standard features. I worked with a local Atlanta/Gainesville Ga dealer who has been excellent.
The 295 is not quite as elegant as the XRT, since the color scheme is a charcoal grey instead of red or green (although I think you can get the 295 in green as well) and the bed is not painted, it is all aluminum. Strangely enough, my wife liked the 295 better because it came with black seats, which she says will show less dirt (I have to say, I was pleasantly shocked at her comment....).
All of these units have the Kubota D722 diesel engine (20 HP, 3 cyl., 719 cc), 4 wheel disk brakes, rack and pinion steering, automatic 4 WD, on an aluminum (aircraft grade) frame. The bed capacity is 800 lbs. but is available with an upgraded 1050 lbs. capacity. The Intellitach system comes with a bucket, and can also be fitted with forks, a plow, a broom and a lawnmower. The plow and broom require an additional hydraulic option that allows you to pivot the implement. Rear hitch receiver is standard. The bucket/forks capacity is 500 lbs and total vehicle capacity is 1700 lbs.
Mine was delivered a couple of months ago, and Jeff, the service rep had to come out to take care of a minor issue. We had to get the engine warmed up, and since Jeff had told me that he had been itching to try this baby out in the yard, but couldn't, I figured let´s have some fun.
We took it out to a neighbors place that has a road that surrounds a pond where couple of trees had fallen over blocking the path, and I had moved one of them the day before, but the other one was 25 to 30 feet long, a good 18 inches in diameter, and hanging down in the pond. Well Jeff went at it with a vengeance, and really showed me what this machine is made of.
Because of the suspension on the unit, the lifting capacity has its limitations. Jeff tried to pick the tree up with the bucket, but the UTV just tilted forward, however, he was able to move that tree (the WHOLE tree) a good 5 or 6 feet just by pushing, some of which was uphill, despite wet and muddy ground, and the bottom end of the tree being butted up against another tree. We gave up when the wheels started spinning a little, and it looked like we might slide into the pond. We then tackled a couple of hills, and it handled a good 30% grade without a sweat. We also played around with some grading and digging, and while it won't dig out a foundation for you, it is pretty respectable for what it is.
I have since had an opportunity to play some more with this unit. I took it out to my lot just to have some fun, and before I knew it, I had cut a good couple of hundred feet of access road into the lot. With the help of a landscape bar, ax and some muscle, I was able to pull up a number of stumps. The biggest one worked out to be an oak about 10 in diameter. I just burrowed around it with the landscape bar, cut some of the larger roots with the ax, pushed back and forth a couple of time with the carryall, and out they came. The Carry All has a bunch of torque, the limitation here seems to be how well the wheels are grabbing.
The grades of the areas that I am working in are in the 30 to 40% range. As long as I am going up or down hill, it works like a snap. Turning around can be a bit dicey, but as long as I'm careful and go slowly, I have no problem. Keep in mind that I'm still feeling my way around with this.
The bucket controls are pretty easy to use and steady. It seems to be pretty stable overall, and the torque should suit my steep terrain. The ROPS is really sturdy, meeting some 5 different standards; the ride is pretty smooth, maybe a little stiff, but this is needed to carry the extra weight up front when using the implements, and the engine noise was not too overbearing, we could converse at normal levels without any problem.
The Intellitach system is pretty cool: you just drive up to the implement with the attachment plate pointed outward, engage the plate by pulling it up and back, and the implement will align itself. You then get off the utv to lock the implement in place (move one lever) and you're done. Disengaging is equally as easy. Just do everything in reverse.
The limitations on this unit are the lifting capacity of 500 lbs, and lifting height of 2 feet. While this may be a drawback for some, it is the trade off you make in order to have a suspension as well. For my purposes the safety that the suspension offers me on a steep terrain far outweighs these drawbacks. I have also seen some posts where there were some complaints about the width of the seats. I found the bucket seats to be very comfortable and roomy, but there is only some 46 inches of space between the bars on the sides of the 2 seats. Looking at a lot of the club car golf carts, I noticed the same thing. I would guess that this is done to keep the center of gravity closer to the middle of the vehicle when you are an incline (to keep from tipping sideways). Again, another safety factor.
Clearly, if you have some flat land, and are looking for a workhorse, a compact tractor is the way to go, and if you are looking for something to joyride in, the ride on this is probably too stiff, and it may even be a little slow for you (It tops out at 25 mph). But for my purposes, I really think this fits the bill. It offers me the flexibility of doing many things that I could only have done with a compact tractor, while limiting the risk of it rolling over on me. It easily deals with my terrain, and also affords me some extra security when we get iced in, which happens a lot. I haven't tried out the forks yet, but they look really sturdy. A final plus is that by pulling a few detent pins, I can remove the attachment plate, stow all the hydraulics, and have something to have some fun with. In fact, the Husquvarna HUV4421DX is the same unit without the hydraulics but dressed up pretty sweetly for hunting.
Needless to say, I am very please, and would like to thank all the kind folks on this board who have helped me over the years.
Reviews:
Club Car XRT1500 IntelliTach Review | ATV Illustrated
ATV Illustrated UTV Favorites | ATV Illustrated
Club Car XRT1550 with IntelliTach
ATV Illustrated UTV Favorites | ATV Illustrated,
2007 HUV4421DXP Husqvarna Review | ATV Illustrated
NEW HUSQVARNA MODELS | ATV Illustrated
Websites:
Club Car
Home Page - Bobcat Company
husquverna.com
Specs
Club Car XRT1550 IntelliTach
MSRP: $13,950*
Power Source: Diesel
Engine: Kubota 719cc, 3-cylinder, industrial-grade, liquid-cooled
Lubrication & Oil Filter Type: Full-pressure; spin-on
Max Torque: 33 ft-lb. (44.7Nm)
Horsepower: 20 (14.9 kw)
Ignition: Compression
4WD Engagement: Automatic - IntelliTrak All-Wheel-Drive
Differential, Front: Automatic - IntelliTrak All-Wheel-Drive
Differential, Rear: Auto locking - IntelliTrak All-Wheel-Drive
High-Low Range Engagement: Automatic
Torque Converter: CVT
Electrical System: 12-volt, 500 CCA
Steering: Rack & pinion
Tilt Steering Wheel: Standard
Bucket Seating: Standard
Suspension, Front: Independent double A-arms w/coil-over shocks
Suspension, Rear: Swingarm w/coil-over shocks
Brakes: 4-wheel, hydraulic disc
Park Brake: Foot-operated
Lighting: Halogen headlamps with available turn signals and fog lamps
Frame / Chassis: Box-Tube, 6061-grade aluminum
Body, Front: High-impact, scratch-resistant, GE Geloy injection-molded color
Body, Rear: Steel cargo box with rustproof aluminum floor
Tires, Front: Mud, 25 x 11-12, 4-ply (optional all-terrain tires available)
Tires, Rear: Mud, 25 x 11-12, 4-ply (optional all-terrain tires available)
Instrumentation: Electronic fuel gauge / hour meter, low oil warning light (speedometer optional), seat belt warning light
Cargo Box Size: 48" x 49.8" x 10.9" (121.9 cm x126.5 cm x 27.7 cm)
Bed Height: 33" (83.8 cm)
Bed Capacity: 800 lb (362.9 kg) (1,050 lb. 476.3 kg available)
Front Load Capacity: 500 lb (227.3 kg)
Total Vehicle Capacity: 1,700 lb (772.7 kg)
Overall Length: 148.6" (377.4 cm)
Overall Width: 60" (152.4 cm)
Overall Height: 78.6" (199.6 cm)
Wheelbase: 81.5" (207 cm)
Ground Clearance: 7.4" (18.8 cm)
Ground Clearance Under Foot Platform: 12.1" (30.7 cm)
Fuel Tank Capacity: 6.5 gal (24.6 L)
Tread (Front/Rear): 48.8" (124 cm)/48.8" (124 cm)
Dry Weight Less Batteries: 1,709 lb. (775.2 kg)
Maximum Speed: 25 mph (40.2 kph)
Turning Radius: 13.8 (4.2 m)
Warranty: 2-year/2,000-hour, limited
*The bucket attachment is included in the price; additional attachments are priced separately.
