Utility vehicle for the mountains

[Alan L.]

We own a 2WD Mule, a model 550. We like it just fine since we don't care to go fast. However it does not have much power for going up steep hills and even worse, it will free-wheel coming down. So we are thinking of a more powerful unit, one that has more power and the trans will hold it back on the way down steep hills. Would like to trailer it to the mountains and New Mexico and to Ouray, Colorado where there a hundreds of miles of jeep trails.

I don't want to pay enought to buy a truck, just enough to enjoy driving my wife and I up the trails and down safely and reliably. Any experiences with this?

 

[Gary Fowler]

I don't think any of the UTV have engine/transmission braking other than the Kubota RTV series. They are $10K and up depending on the model. I have had mine (RTV 900) for several years and it was $12K with the options I have but it is worth every penny. Many folks claim they are underpowered but I don't find that to be true. If you are going up a hill, just like any HST transmission, if you put the foot on the floor, it will stall down. As load increases on an HST, you have to slack off the HST pedal to give more power but slower speed. THE RTV is the same, slack off the pedal a bit and it pulls most hills with ease in M gear. H(igh) is not that great for hills but does allow 25MPH speeds on flat terrain and the RTV is only going to go as fast downhill as you allow it via the throttle. If you are travelling on flat ground at 10 mph and don't change your throttle position, it will go 10 mph downhill. I run mine in M most of the time simply for convenience and I am not going that far so speed isn't important.

 

[Xfaxman]

I have the Bobcat 2200D, it has engine braking down hill if you keep the RPM just above idle. They don't sell this model now, but New Holland does, called the Rustler. Made by Club Car, model XRT1550.

It has a CVT, so when you put the pedal to the floor on a hill it just goes up it. It has one lever, F-N-R, it runs in 2WD, shifts to 4WD if needed, and locks each differential if needed, all automatically.




XRT1550 - Club Car Utility Vehicles

 

[PapaPerk]

I don't think any of the UTV have engine/transmission braking other than the Kubota RTV series. QUOTE]

That's not true. Many of the UTV's have engine braking. Some to consider are Yamaha Rhino, Honda Big Red, Polaris 900, etc, etc!

 

[aczlan]

We have the RTV500 and it has engine braking with its hydrostatic transmission for under $10k. We have a Toro Workman 2100 and also tried the Mule 610, Deere 625i and RTV400. All of those have belt CVTs which have engine braking as long as you keep the engine going fast enough to engage the centrifugal clutch. If you let it idle, you don't have any engine braking.

Aaron Z

 

[Alan L.]

Quite a bit of the terrain involves top speeds of maybe 2 mph and coming down can be really hairy if the engine is not holding the whole thing back to 1 or 2 mph.

 

[aczlan]

Quite a bit of the terrain involves top speeds of maybe 2 mph and coming down can be really hairy if the engine is not holding the whole thing back to 1 or 2 mph.

In that case, if you want engine braking, I would go with an RTV500, RTV900, RTV1100 or a Honda Big Red and avoid anything with a belt type CVT.

Aaron Z

 

[TripleR]

We have a Mule 500 and 550 and know what you mean, the 500 stays on our flat land farm and the 550 on a not very hilly one. In 2006, I got tired of being stuck all the time and not being able to climb hills on our home farm and bought a Rhino 660 and still have it. It will go about 42 as is and 50+ with a different CDI from Black Rhino or Hunterworks. It has engine braking and when going down steep hills, I just put it in low 4WD and it creeps along.

Other companies mike nice ones too, several more advanced in design than mine, Rhino now uses a 700cc fuel injected model. I would go look at Can Am, John Deere, Polaris, Artic Cat, Kubota etc. to see which one fits. My wife and I are getting older and really appreciate the safety of a UTV and rarely use our ATV's anymore and they are quite a bit of fun.

 

[Rod1]

Bobcat 3400 and 3400D, Can-Am commander, John Deere Gators (option) and Kawasaki Teryx have engine braking too. It seems to me Arctic Cat Prowler 700 HDX has it too; I didn't find it now on their web page but several forums talk about it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I don't think any of the UTV have engine/transmission braking other than the Kubota RTV series. QUOTE]

That's not true. Many of the UTV's have engine braking. Some to consider are Yamaha Rhino, Honda Big Red, Polaris 900, etc, etc!

When you take your foot off the gas, do they stop or do they continue to move. I guess I should have said transmission braking as in it wont move or moves very very slow if you aren't on the throttle regardless of the degree of slope. I don't think any of those you listed does that.