masalser
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2008
- Messages
- 55
- Location
- Snohomish County, Washington
- Tractor
- John Deere 5510, Kubota HST 3010, ASV RC100 tracked skidsteer, Bobcat 435 excavator, Howard Price 15' finish mower, Kubota ZD331 mower, Woodmizer LT40 super hydraulic sawmill
We've had two Polaris Rangers - one is a 1999 6x6 that is just plain beat to **** at this point and needs to be replaced. I took a look at the Kawasaki Mule Pro and was impressed by the bed capacity. We run a horse farm and use a UTV to bring hay to all of the horses. Typically that UTV gets loaded with four bails of hay stacked 2x2. We currently use a 2008 Polaris Ranger 500 4x4 for that task, but we have had to modify the bed somewhat to be able to take the hay it needs to. I am considering buying a Mule Pro to take over that hay task and then use the Ranger for the general farm and trail maintenance tasks that the 6x6 used to do. It seems like the bed design of the Mule Pro would work well for that task. We don't need a lot of power since it will get driven over relatively flat ground and we don't go particularly fast, but it does need to be four wheel drive since in western WA we have a lot of rain and mud. We would be interested in the one without the trans cab and possibly would get it with the electric power steering option.
My questions are does anyone have experience with these new Mules? I want to know what maintenance is like because I am used to dealing with the extremely difficult maintenance on the old Polaris Ranger and don't want to repeat that. Do people find that grease points are easy to reach and fluid changes locations are easily accessed on the Mules? In looking at recent machines from a number of manufacturers it looks like in general the machines have gotten way easier to maintain in terms of access to the engines and drive components. If you have a recommendation of a different machine I should consider please also post that, but keep in mind that I am interested in a spacious bed (it doesn't have to handle a huge amount of weight, it's more the size that matters), I never need to go faster than about 15 mph, and I am not very interested in the Kubotas because they seem to be more expensive and I have no need of the hydrostatic aspect. I see the MSRP of the Kawaski Mule Pro EPS looks to be in the neighborhood of $12k - what kind of pricing have people gotten out the door? The only options I would want would be a roof and windshield, though I could also fab those things up myself or potentially even transfer them over from our old Polaris depending on fit. Finally, does anybody know if there have been significant changes to the Mule Pros in the last couple years?
My questions are does anyone have experience with these new Mules? I want to know what maintenance is like because I am used to dealing with the extremely difficult maintenance on the old Polaris Ranger and don't want to repeat that. Do people find that grease points are easy to reach and fluid changes locations are easily accessed on the Mules? In looking at recent machines from a number of manufacturers it looks like in general the machines have gotten way easier to maintain in terms of access to the engines and drive components. If you have a recommendation of a different machine I should consider please also post that, but keep in mind that I am interested in a spacious bed (it doesn't have to handle a huge amount of weight, it's more the size that matters), I never need to go faster than about 15 mph, and I am not very interested in the Kubotas because they seem to be more expensive and I have no need of the hydrostatic aspect. I see the MSRP of the Kawaski Mule Pro EPS looks to be in the neighborhood of $12k - what kind of pricing have people gotten out the door? The only options I would want would be a roof and windshield, though I could also fab those things up myself or potentially even transfer them over from our old Polaris depending on fit. Finally, does anybody know if there have been significant changes to the Mule Pros in the last couple years?
