ArlyA
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- Joined
- Mar 18, 2016
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- Tractor
- Polaris Boss 6x6 with pods (tracks) Center actuating lawn mower by Husky
This is a can-am 2016 HD10 Defender review. Hopefully I'll not screw this up to much! I'll attach a few photos but we didn't get the defender until late, and never used it with with wheels mounted. Some photos will be of the Rhino to give you an idea what we do with these machines..
This past fall we were replacing a 2009, 700 Rhino which was at the end of its life expectancy with us and over the years found it was very short on HP while operating it with pods and in snow. We had UTV-4S pods on it. (you call tracks) So we hoped for more power in a new machine and having quite expensive maintenance grief with Camoplast products, we'd not get them again. Please note, on all the various machines we've used over the years, we break, melt or create some kind of grief while doing the heavy work we do with them so this might not apply to you. We normally get machines another trail systems have tested to help lessen our problems but we need much more power and having a good BRP dealer here, we went with this new work machine offered by Can-am. Having good service is quite, quite important for us and we do darn little of that ourselves.. I've been grooming XC trails for over 15 years, all within the Lake Superior snow belt so machine problems are not new.. We average 230" here in town. Also note, this not "my machine" and I did not pay for it. I'm just a lowly employee who suggests we need this tool or that.. We try replacing our tow machines every 5 years.
-------------Review preamble--------
What we wanted was the more powerful motor and this 1000CC engine was re-geared and tuned for just that. More torque, less HP. Along with full cab including hard doors, glass windshield (all glass will be hard), wiper, heater etc, etc. Can-am apparently did not expect to sell these ASAP since most of the cab components we wanted were not yet available when we put her to work. These will be added when they become available. And the LT Apache pods which are similar to and large, like the UTV-4S are. Total package will cost us around 28K when completed. Our UTV's do not go out on a daily bases over the winter. We only use them when we have so much snow, that one fellow can not work it down fast enough and we need two machines out packing. Or if the weather turns usually cool and we feel the cab is required for safety sake. We don't like to use UTV's since they are much slower than our Grizzly (an ATV) can work. We do like to take it out if we need tools and people in the field for something special, like a tree is down. But then in the fall this machine will be out moving tools, people and supplies to remote work sites. A UTV is really how we get things done then! I'm not sure of the hours we put on her this winter, I'll check next time I'm in da shop.
-------------Finally the Defender review----------
The LT Apache pods after some initial grief, are doing great.
The cab visibility is great and so are the can-am door mirrors we got. We run a cab fan to help keep glass moisture under control.
Steering is effortless and you can even rotate the pods while static! Plus the adjustable steering wheel is nice.
I like the cab controls layout as well and the buttons are glove friendly.
Storage space on and in the dash is really, really nice for working characters like us. We got tools and paraphernalia everywhere!! The snap in-out tool box on the dash is fairly worthless. I added "knobs" to it so we could open it while wearing gloves. We hardly use it and may permanently take it out.
Seats are quite comfortable and we do sometimes spend 8 hours planted on them. (farm talk?) Also nice is the center flip down arm rest which is normally down and used as a arm rest for steering,. Seats also flip up for cab cleaning.
The rear work box is quite nice and has many holes along its top edge so we can add bungee cords to hold whatever in. It case you don't know, its made from HDPE plastic and I like that as feature well. We normally take tail gates off and leave them off forever. This one is designed just like a pickups and comes off in seconds. It's nice! But not sure at this point if we'll reinstall it.
Power is a a whole higher level than our lame old Rhino we retired!! Nonetheless, we do have its pedal right to the floor now and then. Of course we only use low gear while pulling loads.
I should add that removing panels so wiring and switch's can be added, has been quite easy. We found this machine has been easier to do that than the Rhino was.
------------Notes from the grief department--------
The vinyl covered, steel frame doors are worthless. The vinyl coverings won't stay attached to there Velcro plus the doors are just to hard shut or open to exit.
The intake on the CTV cooling system was plugged with snow within the first 500 ft and the hot belt warning light would flash shortly afterwards.. Funny we had a Defender here this fall which we zoomed right down to look at. While there I told the service manager that those intakes could not possibly stay cleared while operating in snow. So they subsequently rerouted the air duck into into the cab. Zero problems since.
We blew a gasket on the exhaust header. While investigating that, the dealer noted that heat was warping various heat shields above the motor. We are now awaiting new heat shields to test from Can-am. Portions of its exhaust system was wrapped in heat shield materiel which so far, has worked fine.
Fuel tank could be larger. Its tank is 10.5 gallons but if she's working hard, we'll have to bring an extra 5 gallon can along because we'll run it empty in to few of hours.
Shifting grief. From the beginning, we've had problem getting it into high gear. Its even came out of that while driving. The dealer has adjusted and adjusted it again. Hummmmmm We only use high when ferrying to a school about 1 mile away but nonetheless, this problem had been a real pain in the &^^%@)
What an I forgetting???
This past fall we were replacing a 2009, 700 Rhino which was at the end of its life expectancy with us and over the years found it was very short on HP while operating it with pods and in snow. We had UTV-4S pods on it. (you call tracks) So we hoped for more power in a new machine and having quite expensive maintenance grief with Camoplast products, we'd not get them again. Please note, on all the various machines we've used over the years, we break, melt or create some kind of grief while doing the heavy work we do with them so this might not apply to you. We normally get machines another trail systems have tested to help lessen our problems but we need much more power and having a good BRP dealer here, we went with this new work machine offered by Can-am. Having good service is quite, quite important for us and we do darn little of that ourselves.. I've been grooming XC trails for over 15 years, all within the Lake Superior snow belt so machine problems are not new.. We average 230" here in town. Also note, this not "my machine" and I did not pay for it. I'm just a lowly employee who suggests we need this tool or that.. We try replacing our tow machines every 5 years.
-------------Review preamble--------
What we wanted was the more powerful motor and this 1000CC engine was re-geared and tuned for just that. More torque, less HP. Along with full cab including hard doors, glass windshield (all glass will be hard), wiper, heater etc, etc. Can-am apparently did not expect to sell these ASAP since most of the cab components we wanted were not yet available when we put her to work. These will be added when they become available. And the LT Apache pods which are similar to and large, like the UTV-4S are. Total package will cost us around 28K when completed. Our UTV's do not go out on a daily bases over the winter. We only use them when we have so much snow, that one fellow can not work it down fast enough and we need two machines out packing. Or if the weather turns usually cool and we feel the cab is required for safety sake. We don't like to use UTV's since they are much slower than our Grizzly (an ATV) can work. We do like to take it out if we need tools and people in the field for something special, like a tree is down. But then in the fall this machine will be out moving tools, people and supplies to remote work sites. A UTV is really how we get things done then! I'm not sure of the hours we put on her this winter, I'll check next time I'm in da shop.
-------------Finally the Defender review----------
The LT Apache pods after some initial grief, are doing great.
The cab visibility is great and so are the can-am door mirrors we got. We run a cab fan to help keep glass moisture under control.
Steering is effortless and you can even rotate the pods while static! Plus the adjustable steering wheel is nice.
I like the cab controls layout as well and the buttons are glove friendly.
Storage space on and in the dash is really, really nice for working characters like us. We got tools and paraphernalia everywhere!! The snap in-out tool box on the dash is fairly worthless. I added "knobs" to it so we could open it while wearing gloves. We hardly use it and may permanently take it out.
Seats are quite comfortable and we do sometimes spend 8 hours planted on them. (farm talk?) Also nice is the center flip down arm rest which is normally down and used as a arm rest for steering,. Seats also flip up for cab cleaning.
The rear work box is quite nice and has many holes along its top edge so we can add bungee cords to hold whatever in. It case you don't know, its made from HDPE plastic and I like that as feature well. We normally take tail gates off and leave them off forever. This one is designed just like a pickups and comes off in seconds. It's nice! But not sure at this point if we'll reinstall it.
Power is a a whole higher level than our lame old Rhino we retired!! Nonetheless, we do have its pedal right to the floor now and then. Of course we only use low gear while pulling loads.
I should add that removing panels so wiring and switch's can be added, has been quite easy. We found this machine has been easier to do that than the Rhino was.
------------Notes from the grief department--------
The vinyl covered, steel frame doors are worthless. The vinyl coverings won't stay attached to there Velcro plus the doors are just to hard shut or open to exit.
The intake on the CTV cooling system was plugged with snow within the first 500 ft and the hot belt warning light would flash shortly afterwards.. Funny we had a Defender here this fall which we zoomed right down to look at. While there I told the service manager that those intakes could not possibly stay cleared while operating in snow. So they subsequently rerouted the air duck into into the cab. Zero problems since.
We blew a gasket on the exhaust header. While investigating that, the dealer noted that heat was warping various heat shields above the motor. We are now awaiting new heat shields to test from Can-am. Portions of its exhaust system was wrapped in heat shield materiel which so far, has worked fine.
Fuel tank could be larger. Its tank is 10.5 gallons but if she's working hard, we'll have to bring an extra 5 gallon can along because we'll run it empty in to few of hours.
Shifting grief. From the beginning, we've had problem getting it into high gear. Its even came out of that while driving. The dealer has adjusted and adjusted it again. Hummmmmm We only use high when ferrying to a school about 1 mile away but nonetheless, this problem had been a real pain in the &^^%@)
What an I forgetting???
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