Hood rack for an RTV-900...

[Monster5601]

Thanks for the review and pictures Al, just ordered one.

Bob

 

[wyndham6]

Nice pictures, good sir! Am waiting on delivery of our Kubota RTV 1140, and am shopping for accessories now, as the Kubota ones are $$$. Do you like your winch, and if so, what kind and mount did you use?

 

[ayelvington]

Nice pictures, good sir! Am waiting on delivery of our Kubota RTV 1140, and am shopping for accessories now, as the Kubota ones are $$$. Do you like your winch, and if so, what kind and mount did you use?

That, good friend, is an el-cheapo Harbor Freight 3,000 lb winch. I worked my first one to death, and this is the replacement winch that I've had less than a week.

3000 lb. Electric ATV/UTV Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake

My 900 has a plate inside the grill for a winch, but I wanted the winch outside where it was easy to get my hands on it. I made an adapter plate to go between the Harbor Freight Universal Winch channel and the bumper. The hardest part was finding bits that could drill the metal that I used for the adapter plate (cobalt bits rock).

Harbor Freight used to sell a universal mounting channel for a winch, but no more Northern Tool has plates, but they have ridiculously high prices

You see steel cable on the winch in the photo since I had just finished installing it. I hate steel cable. It rips your hands up and is hard to handle. I had parted my synthetic line when the first winch passed away, and I'll be replacing the steel cable with a new length of synthetic when the cash flow is right again. I strongly recommend the synthetic line in lieu of steel for safety reasons (it doesn't stretch-snap-cut limbs off when it parts) and easy of use (soft on the hands and very flexible). The only cons is that it does cut, and it does melt/burn.

winch acessories, ATV winchlines items in BLITZKRUEG products LLC store on eBay!


Good luck!

Al

 

[wyndham6]

That's a good deal. I could burn up 4 of those for the cost of a Warn! I will have the front mounted receiver on the RTV 1140. I have seen winch racks that go into a 2" receiver. Do you think this is a good/bad idea? I have also been thinking about a power inverter to run power tools and I see that costco has a 2300w 21 amp PowerBrite inverter for $199 that sounds like it might do the job:

Costco - PowerBright 2300 Watt 12 Volt Power Inverter

I'm not sure if the alternator on the Kubota is up to it, but I would have to imagine that it would be. That would be easier than lugging my gas generator around. Following your lead w Harbor Freight, I see that they have one for $179 that is 2000w:

2000 Watt Power Inverter

 

[wyndham6]

Here's a link of the 2" receiver "9000 Lb. Capacity Hitch Receiver for Winch" from HF:

9000 Lb. Capacity Hitch Receiver for Winch

I could swap this out to my truck if needed. Hmmmm...

 

[ayelvington]

That's a good deal. I could burn up 4 of those for the cost of a Warn! I will have the front mounted receiver on the RTV 1140. I have seen winch racks that go into a 2" receiver. Do you think this is a good/bad idea? I have also been thinking about a power inverter to run power tools and I see that costco has a 2300w 21 amp PowerBrite inverter for $199 that sounds like it might do the job:

Costco - PowerBright 2300 Watt 12 Volt Power Inverter

I'm not sure if the alternator on the Kubota is up to it, but I would have to imagine that it would be. That would be easier than lugging my gas generator around. Following your lead w Harbor Freight, I see that they have one for $179 that is 2000w:

2000 Watt Power Inverter

The challenges with receiver winch mounts are: The receiver tongue is rarely long enough to clear the grill guard, and they ride low and you lose clearance when you are trying to drive up over obstructions (arrival angle). I don't like 'em...

I don't recommend an inverter. I did power system work for a while, and a 2kW inverter will fry your alternator (40A) and your small starting battery. Presuming 100% efficiency, your 40A alternator is only going to give you enough oomph for 480W. 90% of what I do is covered by my Harbor Freight 800W generator: 800 Rated Watts/900 Max Watts Portable Generator I replaced the original circuit breaker with a better one that held up until 7A, and life is good! I only haul my larger generator out on the trailer when two or more of us are working...

Seriously, putting a large inverter on your new RTV would probably violate the warranty. I'd find a generator sized to run one of your tools at a time.

I do STRONGLY recommend that you look into work lights for behind you. Backing up in the dark is the pits, and working in the dark is for vampires...

 

[ayelvington]

Here's a link of the 2" receiver "9000 Lb. Capacity Hitch Receiver for Winch" from HF:

9000 Lb. Capacity Hitch Receiver for Winch

I could swap this out to my truck if needed. Hmmmm...

I doubt that would clear your front brush guard, but it would work in back. You're going to have to get some forklift battery quick-connects so you can unplug it from the RTV.

 

[wyndham6]

Thanks. You just saved me some $ and a huge headache.

 

[ayelvington]

I just got a very nice email from the President of Great Day products http://www.greatdayinc.com/ (maker of the hood rack). He is committed to improving the documentation so that it matches the high quality of his products.

Great stuff made here at home! Definitely worth a look if you need to add utility to our RTVs to take them beyond a golf carts on steroids

 

[Monster5601]

My Great Day hood rack showed up for my RTV900. I though I was good to go with the installation, after all, I had good pictures to work from thanks to Al.

Surprise, I guess Kubota has more than one front brush guard design, mine is different than the one in Al's pictures. Regardless, I found a way to get the hood rack installed. It took drilling new holes on the mounting brackets and having to notch the tubing where the rack support hooks to the ROP mounted receiving brackets.

Very nice rack, well made and priced right. Good value if you don't mind the little bit of extra effort in getting it installed.