Farm UTV/RTV Purchase

[deserteagle71]

And the people suggesting a beater pickup, no way in heck will a pickup get anywhere close to many of the places the side by sides or ATV's
go on the farm. For that matter there is not a tractor on the farm that could go many of the places the SxS's go, they would be buried and
laying on ground with the bellys buried.

Exactly.
I have a couple pickups - and a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. All great rigs but too big and TOO HEAVY for a lot of situations. The Rubicon is ~ 5,000lb and the pickups - even the aluminum F150 - are a lot more. My Can-am Defender is under 2,000lb, even with a full cab on it. With those soft balloon tires on it, it will float over terrain that will sink heavier vehicles. It is also narrower than any of my other vehicles, and compared to them it will turn on a dime.
And should I decide I need to go for a ride in the mountains behind my house, the suspension and soft tires on the Can-am smooth out that rough and rocky road like nothing else.

 

[Borane4]

Another vote for a Kawasaki Mule F=Oro-FXXT. My wife bought a used one and it is her favorite vehicle. It flies - I think it goes 45 MPH - and can hit a standard curb at 20MPH and just absorb it. We have rough pastures and dont even lift off the gas. It has two bench seats and can fit 6 people (tight). The back seat drops to make enough bed to hold a pallet and 1000lbs. No dump function in back tho.

 

[Snobdds]

I have a polaris rzr turbo for the ranch/cabin and my dad has a ranger. He also put a topper on it for the dogs, as he takes his everywhere. I break up the road in the spring with the rzr, its the only thing with enough power to make it most of the way before getting stuck. We both have old school toyota trucks for the ranch also, in fact just painted one. They are the best in the winter, their heaters kick ass.

The rzr is crazy power and can only really be used areas with lots of road. Which I have. I can get from the house to the lake in like 2 minutes, where a tuck would take 8 minutes. You buy them for fun, I use the trucks for work.

 

[ericm979]

If you can get a two-row side by side somewhere, you can get a tractor or a pickup truck there too.

I disagree with that. My land is steep and wooded. I can take our Honda Pioneer 700 places I'd never take a truck. I had a beater Toyota 4x4 for a while and it was pretty much useless on our land. It's too steep and the ground is too sandy. If your land is flat and open and the ground is not soft, then yes a beater truck may do. Though Toyota 4x4s are not going to be easy to find cheap like they were 20 years ago.

The Pioneer's dump bed holds about 4 wheelbarrows worth. But the important thing is that the machine is moving the load, not you. So you save energy for the task that the dump or wheelbarrow is for. I also got a dump bed ATV trailer which can go off road pretty well and carries a lot more. I use the Pioneer often when I am cutting brush or felling trees, to carry my saws and all the other gear out to where I am working.

Motorcycles can be fun (I have had a lot of them) but it's not for everyone.

 

[mred2]

I have a Deere 590E, can be purchased in 2 or 4 seater.
I added windshield, a must have for me.
Use it everyday to go to barn to feed. Very little gas usage.
It will go between trees and turn around in tight places.
It is for work and not play.
And at the time, it was the only one that was in stock. And I mean that I purchased the last one in stock. If you want one, it may come down to what you can find. After hunting season, you might get a better deal.

 

[AGreenFarmer]

I just mentioned the Yanmar Bull (3-seat) and Yanmar longhorn (6-seat) in my previous post. Its worth noting that they are the same thing as the vikings. I think yamaha builds them for yanmar (but I could have that backwards)

Those look nice.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

As a retired couple here deep in the far north bush, this was our experience..

We went to 2 John Deere dealers and one of two Kubota dealers in our area... We telling them we want a no frills, side by side 2 person, 4x4, cargo bed UTV..

Pretty much all the models they had were the go fast, bounce high trendy machines.. As thought they rehearsed this together they said pretty much to the word ...this is what we can sell you, you will not find what you think you want... Of course my answer to this was ...you want to bet..

The other Kubota dealer in our area is a family business run by a local Mennonite family... We told them what we wanted.. There answer was ....follow me... We bought an RTV 400 in camo...

PEPE is named after the get away vehicle in the date night action movie "Romancing the Stone" with Mike Douglas..

Needless to say.... PEPE has been a VERY useful tool around our patch of bush..

We have been in these other dealers for various reasons and have had them ask ...you still looking for a UTV ??... My answer has been ...no, you blew that opportunity long ago..

 

[deezler]

Another vote for a Kawasaki Mule F=Oro-FXXT. My wife bought a used one and it is her favorite vehicle. It flies - I think it goes 45 MPH - and can hit a standard curb at 20MPH and just absorb it. We have rough pastures and dont even lift off the gas. It has two bench seats and can fit 6 people (tight). The back seat drops to make enough bed to hold a pallet and 1000lbs. No dump function in back tho.

Huh? Your Mule Pro FXT definitely can dump its bed. On the 2-row models, it looks like you have to remove a piece of the roof to clear when dumping, not awesome, but doable.

 

[mo1]

Interesting advice. Part of the plan for the side by side is let me teenage daughters drive around the property... a bit safer then a dirt bike. However good thoughts to think about.

I learned to drive on a tractor and a pickup truck in the fields.

 

[ultrarunner]

When faced with similar back in 1997 I picked up Suzuki Samurai with 5spd for the grand sum $1025

24 years later I can say I would do again in heartbeat...

It was cheap because of a loud transmission which turned out to be a bad bearing... the kit was $80 plus while in replaced the clutch disk...