JD is discontinuing making ATV's

[gordon21]

This was copied from the JD site tonight. What ATV's did they make??

August 18, 2006 - John Deere has announced to employees and dealers that the company will exit the All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) business in North America and Canada.

John Deere will remain and strengthen its presence in the global utility vehicle market – a segment the company created more than 15 years ago with the Gator™ Utility Vehicle product line.

John Deere is the world's leading manufacturer of agricultural equipment and leading supplier of equipment used in lawn, grounds and turf care; and a major manufacturer of construction equipment. Additionally, John Deere manufactures engines used in heavy equipment and provides financial services and other related activities that support the core businesses. Since it was first founded in 1837, the company has established a heritage of quality products and services providing performance that endures to customers worldwide.

 

[Willl]

What ATV's did they make??

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/GT/category/gt_atv.html

 

[jeffinsgf]

Well, technically, they nevery MADE an ATV. Bombardier made them with JD emblems.

Okay, does this make the ones on dealers showroom floors more or less valuable?

 

[darkday]

For a second I thought that you meant UTVs. Whew. Now any updates on the 07 gator ?

 

[gordon21]

Not a word about 07 gators. I checked every international site they had hoping to find some info that was released elsewhere earlier than the USA. No luck. I sent an e-mail to JD asking about news over the weekend, but no response from them yet. It is interesting to see the variety of equipment sold in other countries. They get models we don't even know about. The biggest thing that stnds out is the lack of USA required safety equipment in foreign models. No roll bars on Gators overseas and most of the tractor pictures did not show any ROPS.

 

[jcmseven]

The word on the new Gators is independent front and rear suspension with substantially more travel, fuel injected gasoline engine and diesel option, more payload capacity, fully engagable front and rear four wheel drive (limited slips) and a higher top speed, somewhere in the mid 30's. I have not heard for sure about power steering, but it would not surprise me. Interesting little snippet though.

John M

 

[darkday]

The word on the new Gators is independent front and rear suspension with substantially more travel, fuel injected gasoline engine and diesel option, more payload capacity, fully engagable front and rear four wheel drive (limited slips) and a higher top speed, somewhere in the mid 30's. I have not heard for sure about power steering, but it would not surprise me. Interesting little snippet though.

John M

HPX already has the independent suspension, true 4wd, both the TS line and the HPX have a diesel option (owned one of each). I don't want PS just one more thing to go wrong, add weight, take away hp, and one less thing to keep me in shape. So that leaves me with nothing but a better top speed for improvements I want.

 

[jcmseven]

Well, you are partially correct. It is true, but as you and I know the Gator has limited wheel travel and acheives much of its suspension from the frame "swing arm" for lack of a better word. The word is that the travel of this suspension will be a lot more and the suspension will become more sophisticated to compete with the longer travel fully independent UTV's out there. The powerplants are to be improved with regard to power and torque and the top speed increased to be more competitive with the faster UTV's. The MFWD, even with the limited slip, was in need of freshening and apparently will get some updates to become more of a "true" four wheel drive. It also likely has to be revamped to get full benefit from the suspension changes. I concur with you though that the current Gator is a fine machine, and I may or may not myself get a new one when they come out. I do think though that these findings indicate JD is serious about directly competing with some of the higher performance (speed) UTV's out there while maintaining the work benefits of the current machine. To me, it is not just a change in top speed, but also improvements in ride quality, load carrying and towing and true off-road capablity that they seek and perhaps they will achieve them. I would not be disappointed just yet as no one I know has actually SEEN one of these machines, just gotten the specs and the word on the production goals and rough release dates. I realize that the JD line already has a gas and diesel model, but with increased power and FE for the gas model, that would be quite an upgrade. I personally would like to see Power Steering, as it has reached a point of good reliability and would really ease operation in certain circumstances.

John M

 

[darkday]

I never really realized how inferrior our suspension systems until a couple days ago when I saw a video comparing the ranger to the gator. To me it was quite a system coming from a 6x4 with nothing in the back. Im not going to complain about it but it sure did look cozy on that ranger. I think your right about the importance of JD wanting to compete more not just in speed but obviously all around that in itself is something that good to know. Another thing that I didn't know until awhile back when I was looking into buying the HPX that I now own was that the gas gators were still carburated. I can't imagine wanting something like that so Im guessing that in itself will generate some more revenue. I guess I won't be getting a new gator ever anyway. Especially since I don't need anymore pulling power, all I pull is my little aluminum boat. I wondering what that entails though because in the manual for the HPX it says "do not pull more then 1300 pounds or braking may become hazardous" or something to that effect leading me to believe if you just beefed up the brakes you could get more towing capacity out of it.