Side by Side or 4x4

[tradosaurus]

I have a mini truck and a sxs.

The sxs beats the mini truck off road 1000 times over.

Mini truck beats the sxs on road 1000 times over.

I just use the tractor on my property and real truck on the road

Both sxs and mini truck are for sale

I have a tractor and couldn't get into spaces that my SXS can. We also like to take our SXS out on country roads every now and then.

What I find funny are people who buy a SXS and then spend $$$$ to make it a car and then complain about all the road noise.

 

[ArlyA]

If by "running up and down the mountains" you mean staying on pavement the entire time then a truck all day long. If you meant going on trails of unknown widths I would go SXS.
We bought our Pioneer 700-4 for mostly work around our property. The dump bed makes it nice. The drawback for us on the SXS is how loud it is at top speed. When you add a roof and a windshield it makes it even louder.

We solved this by utilizing aircraft headsets so we can talk to each other and drown out the noise. We use a battery powered intercom for the headsets to plug in.

All the modern UTV's and ATV's I've operated are pretty quiet.

 

[tradosaurus]

All the modern UTV's and ATV's I've operated are pretty quiet.

I have a 2019 Honda Pioneer. I'm on SXS forums. And "pretty quiet" was never two words I've ever heard to describe an SXS of any brand.

 

[LouNY]

In the woods and on rough trails there is no way a normal mini-truck or jeep will stay with a sxs.
On the road there's no way a sxs will compare with a pickup or jeep.
Different vehicles different roles.

This winter my nephew has been doing some logging on the farms wood lots, he is working by himself so one of my other
brothers or I go up and just sit and watch him while he's dropping tree's as just a safety watch and putter a bit helping some.
There is no way you would get a jeep with normal tires and wheels up those skidder roads and a mini-truck couldn't do a 1/4 of them.
Even the side by side has trouble some times.

My side by side is a bit larger then many it will seat 3 abreast comfortably, and this winter I put a soft cab on it and even added a heater to it.

The cab heater is a chinese diesel air heater, works just like a hot air furnace. Easily warms the cab up and makes it comfortable.

 

[Eagle1]

Today many SXS are bigger than the old jeeps you need "roads" or open country to operate them. I live in thick forest and pasture/hay field county. My little Honda Rancher can barely fit between trees to go off trail when I want. SxS need to carry saws to get turned around if they head off trail.
Everyone seems to think driving a logging road is off road, not understanding a Semi fully loaded made many trips down that road. Then they hit the Skidder tracks and get in trouble.

 

[NoTrespassing]

My wife and I have been looking at getting a side by side for running up and down the mountains in southeast KY. It seems the cheap ones start at about 8000 and they go up from there. The JD Gators can easily be 25000. Even used the resale seems fairly high for what it is.
My daughter was looking at a 2013 RAM 4x4 shortbed - 185000 miles. It was $6500. I took it for a test drive and it seemed fine - it needs a new heater core which I'm factoring in.

I can't really see why the side by sides are so high when a truck like this probably can about everything for just driving around the homestead - and maybe once in a while driving into town.

Why would someone get a gator/side by side if you can get a beater 4x4 truck for less money? What am I missing here?
What are you thoughts on this?

Some people don't wrench on vehicles. They like new "trouble free" stuff. I personally hate working on my vehicles and luckily I still have an old mechanic that gives a cash discount and can be trusted.

 

[BryceSteiner]

These are all good points and I appreciate the posting. The shortbed RAM for sale was just what got me thinking about using a beater 4x4 instead of SxS.
The old jeep or mini trucks seem okay but might not be suitable. Off road tires would make a difference.
This gives me a lot of think about and opens up my options.

 

[jezreel]

It really depends on your property and what you WANT to drive. I have a new truck, but kept my 1999 Dodge Ram 4x4 for the property (39 acres. 70% woods with trails). For my property, I find the Truck is Way better, because I can put way more stuff in the bed. It has A/C and heat. I also have all the room inside to put stuff. Sure the SxS would be Fun to drive, but at a minimum for a 2 seat, gas powered, 4x4 SxS, you’re really looking at $10k Used, to $16k New. i Just couldn’t pay $16k for a SxS when I could get a real nice used truck for that. But. . . And I say, But. . . SxSs have their proper use, as many have said, depending on property and use. For my property and use, I kept my old truck. If I had the disposable $$$, I’d get a SxS.

 

[EddieWalker]

I started out with an old golf cart that only had two gears. It was pretty good at getting around my place, but not very useful for anything. When it finally died, I wanted to replace it with something that had a bed in the back to haul stuff, but didn't think I needed anything more then that. I was willing to spend a couple grand, but didn't want to spend anymore then I had to. Once I started looking, I realized that a couple grand wouldn't buy me anything that I wanted. I never found anything that was used that I wanted to own. Thanks to some comments on here from thread I started on buying a UTV, I started looking at new ones. With financing, it was doable to buy what I wanted. I struggled with paying that much money for something that I considered more of a toy then anything else, but eventually, I bought a brand new Kawasaki 4x4 Trans Mule for $8,000 or maybe a little more. It's proven to be the most used thing on my land, and if it died tomorrow, I would be obsessed with replacing it. We can haul 4 people in it, but when we've had parties, twice that many have squeezed into it. We haul boxes to the burn pile, fishing gear to the pond, run to the mail box, and haul the garbage can to the road with it. Somebody uses it just about every day, it's the only thing that gets used on a daily basis.

Current prices are crazy, but in my opinion, they will just keep going up. Find something you really like, figure out the best way to finance it, and go for it. I took out a five year loan on mine, and paid it off in two years. I like the option of having the smallest payment possible, but then paying more every month.

My parents are in their 80's and they where hauling branches from their yard in it yesterday. This picture is a few years old, but it shows how much they enjoy using it.



It's also been great for splitting firewood. I haul the splitter to my rounds, and one tank of fuel in the log splitter will fill up the bed.



I even use it to pull my home made sprayer



And of course, sometimes it just a lot of fun to play in the mud. This is my wife in one of our fields.

 

[ArlyA]

I started out with an old golf cart that only had two gears. It was pretty good at getting around my place, but not very useful for anything. When it finally died, I wanted to replace it with something that had a bed in the back to haul stuff, but didn't think I needed anything more then that. I was willing to spend a couple grand, but didn't want to spend anymore then I had to. Once I started looking, I realized that a couple grand wouldn't buy me anything that I wanted. I never found anything that was used that I wanted to own. Thanks to some comments on here from thread I started on buying a UTV, I started looking at new ones. With financing, it was doable to buy what I wanted. I struggled with paying that much money for something that I considered more of a toy then anything else, but eventually, I bought a brand new Kawasaki 4x4 Trans Mule for $8,000 or maybe a little more. It's proven to be the most used thing on my land, and if it died tomorrow, I would be obsessed with replacing it. We can haul 4 people in it, but when we've had parties, twice that many have squeezed into it. We haul boxes to the burn pile, fishing gear to the pond, run to the mail box, and haul the garbage can to the road with it. Somebody uses it just about every day, it's the only thing that gets used on a daily basis.

Current prices are crazy, but in my opinion, they will just keep going up. Find something you really like, figure out the best way to finance it, and go for it. I took out a five year loan on mine, and paid it off in two years. I like the option of having the smallest payment possible, but then paying more every month.

My parents are in their 80's and they where hauling branches from their yard in it yesterday. This picture is a few years old, but it shows how much they enjoy using it.

View attachment 786125

It's also been great for splitting firewood. I haul the splitter to my rounds, and one tank of fuel in the log splitter will fill up the bed.

View attachment 786126

I even use it to pull my home made sprayer

View attachment 786127

And of course, sometimes it just a lot of fun to play in the mud. This is my wife in one of our fields.

View attachment 786128

It was the same for us. We got our 1st 6x6 which as a junk hauling box on it for 12 jobs we had, then subsequently found another thousand jobs it was wonderful at. Like dragging a compost frame through the yard.

 

[bigtiller]

When my gator isn't working, it is still getting used almost daily as a work bench, leaning post, or lawn chair.

 

[tacticalturnip]

We do trail work each summer and did use a Ford ranger to get in and do that. Guess what we use today?

I tried to talk my wife into one of these one day; no, she insists we get a side-by-side!

I love those 6-wheelers you've posted; you had an older one before, right?

[EDIT]: If I'd of scrolled down before posting I'd have answered my own question, lol.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Just get a riding mower at a yard sale. I've gotten good ones for 100.00. Put a wide seat snow chains on rear, winch on front. 200.00 and you can travel. That's real beater money. I use 79 and older pickups myself, my 74 has been squeezed down to sxs width because it has flat sides from trees. I bought it from an old fella that repaired tires on the spot, mobile repair. Logging woods tires. But, runs great. Been running great since I got it. 1992, right after returning from military. I won't hesitate to drive it on a 100 mile trip either. Drove it to Shreveport to pick up something a while back. Manual steering, manual 4 spd transmission, manual transfer case with only 2 and 4 (no low range ever), manual brakes, no radio, no AC, optional lap belts, and I put those in. It will go zero to sixty eventually. No really it has a good running 300 cid six cylinder, plenty of power. Simple as an 8N tractor.

 

[TN8Man]

I bought a Kodiak 450 quad 8 years ago for utility work on the property and some fun. It was my first atv and found it very useful and needed but it has its limitations. So I recently sold it and got the Ranger 1000 Sport. It can do much more for me with room for the wife and dog. The towing capability will come in real handy and trail riding is great.

 

[fuchifarm]

Ive been seeing better prices show up on Facebook marketplace lately. I picked up a 2002 6x4 diesel Gator with roof for $2k this week. It has 2k hours but runs good. Handles the soft ground really well. There was a 4x4 2006 gas gator for $2200 last week. Currently there is a gas 6x4 listed at $2200 right now.

I've also seen several 2wd trail wagons in the $1500 to $2500 lately. There are reasonably priced machines out there you just need to keep an eye out on marketplace few times a day and be ready to jump on a deal. I missed a nice 2018 diesel kubota rtv with 800 hours for $5k recently.

 

[mred2]

I have a 590 gator. It goes places you would never try a truck. between trees that my tractor can't go. My tractor is too heavy for the yard, so it is the wheel barrel for dirt for the yard. Also use it to fix fence and spray apple trees, get mail and haul trash to the road. It is cheap on gas. I try to use the best tool for the job.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Get a Maxhindra Roxor Turbo Diesel......it's like an old jeep. But new.....they go for around $16k

 

[wolc123]

My vote is for the 4x4. When my old pickup rusted to the point that it wouldn’t pass state inspection, I took it up to my father in law’s place up in the mountains. He uses it to to keep the driveways and logging roads up there open in the winter with a snowplow, and I use it for hunting in the fall.

It works better than a side by side for that, because the closed cab holds my scent in and let’s me get downwind of the deer, without spooking them as I drive upwind and past their holding areas. That technique worked so good up there, that I picked up an old Durango to use on our farm at home.

The closed cabs are also nice if it starts raining when I’m back at the range, because I can keep all my shooting supplies under cover.

The suspension on that Durango is real nice, providing a very smooth ride thru the ditches. That on the 3/4 ton pickup, not so much.

 

[Eagle1]

Got a Durango no way it would fit between trees or jump the down logs like my ATV. I can get mine up to the cattle but NO way it would make it through the mud at the gate much of the year. My 2 tractors can't but my ATV pulls a little trailer without fail. It really really depends on what terrain you have and what you want to accomplish. Not much flat and lots of trails that are 48 to 50 inches wide and would take a lot of backhoe work to widen.

 

[wolc123]

Got a Durango no way it would fit between trees or jump the down logs like my ATV. I can get mine up to the cattle but NO way it would make it through the mud at the gate much of the year. My 2 tractors can't but my ATV pulls a little trailer without fail. It really really depends on what terrain you have and what you want to accomplish. Not much flat and lots of trails that are 48 to 50 inches wide and would take a lot of backhoe work to widen.

I try to stay out of the mud, but I almost buried that old Durango last Thanksgiving, shortly after that photo was taken. It was fine on the hayfield and the lanes, but I took a shortcut across a turnip plot, that had been worked up and planted last August.

I felt the wheels start to slip, so I put the hammer down. The wide Cooper tires dug in pretty good and somehow kept me going until I made it thru. I’m sure I’m going to have some nasty ruts to patch up after things dry out this spring.