quote:

Originally posted by ThunTiger:

.....So new question is:

Those of you that use quads for property maintenance, what do you ride?

As I mentioned I replaced both of my ATV's with SXS's, a medium size MULE and a small Pioneer 520..





But if I for some reason I had to replace my SXS's with an ATV right now it'd be the one I recommended to my friend which is the same as you're now considering; a Rubicon 520 with power steering and a little trailer to pull behind it when I had to haul stuff.

So after traveling to both the JD and Kubota dealerships in addition to the Japanese bike shops and some things were immediately apparent.

1). I’m not going to be able to hop on an ATV and manhandle it like you have to forever. The Honda salesman was adamant the power steering would solve all that. It would be really convenient to have though.

2) SXS are popular for a reason. We are probably going to get a used Mule or Gator. This is JD country so Gators come up for auction more than the Mules.

3) Tractors in JD’s 1 and 2 series are not big enough leaps in utility for the price IMHO.
The X series is just a huge lawn mower. Also, the load rating for some of the front loaders was surprisingly low. A neighbor has an older JD 4110 I am going to check out. I realized I would be yanking trees around a lot and that’s not happening with the X series.
Kubota makes some really nice machines for the money. They will get my business if I buy new, but, that’s a huge investment.

Thanks for all the input

Enjoying this thread and learning. I will be needing something in a year or 2.

quote:

Originally posted by ThunTiger:

2) SXS are popular for a reason. We are probably going to get a used Mule or Gator. This is JD country so Gators come up for auction more than the Mules.

For reliability I would suggest a MULE over a JD Gator. I'm not anti Deere I have a Deere tractor but I hear more complaints on Gators than MULEs, and Gators generally are more expensive. Having said that if shopping used for about the same money, I'd pick a nice low hour Gator over a marginal higher hour MULE. Just for reference you can buy a MULE Pro MX with power steering brand new with 3 year warranty for under $15K.

When you test ride one take notice of how smoothly (or abruptly) they start off. Some are jerky which can be really annoying, particularly trying to back up to a trailer or inch up to something say in a garage. Others utilize a wet clutch along with the CVT and are very smooth starting off.

From my experience having both, a lockable open rear differential (sometimes referred as "turf mode") is very desirable and something most if not all ATV's do not have. Every time you turn an ATV or locked SXS it's skidding one tire and the sharper you turn the harder it is on the trail or lawn. One thing I don't like about the Pioneer 520 is its always locked rear axle.

You already mentioned wanting power steering which I think is wise
.

quote:

3) Tractors in JD’s 1 and 2 series are not big enough leaps in utility for the price IMHO.
The X series is just a huge lawn mower. Also, the load rating for some of the front loaders was surprisingly low. A neighbor has an older JD 4110 I am going to check out. I realized I would be yanking trees around a lot and that’s not happening with the X series.
Kubota makes some really nice machines for the money. They will get my business if I buy new, but, that’s a huge investment.

Not sure how much a 4110 has but another problem with many of the smaller tractors is they don't have a lot of ground clearance for taking them over stuff in the woods. For instance I'd avoid Kubota's BX and start with a B or L series. For my tractor, that sees time in the woods, the most useful implement by far is a grapple on the loader, much more so than the bucket. But as mentioned grapples are pretty expensive.

TBH I've never encountered any tree too much to drag because if so just section it in shorter lengths. The only time I drag a tree is if I just want it off a trail and it won't be cut into firewood, such as a rotted one, a pine or soft maple. I carry a strap and Stihl saw in my SXS just for such use. I'm impressed how large a downed tree the MULE in low range and 4WD can pull, and it's a little smaller and more maneuverable pulling between other trees than the tractor.

If I can get the tractor in the area I sometimes cut downed trees to 6-7' lengths and move them with the tractor. Here I was cleaning up a couple cherry trees that a storm took down near a trail. I used the grapple to gather and pile up the cut limbs then carried sections back to the house to process for firewood.




Here I was reopening a trail from the same storm damage. There were 15 or more larger oaks that were uprooted like the one barely showing in the bottom left which I've just left. But there were 3 like that which fell across that trail I've already cleared and I still have 2 remaining. That's where the tractor is really helpful because with the SXS even if I sectioned some of the trunk pieces to 16-18" I wouldn't be able to lift them up into the bed or on to a splitter. The trail is wide enough I could carry 6-7' lengths back to the house. The smaller limbs and branches were just piled up.
I should add that I could have managed to drag the trunk off the trail with the MULE if I cut into short pieces.

A tractor, skidsteer can actually do the work. Atv's and SXS's. You have to do the work. They can get you to it and in the case of a SxS can haul stuff. But you have to actually load it. So it really depends on what you want to accomplish. What the type and volume of what you want to do. You can do things like trail ride with atv's and SxS but that is not work.