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...

 

[shooterdon]

Perhaps some of you very wise farmers out there can direct me to determining what UTV/RTV to purchase for my new farm. It will need to have 4 seats (Family) and a lift bed. Kubota is an interesting one. Any help would be appreciated. A couple of things. Farm is 22 acres of pasture, few trees in North Texas. Plan to have cattle, orchard, vegetable and berry farm.

Recommending what you use for steep hills...or mucky terrain...or handling in narrow and tight spaces...or rocky terrain...etc etc. may not necessarily help the OP. Pasture with a few trees is a pretty tame environment. But I have not visited north Texas so maybe their pasture land is more challenging than what we have in Michigan.

 

[jyoutz]

Perhaps some of you very wise farmers out there can direct me to determining what UTV/RTV to purchase for my new farm. It will need to have 4 seats (Family) and a lift bed. Kubota is an interesting one. Any help would be appreciated. A couple of things. Farm is 22 acres of pasture, few trees in North Texas. Plan to have cattle, orchard, vegetable and berry farm.

Take a look at the Kawasaki mules. They are reliable and tough as nails.

 

[nybirdman]

Those look nice.

After a little research the Yanmars ARE built by Yamaha.Yamaha has been good to me.I doubt of the Yanmars are any cheaper.

 

[Paystar]

I've owned all kinds of ATV's and have driven 200 horsepower turbo 1000's of both Can Am and Polaris.

I ONLY want my RTV-X1100C. Might be slow but it will pull all those other ATV's like a train. They might have 200 h.p. but I got 2500 pounds, LOL And one look at the chassis, driveline and components compared to a "toy" ATV/UTV.....no comparison.

Plus better warranty, and for those that finance Kubota has 0% and KTAC insurance.

But that's just my opinion. I had my years of going fast. Now I like a dump truck that can work and play.

Just replied in another thread.....I haul a full load of pit run gravel up this hill with AC on at 7 to 10 MPH. So yes it's slower than the others, but it will do it for years stress free.

 

[s219]

I've had a Kubota RTV-X1120 since 2015 and it's been great. Never had any problems with hills. I routinely climb a steep hill that requires low and 4WD, with no issues. If I am on the road traveling at top speed in high gear (28mph) I might lose 4-5mph by the top of a long hill but that's the nature of HST. Just like a tractor, you can always back off the pedal to run at a lower effective gear ratio. You can also add a hand-throttle kit to allow you to independently control HST and throttle (by default they are linked which is fine 90% of the time).

I've worked with many other brands of machines that my neighbors own, and feel like Kubota is really in their own niche. With the hydraulics and other capabilities, there is no comparison if you want something that works hard. Many of the other brands have an electrically driven hydraulic pump for the dump bed and it's a joke compared to the real hydraulics on the Kubota. You have to experience it for yourself to understand. Let's just say I am very underwhelmed when I see the other machines dump a load (slow and feeble is a good way to describe it).

 

[kenmac]

We bought a Kawasaki Mule 4010 Trans4X4 for our 14 acres. It is used almost every day. It pulls the manure spreader and the 25 gallon sprayer. As it does not go above 25 MPH it is not required to have doors or side nets. Makes getting in and out easy for picking up trash, fixing fence, etc. Added a windshield and AudioFormz fiberglass roof with lights and stereo.

View attachment 720234

where did you source that windshield ?

 

[kenmac]

I have the Kawsaki 4010 trans. It's a great work machine. But when you need to chase cows down you may as well run on foot. @ 25 mph, the cows just out run me.
and laugh ! LOL
My next machine will have more speed !

Friend of mine has Kubota, and the thing about it is, being HST, when you let off the gas pedal, it stops. No coasting to a stop, it just stops !

 

[jwmorris]

Our place is a lot bigger than 22 acres and we have a RZR 900 that is more of an entertainment tool as is the T-Rex. Neither are very user friendly to work on and both have little plastic “beds”, have doors/seating positions that make getting in and out more effort. The Ranger has a bit bigger bed, is smaller and more maneuverable. The 4010 and 3010 Mules are more work horses. The trans mule looses bed space in front/rear seat configuration but you can fold up the rear seats and have the bigger bed, when you need the space for work and your help abandons you.

They are also limited to ~25 mph, so if you have faster “Toys” around, they get torn up instead of the one you need to work with.

Also, if you are chasing your cows around, you are doing it wrong. Feed them range cubes from a 5 gallon bucket. Next time you want them somewhere get that bucket and put anything in it that will make noise, rocks work fine. Drive to where they are and shake the bucket, as they are running towards you, drive to the location you want them to be at. Yeah, not as fun as running them around with your new machine but you can work smart or hard…

What is your intended use?

 

[ultrarunner]

I have the Kawsaki 4010 trans. It's a great work machine. But when you need to chase cows down you may as well run on foot. @ 25 mph, the cows just out run me.
and laugh ! LOL
My next machine will have more speed !

Friend of mine has Kubota, and the thing about it is, being HST, when you let off the gas pedal, it stops. No coasting to a stop, it just stops !

The stopping part is the reason we went HST for the tree farm and capped top speed…

 

[AGreenFarmer]

Recommending what you use for steep hills...or mucky terrain...or handling in narrow and tight spaces...or rocky terrain...etc etc. may not necessarily help the OP. Pasture with a few trees is a pretty tame environment. But I have not visited north Texas so maybe their pasture land is more challenging than what we have in Michigan.

Nope, not challenging... Not hilly ... just a nice gentle sloped land.