Need utility Side by Side

[grsthegreat]

I have a 8 year old Ranger 570, the only maintenance I have done is its yearly lubrication schedule and fuel it as needed.
I do use non ethanol fuel, but no more that it sips, that is only 3/4 times a year.
I am finally about to need some tires, surprised they have lasted this long.

Anyone have a tire supplier recommendation?

I just ordered a set of tires for my kawasaki mule off of amazon. Alot cheaper than the dealer wanted. The tire store in town will mount entire set for $64 incl disposal of old tires. I was going to buy a tire changer from harbor freight, but for $64 ill let the pros do it.

Les schaub tires wanted nearly $200 to swap out .

 

[lilranch2001]

I’ll have to look at Amazon but, I get a little leery about some of the stuff I get from Amazon. If it’s not namebrand, it’s many times kind of junkie.

 

[deserteagle71]

I just ordered a set of tires for my kawasaki mule off of amazon. Alot cheaper than the dealer wanted. The tire store in town will mount entire set for $64 incl disposal of old tires. I was going to buy a tire changer from harbor freight, but for $64 ill let the pros do it.

Les schaub tires wanted nearly $200 to swap out .

This is how I do it all the time. Buy the tires on-line and have a local tire dealer install them. Heard from those who've tried it that even using a tire machine, changing an ATV or UTV tire is MUCH harder than changing a car or truck tire.

 

[grsthegreat]

I’ll have to look at Amazon but, I get a little leery about some of the stuff I get from Amazon. If it’s not namebrand, it’s many times kind of junkie.

Its the same manufacturer of the original tires from 2012. So they should be same exact quality. They arrived today. Very heavy duty. And super stiff. I dont even want to try a manual tire changer on these bad boys. No give.

 

[rontaki]

Same with my SxS. No Revs to worry about, but batteries last longer in M. H is only for very short runs along our road to visit neighbors. L only for a couple of steep spots and when towing a heavily loaded trailer.

Sounds just like the settings on my Ranger EV. Power switch with L M H positions. They only affect how the motor controller feeds the motor, not actual gears.
I find M to be so gutless that I only use it if I'm desperate to try and limp home with a discharged battery. L is great for low-speed precicion control, might produce more torque than H but I've never tested that nor has it felt torquier, although it tends to give more of an abrupt start than the other settings. H works well at any speed, of course higher than L will go.
I don't worry about batttery efficiency as long as there is sufficient charge, as I like to keep it topped up before any kind of road or longer trip.
Never had to change a belt, oil or filter, nor adjust timing or valve clearance. Just once had to change batterie$$$$$$$$. Lithium, so no watering nor flushing the acid overspill from the frame.

 

[rontaki]

This is how I do it all the time. Buy the tires on-line and have a local tire dealer install them. Heard from those who've tried it that even using a tire machine, changing an ATV or UTV tire is MUCH harder than changing a car or truck tire.

I tried changing the small tires on my ZT mower, replacing the ZT (Zero Traction) turf tread with bar-tread tires. I managed to get one of the rims stuck inside the tire between the sidewalls. One tire shop took one look and said they couldn't do it, although they were actually able to.
The aggressive tread makes it so there is less to mow, due to all the divots I make. It's just grass/weed control, doesn't have to look pretty, nor will it. I'm probably killing star thistle, I'll weep later about that.

 

[Torvy]

Sounds just like the settings on my Ranger EV. Power switch with L M H positions. They only affect how the motor controller feeds the motor, not actual gears.
I find M to be so gutless that I only use it if I'm desperate to try and limp home with a discharged battery. L is great for low-speed precicion control, might produce more torque than H but I've never tested that nor has it felt torquier, although it tends to give more of an abrupt start than the other settings. H works well at any speed, of course higher than L will go.
I don't worry about batttery efficiency as long as there is sufficient charge, as I like to keep it topped up before any kind of road or longer trip.
Never had to change a belt, oil or filter, nor adjust timing or valve clearance. Just once had to change batterie$$$$$$$$. Lithium, so no watering nor flushing the acid overspill from the frame.

Mine is 95% a work unit. "Trips" are around my 20 acres or down the road to a neighbor (under a mile). Running out of juice is never a real issue, just my cheap backside pinching pennies. L definitely has more oomph than M. H gives me about 10 mph additional top speed but really only useful on the semi-paved road.

 

[ning]

I tried changing the small tires on my ZT mower, replacing the ZT (Zero Traction) turf tread with bar-tread tires. I managed to get one of the rims stuck inside the tire between the sidewalls. One tire shop took one look and said they couldn't do it, although they were actually able to.
The aggressive tread makes it so there is less to mow, due to all the divots I make. It's just grass/weed control, doesn't have to look pretty, nor will it. I'm probably killing star thistle, I'll weep later about that.

I put carlisle "Super lug" (R1-style tread) 20x10-8 on the back of my riding mower in 2017 - huge traction increase which is good for my hill, and also replaced the fronts with the same turf type that was on it then. The turf fronts balded in the next 7 years and last year I put 15x6.00-6 "R1" type tires on the front (and now it can turn the direction that the wheels are pointing!).

Did both swaps at home with motorcycle tire irons and ratchet straps. Considering I've almost never done non-bicycle tires (never did use the tire irons for the motorcycle) I think it went pretty well.

FWIW, the rears on the mower (from the 2017 change) are still in fantastic condition (so are the front, but those are only a year old), particularly considering the mower sleeps outside.

 

[grsthegreat]

I just ordered a set of tires for my kawasaki mule off of amazon. Alot cheaper than the dealer wanted. The tire store in town will mount entire set for $64 incl disposal of old tires. I was going to buy a tire changer from harbor freight, but for $64 ill let the pros do it.

Les schaub tires wanted nearly $200 to swap out .

Got them mounted and installed. They only charged $53 to mount new tires and disposed of old ones. They look great. Should help get around better this winter snow season.

 

[LindenBruce]

Today most CVT drives also have a wet clutch, so the belt is never loose and would not make it jerky.. What machines are always changing belts in??

Kawasaki Mules and John Deer. B.

 

[LindenBruce]

When the lead acid batteries in my Polaris Ranger EV wire out, I spent a little extra money to convey to lithium batteries. 500 lbs. lighter!, no watering ever. Should last 4x longer as well. With lithium, you can use all the rated capacity without damaging the battery; lead acid batteries are permanently wounded by discharging past about ½ of their rated capability. Deep-discharge lead acid batteries can handle that better, still not as well as lithium batteries.

In my case, the lithium batteries were almost direct drop in, the only change I made was to the wiring and adding the charger that came with the batteries. I left the original charger wired into the EV (except to charging the lithiums) ,to avoid having to make other writing changes.

El Hefe has a three year old HuntVe with 93 miles on it. He admits he never charged it correctly and I bet he never watered the batteries either. Now the batteries are toast with several of them having split cases. Now he wants new batteries. I'm going to try and push him toward lithium's. Because it's 1300 bucks for another set of FLAs. At this rate, the Lithium's will pay back in no time. B.

 

[ArlyA]

Kawasaki Mules and John Deer. B.

Huuuuuummm, something is making those belts fail prematurely.

 

[eolesen]

We have a Honda 700-4D that I get during the week, and my wife gets on the weekends.

I fold the back seats down to get the full use of the bed to haul tools, chain saws, etc around the property, and occasionally carry logs back for the fire ring. Used it today with the winch line to pull out 20 saplings from a new parking area behind the shed, Monday it will be hauling the remnants of a 79ft pine out of the woods (snapped the trunk 10ft above ground in a wind storm...)

Last week, it pulled my dead-at-the-time skid steer on flat ground to get it out of the way for some other work being done, and its hauled loads on the 6x13 trailer we bought at TSC to carry it... Does 38mph between the property and Sonic... we did the street legal kit.

Great tool. Rough riding on trails compared to my son's Kawasaki TerrX, but we turn Sundays into Fundays with it fairly regularly.

 

[jjeff]

Huuuuuummm, something is making those belts fail prematurely.

Towing way more than it should? Aftermarket performance accessories on clutch or other drive line components, if diy possibly installed incorrectly? Only reason bringing this up is someone told me of a Yamaha sxs blowing belts after a performance clutch kit was installed. Knocking on wood but I have yet to blow a belt on any of my Yamahas ultramatic stock Cvts in 20+ yrs of running them.

 

[ArlyA]

Towing way more than it should? Aftermarket performance accessories on clutch or other drive line components, if diy possibly installed incorrectly? Only reason bringing this up is someone told me of a Yamaha sxs blowing belts after a performance clutch kit was installed. Knocking on wood but I have yet to blow a belt on any of my Yamahas ultramatic stock Cvts in 20+ yrs of running them.

Here are pictures of machines I operated and all they ever did was tow for there lives. None had anything done to there drive lines, except maintenance. All have CVT drives.

 

[LindenBruce]

Towing way more than it should? Aftermarket performance accessories on clutch or other drive line components, if diy possibly installed incorrectly? Only reason bringing this up is someone told me of a Yamaha sxs blowing belts after a performance clutch kit was installed. Knocking on wood but I have yet to blow a belt on any of my Yamahas ultramatic stock Cvts in 20+ yrs of running them.

All of the units are bone stock. We use factory CVT belts. Factory clutches when they get replaced. Which is semi frequently as well. I don't understand how these day laborers blow up parts so fast. It boggles my mind. I had a JD Gator 855D recently that blew up a driven clutch. Pieces of it went flying through the belt cover blowing a big hole in the back cover. Unbelievable. B.

 

[jjeff]

All of the units are bone stock. We use factory CVT belts. Factory clutches when they get replaced. Which is semi frequently as well. I don't understand how these day laborers blow up parts so fast. It boggles my mind. I had a JD Gator 855D recently that blew up a driven clutch. Pieces of it went flying through the belt cover blowing a big hole in the back cover. Unbelievable. B.

From what other more knowledgeable people than me have said problems arise when someone messes with the clutches. I've towed, plowed, and run my stock sxs's and 4 wheelers usually at slow speeds trying not to operate them on the border line of moving and being stationary. Anyways at slow speeds, towing, or plowing I use low gear if equipped (my grizzly 350 I plow with occasionally doesn't have low gear) I also never maintain a stationary position on a slope using the throttle, barely engaging the clutch. Probably mentioned before but the primary clutch can and will get very hot, I have seen aftermarket temp gauges available for them I've experienced drive belts so hot they practically disintegrate on some of my older longer track converted snowmobiles . Granted completely different but similar belt driven components and theory.

 

[lilranch2001]

My next-door neighbor, he’s passed away now, of course, but he had a mule, and he beat the holy dog crap out of it, and I don’t ever remember him ever replacing a belt on it.

 

[walhondingMF]

In my experience and the experience of my atv mechanic, the number 1 issue with belts and CV transmissions is operator error. Using the atv in HIGH range under any significant load will lead to belt issues. My sportsman 500 that I changed the springs in and ran heavy maxxis bighorns on never had a belt issue in 13 years. I was obsessive about using LOW range.

 

[WM75Guy]

We had our Mule 4010 for 10 years on the farm. It pulled a manure spreader and a drag harrow daily. Never had to change the belt. It was in low range most of the time.