Barebones Mule or your Suggestions

[nickel plate]

Yes, you can put a tow hook on the front.:thumbsup: Warn RT40!

 

[firefighter9208]

Chris,

I've already paid for and ordered the factory top. Are you saying that the factory top will allow me to dump the bed with the back seat folded up and bed in the full size configuration?

This morning, I ordered the hydraulic lift for the dump bed off of ebay. $700 for the factory top and $820 for the lift is a lot of money. If they don't work together, I'm gonna be in trouble.

Guess I'll know soon enough what will or wont work.

Something that I've been wondering since pulling my lawn mower out of the mud with it, is mounting a tow hook to the front. Has anybody done anything like this? I figure that when I buy a tow hitch for the back, I'll be fine there, but I'd like something on the front in case I need to pull it for whatever reason.

Any thoughts or suggestions? There is a place for a winch, and I think that would be a good place to mount something.

Thanks,
Eddie

Eddie,

If you ordered this top Parts Detail Page - Kawasaki.com it should work. Most aftermarket tops won't let you dump in the long bed configuration. The screen hits the top, but the Kawasaki hard top has a hinge that allows you to raise the top so you can dump in long bed configuration. This is the only factory top I could find on Kawasaki's website.

Chris

 

[KentT]

Very true...All UTV's sould have park and a foot operated parking brake. Why most don't is still a mystery to me. I have never needed to pull my e-brake during operating except to spin it out in the snow

The problem is the location of that brake handle, not the type of emergency brake. Rhinos and Teryxs, for example, have a center lever next to the gearshift, similar to a small car (or my Nissan Frontier PU). It comes in quite handy sometimes when you're maneuvering around on a steep slope, or rock-crawling, for example. You use the e-brake to hold your position while shifting gears, locking the front diff, etc. A foot-operated brake would absolutely worthless in this situation.

As far as Park goes -- if the CVT is the type that maintains belt tension at all times (like the Yamaha Ultramatic) then it operates very similar to a manual transmission when the engine is turned off. The drive wheels are tied to the engine, and movement would force the engine to turn over. Very similar to a manually tranny in that regard.

 

[warhammer]

I bought a leftover new 08 kawasaki teryx earlier this year for about $1000 more than the mule you are looking at. Those retail at about $10k.
Docile enough my wife can drive it. Good on gas. Goes pretty good and handles well. Really useful around the farm and will go anywhere the tractor will only a bunch quicker.

For the past several months, I've been looking to buy a Mule or gas golf cart with a bed in the back for hauling stuff around. I like the small size of the golf carts and how low they are to the ground. I've seen quite a few sell for just under $3,000 to almost $4,000 with a thousand or more hours on them. I've also looked at Kawasaki Mules that are 7 to ten years old for that amout up to $6,000 depending on featurs and hours.

After looking at so many used and abused vehicles, I've reached the conclusion that I should look at brand new and maybe finance part of it.

Kawasaki has a basic, two wheel drive Mule 600 for $6,400. It's a sinlge cylinder, 400cc motor with auto transmission and manual lock rear differenctial, manual tilt metal dump bed and a bench seat. I test drove it today and really liked it. Nice enough ride, fast enough and it felt very solid. It's everything I want and then some.

My question is this. Does anybody have a recomendation for something else in this price range or less?

I don't need or want 4wheel drive. I have no reason or desire to go off roding. I don't want to pull anything or work it. I just want to be able to put around my place, and for my Mom to be able to use it to get the mail and maybe drive around on the roads too. She never goes down to the lake, and she will be 70 in a couple of months, so I realy want something that she can drive around easily. Which is why being low to the ground is a big plus.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

All my stuff that I ordered came in this week, so it's been a weekend of installing and fabrication on the Mule.

I have already bought the tow hitch. It's the tiny one that I think is an inch and a half. While looking at 2 inch balls to put onto it, I realized that the hole for the hitch was smaller then most of the balls. There was only one 2 inch ball that would fit, and it was almost twice as much as the cheap ones. Oh well.

For the front end, I bought a tow hook from Norther Tool. I cust a piece of scrap metal to fit where the winch would mount, and drilled some holes for bolts. Since I'm not very accurate with my hole drilling, I used a half inch bit for 3/8's holes and it worked out perfectly. Six grade five bolts holds it in place.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I wasn't sure about a lift for the bed and honestly thought they were something that might be nice, but really of no use. It didn't take long to realize how wrong I was, and how easy it was to load up the bed so it was too heavy to lift by hand. Unloading it by hand turned out to be twice the work. I found the same hydraulic lift that Kawasaki sells for $820 on ebay with shipping included. That's the best deal that I could find, and after playing around on ways to build one myself, I relized that this was a very good price.

It was here in about a week and a half after paying for it. The box was well packaged and in good shape. The instructions were fairly straight forward with pictures that confused me. In some of them, I just couldn't figure out what I was looking at. This confusion really added to how long it took me to get this done. All the parts looked to be in excellent shape. The lift is made by KYB out of Japan.

The instructions had me start with the electrical stuff under the seat. From there I went under the dash and then back to the engine compartment. Last thing was to install the lift itself. For whatever reason, I couldn't figure it out. I sat there for an hour trying to figure out the pictures and where it went. I don't know if I hit a mental block, if I'm just slow, or if it was too hard for me. But after awhile, I figured it out and it fit perfectly. In hindsite, it makes perfect sense because that's the only place with space for it to fit.

It didn't work.

I forgot to connect the hot wire. OOOPS. Then it didn't work again. I had unhooked the wire to the cylinder. It still didn't work, but it was now making noise. I tested the switch. It made noice in one direction, but nothing in the other. I pulled the wires for the relays and switched them around. That fixed everything and it works like a charm. My intention was to see which relay was bad. I figured that the switch was fine, but only one relay was working. If I changed them from the bad one to the good one, I was hoping to get the cylinder to move. What happend is a mystery to me, but I'm not going to spend any time trying to undersand it. It works and I'm happy.

The switch is on the dash, right under the viewing hole for the brake cylinder. Push it up and the bed goes up, push it down, and the bed goes down. I love it when things are that simple!!!!!!!!

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Eddie, you ought to be set to go for a long time now with that Mule.

 

[EddieWalker]

Next was the top. Kawasaki didn't have them in stock when I bought it and told me it would be $65 to install it. They only sold two types of tops. With or without the stereo. I went for the cheaper version, which was still rediculous, but from what I could tell on the smaller Mules in stock, a nice top and maybe worth it.

I declined having them do it because I'm not very smart and figured I could install a top easy enough. How hard could it be? hahaha

Fist mistake was putting in on backwards, but that was easy enough to change. It didn't come with any instructions because it's so easy to do, who would need instructions. Heck, I couldn't even figure out what end was the front end!!!!

There are 12 brackets that go around the roll cage and then a bolt comes through the roof and into the brackets. It's very simple until you try to get the nuts on the bolts. That proved to be the real challenge after about half of them were on. None were tight, just getting the nuts started was a nightmare. My dad and I spent several hours working on it, and when we were done, I spent another hour wiring it up.

For $65, I sure wouldn't do that again!!!!!!!!!!!! DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Chris mentioned earlier about the screen hitting the top when in the long bed position. That had me nervous, and i really wasn't sure what to do until the top got here and I saw it for myself. After seeing it for myself, and wondering what Kawasaki was thinking, I decided to make the rear screen shorter.

I probably spent an hour last night just looking at it to figure out what would look the best and be the strongest. Then I spent more time thinking about it last night, and then looking at it for another hour this morning. Lots of wishful thinking going on there, and maybe a decent idea came out of it.

I decided to cut 15 inches out of the screen and then weld it back together. My goal was to have the original top slide down so it was twelve inches tall instead of 27 inches tall.

I measured, measured again, and then again a few more times. I put in a cut off wheel on my grinder and got to cutting. Then a little fine tuning and then the grinding wheel for some more fine tuning.

I cut off two bolts and slid them into the outside tubing, welded them into place, ground them to fit, and put it all together. I got lucky and it fit nicely.

After welding and grinding some more, I painted it a satin black that I just happened to have on my shelf.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm all done messing with the Mule for now. I don't have anything else that I want to do to it. Might buy a spot light, and maybe a radio, or boom box so I can have tunes when down at Lake Marabou. No rush on either of those things.

The rear screen came out real nice. As you can see in the pictures, it looks factory. You would have to look real close to see my welds, which are just fair. The grinder and paint really help a lot in hiding my lack of welding skills.

What I find interesting is how much I like the lower screen compared to the picures of the full sized screen. I think it's better like this. Of course, I don't have much of a choice and wouldn't have cut it if I didn't have to, but now that it's done, I'm happy with it and glad to have done it.

Thanks again to everyone for your advice and insight. I'm a happy camper and once again, I owe that to your suggestions.

Eddie

 

[firefighter9208]

I'm all done messing with the Mule for now. I don't have anything else that I want to do to it. Might buy a spot light, and maybe a radio, or boom box so I can have tunes when down at Lake Marabou. No rush on either of those things.

The rear screen came out real nice. As you can see in the pictures, it looks factory. You would have to look real close to see my welds, which are just fair. The grinder and paint really help a lot in hiding my lack of welding skills.

What I find interesting is how much I like the lower screen compared to the picures of the full sized screen. I think it's better like this. Of course, I don't have much of a choice and wouldn't have cut it if I didn't have to, but now that it's done, I'm happy with it and glad to have done it.

Thanks again to everyone for your advice and insight. I'm a happy camper and once again, I owe that to your suggestions.

Eddie

Eddie,

Your top and screen look nice. I do like the shorter screen myself. I see that you have the same seat cover that I have :laughing: . I've asked for a set of covers from Santa. We'll see if she was listening. That seat can get real hot setting out in the sun :drool: .

Chris

 

[jinman]

Nice work Eddie!:thumbsup: The only thing missing is one of these attached to the screen just above the bed so it can be easily seen from behind. You can see ours in the attached photo.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

I don't need or want 4wheel drive. I have no reason or desire to go off roding. I don't want to pull anything or work it. I just want to be able to put around my place, and for my Mom to be able to use it to get the mail and maybe drive around on the roads too. She never goes down to the lake, and she will be 70 in a couple of months, so I realy want something that she can drive around easily. Which is why being low to the ground is a big plus.

Thank you,
Eddie[/QUOTE]

We bought a 2004 Polaris Ranger TM which had sat in a warehouse for four years unsold. It's taller than a golf cart, but my elderly mother has learned to climb up onto the seat. She likes the soft ride a lot better than the treatment her arthritic joints received from the EZ-Go.

With 400 hours on it now it has definitely become a member of the family and gets exceptionally varied use on our 114 acres. We have hauled topsoil to places the tractors couldn't go, gathered sap for sugar-making in winter, ice fished, hauled the local Liberal candidate around in parades, given tours of the property with as many as nine people aboard, shuttled trailers, sprayed around 20 acres of walnut seedlings, and used it as a local mobility vehicle. Everyone who drives it gives it rave reviews in this context.

I have posted series of reviews of the Ranger TM on my blog. You can access them at Walnut Diary

 

[EddieWalker]

Update on the Mule. It's just been one of the best things I ever bought. From doing chores, to having fun, it never dissapoints. Being able to seat 4 adults comfortably has been a big plus, but so is being able to put so much into the large sized dump bed and to haul it around.

I'm still thinking about a windshield. There have been a few days that were pretty darn cold, but I really like not having anything in front of me, so it's stil a tossup.

One of my initial thoughts was that I didnt need or want four wheel drive. With winter, and heavy rains and snow, I realize how wrong I was in that idea. If I didn't have four wheel drive, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. With fourwheel drive and the rear differential locked, I've been able to go anywhere, and through anything. Water has come in over the floorboard and I never slowed down. I can go slow and easy, or off road it and have fun splashing around in the mud. With snow, it just goes over the snow and keeps on going!!!!!

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I agree with your evaluation 100%. I'm so glad you got 4wd. I was really worried you were going to get a 2wd golf cart when you started looking. I know this Mule is so much more expensive, but it's also so much more useful. Our Mule is like our best buddy. We use it constantly and love it. Our battery in the Mule is 7 years old. Last week in the cold, I went out and pulled the choke and hit the starter. It fired off like the middle of summer. I admit that in the cold, I could hear the tappets rattle in the engine until it warmed up, but that Mule has performed far beyond anything I ever expected. How does your Mule start in cold weather? Aren't the new ones like yours fuel injected?

EDIT: I vote for the windshield, but ours is molded Lexan and distorts pretty badly. If you get the flat kind like Essex sells, you should be able to see through it with no problem. However, you do have to keep it clean and wipe the dew and/or frost off it.

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

It was your comments and common sense advice that convinced me that I needed to buy 4wheel drive. It's hard to imagine winter condition at the end of summer. I never tried drving around in it before because it's just a red clay, gooey mess!!!! The Mule just keeps on going. I can get anywhere on my land, in any weather conditions. It's just an awesome machine.

Mine is fuel injected. At 20 degrees, I just turn the key and it fires right up. Idles perfectly and is ready to go. The power steering is another feature that I really appreciate.

The windshiled would have to allow me to access the front storage compartment. They make them, and there are several differnt styles to choose from. Prices seem to be in the $500 to $600 range. A lot of the price is how it attaches and the method opening it to get to the storage area. So far, it's just an idea that I'm unsure about.

Something that I didn't realize is that it's a great date vehicle. I've invited friends over for dinner, and then we take the Mule out for a drive and park it at Lake Marabou to watch the sun set. It's a VERY NICE way to spend time with a pretty girl!!!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[KentT]

Eddie,

Do they have the folding windshields for that Mule model that will still allow you to get to your storage compartment?

For Rhinos and Teryx's, for example, you can get Lexan windshields that fold down so that the top half of the windshield is open for summer riding. That lets plenty of fresh air in for ventilation, especially with the open sides/doors... but, should you get caught out in the rain, or for winter riding, you can fold the top 1/2 back up quickly to block out the weather.

I don't know if you can get them for your Mule or not...

 

[buckle97]

Glad to see you are still enjoying your Mule, Eddie. These UTV's are really incredible!
We opted for no roof or windshield when we purchased our RTV. There was no price incentive to get it then so we will wait until summer and see how hot the seats get and then decide if we need a top or windshield.

 

[beppington]

I agree with all that, Eddie ('cept I got no snow) ... Love the 4x4. Nothing has stopped me yet :thumbsup:

Chicks, young & old, do dig these Mules for some reason!! I guess they recognize FUN just about like we do ... well close anyway :laughing:

I installed a stereo system (with a 10" sub!) in mine ... Playin' dance tunes only helps with the fun! (thus my need for a car battery in place of the little OEM battery)

I have a half-windshield on mine (lower half, blocks some wind). I also am not sure if I want an entire windshield because I know it'll get dirty, be hard to see thru & I won't want to spend time keeping it clean.

I envy your fuel injection. I have to pull the manual choke pretty much every time. No big deal, but ...

 

[EddieWalker]

That windshield style is one that I've looked at, but the bottom part folds forward so you can access the storage compartmet in the hood. The other is a one piece unit that goes forward with a hinge of some type at the top. The one piece windshield is a hundred bucks more then the middle folding one. Both seem to do the job, but I'm thinking of just waiting until I see them in person somewhere in the future.

I love the roof. In the summer, it is it's own shade, and nice to sit under it on a hot day. The other day, was down at my lake to take pics of the sunset and it started to rain. I noticed it was raining because the water went from being smooth as glass, to having rain drops hitting it. I didn't get any on me and I was able to take picture while it was raining!!!!!

I've thought about adding a rack to the roof for more storage and to mount off road lights facing in all four directions. I don't need it, but still think about doing it.

Thanks,
Eddie