Farm UTV's.....Mule or Ranger...or other?

[shooterdon]

Agree with Don, well said here.

I'm currently wrestling with which way to go myself. I know I don't want a pure play machine (RZR, CanAm, etc), but! - the ability to put on a helmet and go shred my trails does sound really fun also. So I was leaning towards a 60-80HP ranger. But then I hear about over heating and belts breaking, etc. Are they even fun to drive fast on trails, or is it just a bumpy, clanky chore?

Frankly a 48V golf cart with fresh batteries and a trailer hitch could probably do most of the "work" I need to do with this type of vehicle. I have a tractor for all the big hauling, after all.

First, the newer Rangers do not have the engine heat blowing on your legs like mine did. If you add a windshield, at least here in MI, and have seat belts, a helmet is not needed to ride trails. I had 3000+ miles on my 2010 850XP and never changed the belt but I did not use it hard.

My buddy has a Ranger 1000 and it is very nice...but way overpriced IMHO. In my case, if I need to work, the tractor and beater pickup get the nod. If I want to ride trails, I use the Wrangler. And if the trails I want to ride are not local, I do not need to trailer the Jeep like I had to with the UTV's.

A couple of farmers here use old golf carts for driving around and going to the mail box. Not a bad option if you do not need a heavy duty work vehicle or something you can drive on the road.

 

[shooterdon]

I've viewed my B7610 as my UTV, but it only carries one person. Has anyone seen a 3pt passenger carrier that the safety police would agree with??
I can probably get by with a loveseat bolted to a pallet and carried on my 3pt forks.
Main uses would be carrying a couple of people around the land.

One of the locals uses a trailer with old car seats on it. He carries about 8 people in the thing.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I just made the choice, entering in with no brand loyalty besides the fact that I already own a Kubota tractor and Yamaha Rhino.

I discovered early on that the bed and engine are the real working part of the UTV. You need as large if a bed as you can reasonably get with the most reliable engine and drive system that you can reasonably get.

I really did want to love that 1100C by Kubota, but the little bed killed that for me, it broke the rule.

So then I found that intimidator Truck with the Kohler diesel. No dealers close, minimal reviews by actual owners, no good history and would be painful to aquire support if needed. Also, this is what some of you know as Mahindra in the world of UTV machines.

I nixed Polaris based on previous experience with the Polaris belt drive failures. Sorry, not interested.

I nixed Yamaha even though I totally loved my 12+ year old Rhino. The new Yamaha UTV is not made with a huge bed and is more of a Rhino type of sport crossover. The problem is that I'm getting out of my Rhino to go to a pure work machine. At this time, Yamaha is not in that business.

I looked at Arctic Cat, now called Textron. Not a lot of great reviews... Looks like a company who is trying to find footing, but missing the mark on reliability and quality.

Can Am, similar to Yamaha... Sporty utility, but in my opinion Can Am doesn't have near the reputation for quality or dependability as Yamaha, Kawasaki or Kubota.

Mahindra... Well, it's actually not a Mahindra. It is in fact the Intimidator beans that is simply re-branded to Mahindra. As I've seen in this forum, Mahindra UTV machines... Or actually Intimidator machines have an unsettling amount of issues being discussed by owners. No go.

Kioti, another one that is sold in small numbers yet has a fair share of user complaints.

So at the end of the day, it's Kubota X1140 vs Kubota X1120C vs Kawasaki DX/FX vs Kawasaki DXT/FXT.

The Kubota 1120C has an amazing cab enclosure with heat and AC. The best on the market.

The Kubota is an open station but with a larger bed thanks trades space back and forth with the second row of seats. So it can be a 2 row seating short bed or a 1 row seating long bed.

Kawasaki has the Yanmar 996cc 3 cylinder diesel powered machine in the DX and DXT.

The T for Kawasaki stands for trans cab, much like the X1140 the bed can shrink or grow to facilitate 1 row seating or 2 row seating.

The FX/FXT is the China sourced Chery 3 cylinder gasoline engine, same as used by John Deere in some Gators.

The DX/FX has a 54"x53" bed. A full sized pallet can be slid in and the tailgate shut.

I picked the DX. I added Curtis heat, Warn 72" plow, Warn 4K winch, hydraulic bed ram, glass windshield and Siezmik enclosure, LED lights, Siezmik mirrors in both doors and a center in cab mirror, bed liner and +30% load rated coil springs front and rear.

I was at $20,700 out the door with tax, the included 3 year Kawasaki full warranty and an additional Kawasaki 3 year full coverage warranty for a total of 6 years coverage. At the end of the 6 years, Kawasaki will send a letter offering a final additional 3 year policy for 9 years of factory backed full warranty.

So my dream of buying the Kubota faded away. I grabbed the Mule Pro DX EPS. I bought the biggest bed with the best engine/driveline from one of the most reputable lines of long term commercial/agricultural UTV companies on Earth today. The Mule family is long known to be stout dependable work horses. I expect the same.

 

[ArlyA]

The Can-am defender is a good work machine in my book. We've had one for 5+ years now and all the grief that we've had, they seem to have fixed. We're about to retire it and may get another. It is not at all a sport machine...

 

[Rock Crawler]

The Can-am defender is a good work machine in my book. We've had one for 5+ years now and all the grief that we've had, they seem to have fixed. We're about to retire it and may get another. It is not at all a sport machine...

The rub to me is that you said "the grief"... In over 12 years with the Yamaha I did 3 batteries, a CV boot that a stick tore and annual maintenance. I sold it with the original tires and spark plug

If I have grief... Be it my truck, my UTV, my wife or my job.... In very short order that crap is going down the road.

 

[deezler]

I picked the DX. I added Curtis heat, Warn 72" plow, Warn 4K winch, hydraulic bed ram, glass windshield and Siezmik enclosure, LED lights, Siezmik mirrors in both doors and a center in cab mirror, bed liner and +30% load rated coil springs front and rear.

I was at $20,700 out the door with tax, the included 3 year Kawasaki full warranty and an additional Kawasaki 3 year full coverage warranty for a total of 6 years coverage. At the end of the 6 years, Kawasaki will send a letter offering a final additional 3 year policy for 9 years of factory backed full warranty.

So my dream of buying the Kubota faded away. I grabbed the Mule Pro DX EPS. I bought the biggest bed with the best engine/driveline from one of the most reputable lines of long term commercial/agricultural UTV companies on Earth today. The Mule family is long known to be stout dependable work horses. I expect the same.View attachment 592811View attachment 592812View attachment 592813View attachment 592814View attachment 592815View attachment 592817

Great post, thanks. You ended up with a pretty badass machine. Lotta coin though.... I'd like to spend, max, about half that much on a SxS with a winch/plow.

Kawasaki doesn't seem interested in listing their engine HP or maximum vehicle speed. You have the 800cc engine, right? Know the specs? Is it fun to drive fast down trails, or better suited for slow and steady? Thanks.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Great post, thanks. You ended up with a pretty badass machine. Lotta coin though.... I'd like to spend, max, about half that much on a SxS with a winch/plow.

Kawasaki doesn't seem interested in listing their engine HP or maximum vehicle speed. You have the 800cc engine, right? Know the specs? Is it fun to drive fast down trails, or better suited for slow and steady? Thanks.

I have the 996 cc which is the Yanmar diesel, it is rated at 25 horsepower.

The gas version is the 800cc chery fuel injected 3 cylinder gas, I believe it is rated at 47 horsepower.

The diesel version tops out at 30 miles an hour, and when I say tops out I mean holding it to the rug on a level road and waiting for it to get there.

The gasoline version tops out at 45 and gets there quite quickly with spirited eagerness.

"It's a three-cylinder, DOHC, liquid-cooled four-stroke produced by*CherryAutomotive. Yes, it's a little car*engine*listed at 47horsepower. John Deere also uses this mill to*power*their Gator 825i."

"Powering the*Mule Pro-DXand*Pro-DXT is a 993cc inline three-cylinder*Yanmar diesel engine. ... This*engineproduces 38 lb-ft of peaktorque*at just 2400 rpm. Compared to the gas*enginein the*Mule Pro*FX and*Pro-FXT, the*Yanmar*mill is more robust and has a lower cost of ownership, as it is 10-20% more fuel efficient."

 

[deezler]

Oh duh, "D"x for diesel. Spirited eagerness.... haha sounds like exactly what I am looking for. Hmm the Mule Pro-FX might have just moved up my list.

Whats everyone's opinions on EPS (electric power steering) ? Required? Or just a luxury?

 

[Rock Crawler]

Now that I have the mule Pro DX with EPS getting very spoiled by the EPS very quickly! I guess before having it I would have said that it's a luxury that nobody really needs.....

Now that I have it and see how effortless it is to steer while plowing heavy snow, or moving heavy wood, or while in ruts and thick mud.... I remember what my Rhino was like and this is so much better in every situation. the EPS systems have been out for a good while now and you really don't hear problems with the system other than like anything else, you're going to hear of the freak blown engine, bad camshaft, wasted transmission, orefield electrical system.

But generally speaking there are hundreds of thousands of these electric power steering systems out there on garden tractors, ATVs, utvs, automobile applications and other things.... and they just don't seem to come up much as a problem.

Nothing like the consideration of owning a Polaris with their belt drive transmissions that is pretty well known to have a higher than average percentage of early belt failures compared to most other brands.... Combined.

 

[Gary Fowler]

For toughness and fuel economy, you cant beat the Kubota RTV series. I have had my RTV 900 diesel since 2010 and no repairs needed. I have replaced the battery once and the rear tires (front tires will need replacing soon) just so I could get thru mud without utilizing 4 WD because the treads were getting a bit low. I love the hydraulic dump bed that will dump a heaping load of rocks or dirt at idle speed. The speed is slow but plenty fast for around the farm.
The only con is the price for new ones.