Our new ( to us anyhow ) Gator!

[HammerFour]

My dad was kind enough to buy us a 1999 Gator 6x4!

I am not sure what got into him, I just thanked him profusely.

I haven't driven it yet, but my wife and in-laws have. She says it is a blast and even went out and got herself a new John Deere hat to go with it.

- Tim

 

[HammerFour]

Here is a pic of my wife and my father-in-law driving across the front yard.

 

[jinman]

Very nice! It looks like the Gator is going to be both a useful and fun tool. All you need now is some good warm hats. I bought a couple of these. They look goofy, but they sure are warm. They aren't John Deere green, but you can save that for summer headgear. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Your father-in-law has the right idea. I got my hats at Amazon/Northern Tool. ...about $29 each.

 

[Tractors4u]

You are going to love your Gator. I bought a 6X4 in September. Lucky you , you have the windshield. At first I thought they looked stupid and it would be something to get in the way. Now when the temperature dips down I start wanting one. I am torn between getting the windshield or the front bumper first. Right now the only add ons I have are the rubber floor mat, bedliner, trailer hitch, and power dump. The power dump is awesome and very easy to install. We load dirt with the tractor and move it with the Gator. The other day was the first time we loaded it with my 4310 with 430 loader. The first load was 4 heaping buckets. The back tires were wrinkled but it carried it and dumped it! We backed off to 2 to 2.5 bucket loads. I didn't want to burnt up the dump.

 

[cowboydoc]

Nice unit and nice DAD!! You will wonder how you ever got along without one once you start using it.

 

[HammerFour]

We are getting the front bumper right away, and my wife says the local JD dealer has the brush guard for $50 so we will get one of those as well. I also want the rear receiver hitch to pull my small utility trailer and possibly the power dump later on. The bedliner was in it when we got it, which is nice.

 

[Tractors4u]

$50 is a great price on the front bumper. It seems like I priced it once and it was $100. Deere has the reciever hitch for $55. I built my own, see the attached picture. Get the power dump it is great. I think they retail for $451 plus installation. The dealer let me have mine for what he said was cost, I think it was around $375 and I put it on myself.

 

[5030]

Jinman:

Thats a "Mad Bomber" hat. You could always spray paint it to match. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[jinman]

Tim, if your utility trailer has a center tongue jack, be sure you can hook it up to the gator without the tongue jack hitting the bed. On a Kawasaki Mule, if you don't get an extended hitch for your receiver, the jack will hit the bed. Also, if you turn too sharp, it will swing around and hit the bed. Of course, the best kind of tongue jack is the kind that folds up, but you don't see those on many trailers. Perhaps Brent can tell you how much clearance you need or if this is even an issue on the Gator.

 

[Tractors4u]

Mine may not be a could example since I built the hitch myself. It should be very close though. The only is I did not measure the length of the female part of the hitch before making mine. I only had a picture to go by. Jim you are right, those folding jacks are the way to go. You can get one at TSC. The trailer I use behind my Gator is a home built tandem axle that doesn't have a jack. It is balanced so the the tongue sits elevated off the ground without dropping.