Looking for a quad, and some advice.

[Rally1148]

Well I was planning on visiting the guy around 5 pm today, as he had to go pick up some equipment in Grand Rapids. I called him before I left, and he said that someone came by the shop and bought it.

It sucks, but I can't blame him that much :). He said that he might be getting some in during the next few weeks, so I'm still hopeful.

 

[Jim Timber]

I try to make a move on stuff as soon as I can when there's a good deal. I once went about 40 miles at 10:30 at night to get my Wilton C5 vise for $40. Retail on them is around $900 (if you can even get a US made one anymore?). It had been posted for about 20 minutes when I called the guy.

 

[ruskbucks]

I've always heard at least a 500cc and liquid cooled for working food plots. I have witnessed first hand what happens with a smaller air cooled atv. My FIL's artic cat 400 motor was smoked after 2 seasons of putting in 2 acre foodplots. The July heat working a air cooled motor was to much for it. They said they had put 50 miles on to do a 1 acre plot! I tried talking him into buying our 2n ford we don't use anymore for $1500 to disc and plow the fields and save the $7000 ATV for spraying , dragging, seeding, and joy riding, but he said his atv has plenty of power.LOL We go back and forth on the atv vs tractor all the time.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Honda rancher. Smooth as silk, quiet yet powerful. Make sure you get the newer version with 400cc motor. Beleive it's 06 or newer..
I had a kawasaki prairie 650 loaded 4x4 and sold it to go back to a Honda. (Sold for a profit of course;)

 

[Rally1148]

Thanks everyone!

I've been looking at 500cc or larger, just because in the used market I've been finding them within $500 of the 400cc's. It sucks that I missed this one, but it sure wasn't a once in a lifetime type deal, just a solid one.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks everyone!

I've been looking at 500cc or larger, just because in the used market I've been finding them within $500 of the 400cc's. It sucks that I missed this one, but it sure wasn't a once in a lifetime type deal, just a solid one.

I bought a 2007 Arctic Cat H1 750 with very low miles (250 or so) a few years ago for just over 5K. It has a powerful USA built engine, EFI, fan cooled, etc. The thing is a horse! It will go anywhere and do anything that I task it with without working that hard. That's the nice thing about going with a bigger engine…when pulling a disc, for example, a 400 or 500 will do it, but a larger engine will do it effortlessly and with less stress and damage to your machine. The other nice thing is that it also comes with a standard 2" box receiver in the rear.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Jim Timber]

Water cooled is the main thing here. You run out of traction long before you'll ever run short on power to pull an implement. Anything more will be for trail riding speed/acceleration. My 700cc Arctic Cat will pull more than it can stop, and it's major limitation is ground adhesion. You can hook up to too much weight/resistance and just dig 4 holes in the ground.

If you're really buying this for work, get a small tractor instead. $5K buys a lot of small tractor, and you'll get a PTO!

 

[TMIL]

Yes, what Jim Timber said. If you are really looking to buy an ATV for work ... DON'T!! If your true main goal is joy riding, that's another story. You can get a heck of a tractor for $5000 and it won't lose much or any of its value by using it for plots, unlike an ATV.

 

[Rally1148]

Water cooled is the main thing here. You run out of traction long before you'll ever run short on power to pull an implement. Anything more will be for trail riding speed/acceleration. My 700cc Arctic Cat will pull more than it can stop, and it's major limitation is ground adhesion. You can hook up to too much weight/resistance and just dig 4 holes in the ground.

If you're really buying this for work, get a small tractor instead. $5K buys a lot of small tractor, and you'll get a PTO!

The main problem is that we don't have the storage for a tractor.

 

[wiscwhip]

I know you said around $5,000, and this certainly doesn't fit that, but I wanted to add that my brother's 800 Polaris is an absolute beast of a machine and it is almost scary to ride it hard on trails through the woods, very hard to turn under throttle. Insane amounts of torque and will pull discs larger than some of the ones that others said not to pull with an ATV with ease. ATV's that size will definitely get some work done, but as was stated earlier, you can get a really nice tractor for what you will spend on one of them, storage space or otherwise.

 

[tooln]

The main problem is that we don't have the storage for a tractor.

Jim & I didn't either till we got shipping containers.

 

[Rally1148]

After doing some talking to my neighbor, I found out that he knows a guy selling an old ford 8n for about $1500. It sounds like the perfect little tractor. With that, I can still get a quad, but with a smaller engine, for about $5000 total.

 

[Rally1148]

After doing some talking to my neighbor, I found out that he knows a guy selling an old ford 8n for about $1500. It sounds like the perfect little tractor. With that, I can still get a quad, but with a smaller engine, for about $5000 total.

So, since I'll be using it less for plowing and stuff (mainly hauling), should I also start considering other brands (e.g. polaris)

 

[Jim Timber]

8n's aren't exactly little either. :)

We used one at the camp I worked at to haul stuff all over the place.

 

[Rally1148]

8n's aren't exactly little either. :)

We used one at the camp I worked at to haul stuff all over the place.

I'm comparing it to my neighbor's 5210!

I'm still going to use the quad for hauling, and watering, just for the sake of mobility. I've really never done much driving of a tractor, so I'll keep it out of tight spaces for the first little bit.

 

[Jim Timber]

That 5210 is the same size as mine, but I have a little more power. :D

Once you get some tractor seat time, you won't want a quad anymore. :p Ok, so that's not entirely true. I use my atv to get around quickly, where the tractor doesn't fit my trails well enough (yet) to be overly brisk without eating a lot of trees in the process. I also still use the atv to haul smaller quantities of wood too. When I go back up next week, I have an oak that's down across one of my trails, and I'll use the atv to move the limbs that come off it and will end up firewood. They both have their place.

Were I to do it all over again, I would've gotten a 500cc atv and saved the extra money for the tractor. I paid 6,800 for my atv when it was a year old. That was 4 years ago. If I didn't still use it for plowing, I'd consider going to a smaller machine but at this point I would lose money selling the atv so it's not going anywhere.

 

[Rally1148]

That 5210 is the same size as mine, but I have a little more power. :D

Once you get some tractor seat time, you won't want a quad anymore. :p Ok, so that's not entirely true. I use my atv to get around quickly, where the tractor doesn't fit my trails well enough (yet) to be overly brisk without eating a lot of trees in the process. I also still use the atv to haul smaller quantities of wood too. When I go back up next week, I have an oak that's down across one of my trails, and I'll use the atv to move the limbs that come off it and will end up firewood. They both have their place.

Were I to do it all over again, I would've gotten a 500cc atv and saved the extra money for the tractor. I paid 6,800 for my atv when it was a year old. That was 4 years ago. If I didn't still use it for plowing, I'd consider going to a smaller machine but at this point I would lose money selling the atv so it's not going anywhere.

It sure is a nice machine, but WAYYY to big for my use. with only an acre in plots, it would be overkill.
What you described as your ATV use will be 70-80% of the work on my land. Really the tractor is for plotting and mowing. One of the biggest things for me is watering... I've got a 55 gallon drum that I'll fit a faucet onto and fill that up at our house about a quarter mile away.

 

[tooln]

One thing you can do is look into new non current models. I did this when I bought my Cat and saved big time. I got a brand new machine with full warranty that was 2K less than a current year model.

 

[tooln]

Here's a pic of mine when it was used as a skidder.

 

[Jim Timber]

Your 55 gallon drum will weigh 440# or there abouts with water. You're not putting that on any quad's back rack and tooling around with it. I put 400+# of oak on the back of mine once - rear suspension was completely bottomed out with me on it. It handles 200# with ease though (4 mineral licks), but steering does get lighter with that much weight aft.

I stopped using this little gizmo when I noticed I had bent the rear rack mounting tab. :oops:

You'll want a little cart or something for your drum, but towing that is nothing for any of the 400cc atvs on the market now. Brakes are where a lot of them fall flat. You can get way more mass moving than you can safely stop. If you have any hills, I'd be leery of trying to pull too much with an atv - doesn't take much to get shoved sideways by an un-braked load and end up going down or over.

My arch is a perfect example. This thing will allow me to pull a 3,000lb log, but I can't even begin to control that going down an incline. This one is about 15" DBH and 22' long and roughly 1500#. I wouldn't want to drive it down a hill, while it pulled it up a small incline without difficulty (you knew it was there). I can just about fling that log with my front end loader.

I might end up selling the arch now that I have the tractor.