Looking for a quad, and some advice.

[Rally1148]

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.

We've got a pretty heavy duty appliance dolly. It's rated for 800lb, I'm using that as my basis for finding something to mount it on. I probably won't need to fill it up with all 55 gallons, but I know what you mean about it being hard to handle.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Having a tractor and an ATV is a great combo. Keep in mind that old tractors can be expensive to fix - I know this first hand since the 1958 Ford 841 I bought 2 years ago is currently in the shop getting the engine rebuilt.

Also, I'm really happy with my 25 gallon sprayer that mounts on the rear rack of the ATV. That allows you to get the nozzles a little higher off the ground than some of the pull behind sprayers that I looked at.

 

[ruskbucks]

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.

I think that is a good sounding plan. Our little ford has been working since the early 50's and still running strong, I don't think many atvs built now will be around in 65 years.Work the tractor, that's what they were designed to do. The atv is the perfect machine for spraying, seeding, spreading fertilizer, dragging the fields, and getting around. Would your neighbor let you store it by him in the winter? I hate to do it but my 1952 massey and 1968 oliver tractors are outside all year. I keep them covered up with rubber roofing. I haven't had much of a problem due to them outside all year. Sta-bil in the gas is a life saver. I also run them when ever I get up to the land.

 

[Rally1148]

This didn't seem TOO bad, http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/snw/5144473317.html.

I found this one also, which is a lot farther away, but comes with a trailer! http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/snw/5140620150.html
This one is a bit more than I want to spend, but the trailer seems to be really nice, and we don't have a trailer that would work.

I think that is a good sounding plan. Our little ford has been working since the early 50's and still running strong, I don't think many atvs built now will be around in 65 years.Work the tractor, that's what they were designed to do. The atv is the perfect machine for spraying, seeding, spreading fertilizer, dragging the fields, and getting around. Would your neighbor let you store it by him in the winter? I hate to do it but my 1952 massey and 1968 oliver tractors are outside all year. I keep them covered up with rubber roofing. I haven't had much of a problem due to them outside all year. Sta-bil in the gas is a life saver. I also run them when ever I get up to the land.

I think we'll be able to fit it in one of our garages, it'll just take a BUNCH of cleaning. Now, the disc and any other attachments, that might be a different story.

 

[scott44]

Thats what I do, I have a tractor with implements and a ATV. We use the ATV for spraying and cultipacking, that's why I went with the 360 and not a bigger one.

 

[tooln]

My tractor & ATV are in a shipping container. Disk, tiller, drag, drop spreader, blades and everything else is under a lean too attached to the shipping container. I use the ATV to drag, pack and pull the spreader.

 

[Brush Creek]

I know I am late to the game here, but I will at least second BLB's comment on Yamaha or Honda. I was looking for an ATV when I first got married and my cousin was into atv's and cycles so I asked him what I should get. He said Yamaha or Honda. Bought at Yamaha Grizzly or Kodiak in 2000 or so and lost it in the divorce, ex wife still has it. Bought a 2007 Honda and recently added a 1996 Yamaha Grizzly. No problems with any of them. Get a small pull behind King Kutter for the atv and a drag and you are all set. Easily done for under $5000. Then start shooting some stuff.