4 wheeler vs side by side for the farm

[JW IN VA]

I've never owned either.Always had something that needed my money worse.

My son,however,owns one of each.A Honda Recon which has been nice for them and a Polaris Ranger.

The Ranger gets a lot of use. The oldest grandson hauls me around on it some to do things and it's great to have to carry things along like mineral,fence equipment and deer.His has the fold out windshield which really helps when it's hot.

I've driven the Ranger more but like the idea of the atv for just riding checking cows,fence or whatever.The UTV handles nicely and,as someone said,is easy getting in and out.Well it would be if you didn't have size 14 feet and weigh near 280

If I could only have one,and money was okay,I think I'd get a UTV for all around.

With everyone going that way,it might be time to get some deals on good ATVs traded in.

 

[Atimm693]

To echo what has already been said... Both have there place. I have 14 year old Honda rancher and a 4 year old Polaris Ranger. Both have been maintained and perform almost flawlessly. I like the rancher for spraying and herding cows on the rare occasion I have to go that route. I like the Ranger when I'm working, especially on fence.

FWIW, the Kubota and Kawasaki are super tough and durable workhorse machines based on friends and neighbors that own or have owned them.

Kawasaki was the first with the"Mule". Then Polaris smoked them for a few years with their line. Kubotas and Gators were heavy and slow back then. Now, all of them (from what I have read and seen) are pretty close. Everyone has their own opinion.

Polaris tried, but those early Rangers were real turds, reliability wise.

Just replaced ECM #3, and TPS #3 on our 07 Ranger. It's got 1500 hours. Their stupid rubber mounted throttle body vibrates like a guitar string and continually breaks the wires on the TBAP and TPS. I don't know how they were able to design a parallel twin that vibrates so bad, all of the heat shields are broken and the manifold bolts work loose every couple years, along with the wire issues.

Oh yeah, and the fuel pump crapped out, Polaris will not sell you a pump, but will happily sell you a tank assembly for $700. Had to go aftermarket for that one.

There are many more repairs than that over the years, needed a couple parking brake cables ( I hate parking brakes), ball joints, a sway bar, and an engine rebuild, supposedly due to overheating from their lack of radiator protection.

Had to change every single bushing in the suspension last winter. They're plastic. Bolts on the front A arms were in backwards from the factory, had to cut them out or spend hours dismantling the grille guard assembly.

That and the old Sportsman's with oiled front hubs pretty much soured me on Polaris.

Polaris also seems to have an obsession with making their own fluids, AGL, PS4, Angle Drive, Demand drive, all in very odd viscosities that make it very difficult to find equivalents. Most others will run forever on Rotella and 80W-90.

I had a 3010 Mule in the shop this winter with 4500 hours. Needed a CV shaft and a little carb tuning. There's nobody in this state harder on their equipment than the owner of that Mule, it hasn't seen an easy day in its life, but keeps on ticking.

Kubotas are solid but a lot of people don't like the hydros. Honda's have an odd automotive sort of trans, has a lot of electronics. The ESP deal in the Rubicon's are fun to diagnose, had to change an ECM in one of those a couple months ago.

I prefer a CVT, they're smooth, minimal electronics, tough, and belts last for thousands of miles anymore.

Got a Gator 825i in the shop now for a fuel pump, that is a sweet machine. The little 3 cylinder is smooth as glass, rides good, with plenty of power.

 

[callmefence]

I could not do without my Ranger. I use it every single day. I have a diesel and it is like a tank!

On tracks with armor and a cannon??

Cannon's are illegal (wink wink-)

Iirc only cannon shells are illegal...

 

[sstterry]

To echo what has already been said... Both have there place. I have 14 year old Honda rancher and a 4 year old Polaris Ranger. Both have been maintained and perform almost flawlessly. I like the rancher for spraying and herding cows on the rare occasion I have to go that route. I like the Ranger when I'm working, especially on fence.

FWIW, the Kubota and Kawasaki are super tough and durable workhorse machines based on friends and neighbors that own or have owned them.

Kawasaki was the first with the"Mule". Then Polaris smoked them for a few years with their line. Kubotas and Gators were heavy and slow back then. Now, all of them (from what I have read and seen) are pretty close. Everyone has their own opinion.

Polaris didnt smoke any one. :lol: They have never been in a competition. Kawasaki has been very clear with their intentions for the Mule from day one. The Mule is made to be a reliable, affordable, workhorse.

I respectfully disagree Kawaski was first, but they rested on their laurals and Polaris out preformed them and had the better product 10 years ago. But now all of the others have good products as well.

I have had my Polarios for 10 years and it has never been in the shop and it gets heavy daily use. Mine is the diesel though.

 

[Atimm693]

On tracks with armor and a cannon??

Cannon's are illegal (wink wink-)

Iirc only cannon shells are illegal...

Welker Farms on Youtube built one that shoots bowling balls.

 

[jltrent]

Both are nice, but what ever happened to walking a little. I have lots of Amish neighbors and they walk, ride a bicycle or horse for a lot of their transportation and I have not seen an overweight one yet. I am going to throw walking in there when just riding back in the field for small stuff, lol.

 

[callmefence]

Both are nice, but what ever happened to walking a little. I have lots of Amish neighbors and they walk, ride a bicycle or horse for a lot of their transportation and I have not seen an overweight one yet. I am going to throw walking in there when just riding back in the field for small stuff, lol.

My fuel gauge doesn't work, so I'm regularly running out of gas and having to walk back to the house. Good enough?

 

[Dave]

I know one man who runs a fairly big ranch who has neither. He says you can buy an old small 4 wheel drive pick up a whole lot cheaper. Here people have one or the other. Not enough money in cows to own both. I notice all the people with side by sides are those with big ranches that have been in the family for generations. I have a Honda Rancher that I bought used. It cost me $2,000. Good luck finding a side by side for that kind of money. I take it places a person wouldn't want to take a side by side.

 

[Brute 23]

Kawasaki was the first with the"Mule". Then Polaris smoked them for a few years with their line. Kubotas and Gators were heavy and slow back then. Now, all of them (from what I have read and seen) are pretty close. Everyone has their own opinion.

Polaris didnt smoke any one. :lol: They have never been in a competition. Kawasaki has been very clear with their intentions for the Mule from day one. The Mule is made to be a reliable, affordable, workhorse.

I respectfully disagree Kawaski was first, but they rested on their laurals and Polaris out preformed them and had the better product 10 years ago. But now all of the others have good products as well.

I have had my Polarios for 10 years and it has never been in the shop and it gets heavy daily use. Mine is the diesel though.

They didnt rest on any thing. They still make a Mule that is not far off from the original 1988 version. Its a proven product that people still buy, today. I think a lot of people should take note and stick with what works. They have now added different version of the Mule and Teryx and stuff but the original Mule is still the same and still sells.

Polaris did away with their 900s chasing the bigger 1000 motors to keep up with the flat hat bill wearing, 22" wheels on their diesel, crowd and its biting them in the butt right now. They are junk.

If you want to know what's what go look at used utvs. Tell me how many Rangers are for sale vs how many Mules. It's like looking at how many Dodges are for sale vs Toyota Tacomas. Proof is in the pudding.

There is a reason my local Polaris dealer got POed at me and tried to send the the ranch's Ranger home before the work was complete. In their words... "we dont have any room. We have too many coming in to be worked on and cant store yours for a week while we wait on a part." Their words not mine. They also tried to tell me it's easier to just buy a new one. If you call that "out performing" you can have it.

I recently took two Mule Pros in for service. Both were dropped off in the evening and picked up the next evening. The service side is never really loaded up. In fact, when they will work on other brands to keep their mechanics busy some times. :lol:

... again, proof is in the pudding.

 

[Brute 23]

I know one man who runs a fairly big ranch who has neither. He says you can buy an old small 4 wheel drive pick up a whole lot cheaper. Here people have one or the other. Not enough money in cows to own both. I notice all the people with side by sides are those with big ranches that have been in the family for generations. I have a Honda Rancher that I bought used. It cost me $2,000. Good luck finding a side by side for that kind of money. I take it places a person wouldn't want to take a side by side.

Pick ups cant go where I can take my utv. Plus, I dont want some one rutting every thing up in a 4wd trucks. My utv will skip over stuff and barely leave a mark where you will bury a 4wd truck.

If I stick my utv out in the pasture. Worse case I have to walk back to the truck and can go home. If I'm 2 hrs from the house... in Hebronville, Texas... and I stick my 4wd truck in the pasture... with no phone service... I'm screwed. I'll be spending the night or walking to town with the illegals.

I've owned two ranchers and still have one at one property that is a friends that I use. They are bullet proof. The only perfance advantage they have is in size. They can physically fit where a utv cant. As far as mud, power, climbing, any thing like that the utv will be right behind it. If it's an all time 4wd one the single bench utvs probably have a tighter turning radius. ... and they darn sure shift faster.

We go up over these "mountains" and thru these was outs and over the rocks in WTX with utvs with #500 plus in the beds. You can not do it on an atv... guys have tried. Trucks wont make it either.

 

[Brute 23]

I know people dont want to admit it (and that's probably because they dont really need one) ... but if you need a utv... they are irreplaceable. There is no atv, no truck, no tractor, no mini truck, nothing... that is as versatile and capable... if you truly have to have one to get things done.

 

[1982vett]

Both are nice, but what ever happened to walking a little. I have lots of Amish neighbors and they walk, ride a bicycle or horse for a lot of their transportation and I have not seen an overweight one yet. I am going to throw walking in there when just riding back in the field for small stuff, lol.

My fuel gauge doesn't work, so I'm regularly running out of gas and having to walk back to the house. Good enough?

I keep a 2 gallon can of gas on mine for that reason..... :?

 

[hurleyjd]

I have a kubota 500 and a kubota 1140 with cab and air. I use the 500 more than the 1140. When feeding cubes I put four or five bags of cubes in the bed with one in the floor board on the passenger side. I drive slowly dumping the cubes and this keeps the cows occupied while I walk and spread the rest. Did soil sampling several years ago with the atv really got tried of getting off and on it. My method of soil sampling is to use a 4 inch pvc pipe cap with a 1 inch hole in it. I have a one inch wood auger that I use with a rechargeable drill. Set the cap tight on the ground and drill 6 inches deep through the hole and toss the soil in a bucket that I mix for the sample.

 

[cowgirl8]

We have a full stable of ATVs and side by sides.. I spend most of my day on one or the other. Checking cows i prefer my 4wheeler. I have a lot of wooded areas i have to go into and a side by side cant get to all the areas. I do use the S/Ss and my fav one is a gator. We have 2 of those and i cant tell you how many miles or hours are on them, but i'd gather around 100,000...lol.each. We have a mule, dont like it. Its just too loud, cant have a conversation with anyone with you. All our s/s are diesels... I've had just about every 4wheeler and Honda makes the best.. The one i have now has over 17,000 miles on it and i got it in 2016. Its my second honda and they are the most reliable..

 

[Atimm693]

I know people dont want to admit it (and that's probably because they dont really need one) ... but if you need a utv... they are irreplaceable. There is no atv, no truck, no tractor, no mini truck, nothing... that is as versatile and capable... if you truly have to have one to get things done.

We have a Suzuki Carry that will do 90% of what a UTV can, for half the cost.

Reliability and parts availability is another matter though.

 

[M.Magis]

I can certainly see the mini trucks working great in "bigger" areas. I looked real hard at getting one before buying a UTV. But they simply don't work well in this part of the midwest. They're just too big to maneuver a lot of our small wooded pastures. Honestly even some UTVs are too big. And our winter mud will swallow one up.

 

[Atimm693]

I can certainly see the mini trucks working great in "bigger" areas. I looked real hard at getting one before buying a UTV. But they simply don't work well in this part of the midwest. They're just too big to maneuver a lot of our small wooded pastures. Honestly even some UTVs are too big. And our winter mud will swallow one up.

With ATV tires, ours will float over a lot of mud. Ground clearance is a little less than most UTVs, they're about the same width, and quite a bit longer.

The biggest trouble I've had is finding ATV tires that will last very long. Most of the good ones are too big. It works best with a 23" tire.

The turning radius is so tight on that thing it will practically crawl sideways.

 

[cowgirl8]

I can certainly see the mini trucks working great in "bigger" areas. I looked real hard at getting one before buying a UTV. But they simply don't work well in this part of the midwest. They're just too big to maneuver a lot of our small wooded pastures. Honestly even some UTVs are too big. And our winter mud will swallow one up.

We have one of those too and its great in the winter because it has a heater.. But, i cant sit in it anymore. It kills my back..

 

[Brute 23]

I can certainly see the mini trucks working great in "bigger" areas. I looked real hard at getting one before buying a UTV. But they simply don't work well in this part of the midwest. They're just too big to maneuver a lot of our small wooded pastures. Honestly even some UTVs are too big. And our winter mud will swallow one up.

We have one of those too and its great in the winter because it has a heater.. But, i cant sit in it anymore. It kills my back..

They are too small for most bigger guys. I cant even think about getting in a mini truck.

Finding some one to work or it and getting parts is a problem also. People were selling them all over the place for a year or two... then they all disappeared. At least Polaris, Kawasaki, JD arent going any where.

We have the same problem with some tractor brands like Mahindra, Zetor, etc.

 

[Brute 23]

I know people dont want to admit it (and that's probably because they dont really need one) ... but if you need a utv... they are irreplaceable. There is no atv, no truck, no tractor, no mini truck, nothing... that is as versatile and capable... if you truly have to have one to get things done.

We have a Suzuki Carry that will do 90% of what a UTV can, for half the cost.

Reliability and parts availability is another matter though.

90% of things on flat, hard ground maybe. You arent following a utv up the side of a mountain with 4 grown men, or across a rice field, or thru a wet corn field corn field.

I've been with guys trying to hunt out of those things with us. They are cool bit not in the same class when it gets nasty.

If yall haven't seen the new can am 6x6. It's a beast. No other way to describe it. It is truly a tank. Game changer. You will see more on the near future.