Buying a quad

[Dave]

My old quad was a 2004 Honda Rancher with an automatic transmission. They only made that transmission for 3 years because when that tranny went out the quad is toast. The mechanic said I got 3 times the miles most get but this winter ..... well it is toast and parked in the bone yard.
So I shopped for a quad. No more used quads for $2,000. Quads 15 years old are listed for $4,000-$6,000 on Craigslist and they are gone in 2 days. Calving season is here and during irrigation season I am on the quad everyday. So I am biting the bullet. A new Honda Rancher with electric shift it is costing $6,800. That is not much more than an old used one. And I do use them daily. But the old cheap skate in me is coming out. This hurts.

 

[Little Joe]

Have you considered a side by side? The Kawasaki mule is not much more than that and is a good reliable rig.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I'm a big fan of Polaris. We're still using this Sportsman 570 daily after 20 years of rough work.

 

[Silver]

My old quad was a 2004 Honda Rancher with an automatic transmission. They only made that transmission for 3 years because when that tranny went out the quad is toast. The mechanic said I got 3 times the miles most get but this winter ..... well it is toast and parked in the bone yard.
So I shopped for a quad. No more used quads for $2,000. Quads 15 years old are listed for $4,000-$6,000 on Craigslist and they are gone in 2 days. Calving season is here and during irrigation season I am on the quad everyday. So I am biting the bullet. A new Honda Rancher with electric shift it is costing $6,800. That is not much more than an old used one. And I do use them daily. But the old cheap skate in me is coming out. This hurts.

I hope its the electric shift / automatic shift. We had a straight auto shift rancher (2015 model or so) and when the little electrical gremlin showed up in the shifting wiring all the kings horses and all the kings men could not figure it out. Last I saw it at the dealers shop it was spread all over the place.

 

[Dave]

I counted and there are 14 full time ranches in my little valley. I am sure that there has to be at least 30 quads between them. Line them up and you will find 30 Honda Ranchers of various ages and state of disrepair.

 

[Silver]

Honda makes many good bikes. We have 3 here. I was confident enough in Honda that I traded my broken one on a new one. But it wasn't the straight electric shift.
A quick Google search "Honda Rancher Electric Shift Problems" is eye opening.
I hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[Rydero]

Honda made GREAT quads for years. They seem to still make good quads. Hard to go wrong with any Japanese quad though. We run Yamaha at work and they're really good on the farm. At home I have a couple of Kawasakis - one thing about the Kawasaki is aside from a couple things they kept their quad essentially the same for years and years so parts can be swapped. Seems like the dealer in an area has a huge amount to do with market share. I've rarely seen a Honda for years - mostly see Yamahas and Artic Cat because that's what was sold.locally.

 

[Mrcopier]

My old quad was a 2004 Honda Rancher with an automatic transmission. They only made that transmission for 3 years because when that tranny went out the quad is toast. The mechanic said I got 3 times the miles most get but this winter ..... well it is toast and parked in the bone yard.
So I shopped for a quad. No more used quads for $2,000. Quads 15 years old are listed for $4,000-$6,000 on Craigslist and they are gone in 2 days. Calving season is here and during irrigation season I am on the quad everyday. So I am biting the bullet. A new Honda Rancher with electric shift it is costing $6,800. That is not much more than an old used one. And I do use them daily. But the old cheap skate in me is coming out. This hurts.

Considered a side by side, I made the switch and will never go back

 

[Dave]

Considered a side by side, I made the switch and will never go back

There are some here with side by sides but they also have quads. Those who only have one have a quad. Of the 14 ranches in the valley I can only think of 5 side by sides. This is much different terrain than the rest of you deal with.

 

[Nesikep]

I like Honda bikes, I run a 1984 XR500 as my workhorse around here, absolutely great (but a bit heavy) bikes,.. For quads, I like the old Yamahas, I have 2 Big bear 350's that I bought abused as heck, but they haul all my cows hay and they start right up on the coldest winter days. I had a Suzuki 500 and I hated that thing, started it up last winter and I guess the oil was too thick, made it 100 yards and a bearing seized up.. I've ridden some Hondas and I just found all of them kinda retarded for getting into reverse... I guess you get used to everything, I've also found that nearly every Honda I've had died of valve train issues.. Honda can't figure out how to make a cam chain tensioner.. CT70, XL185, XR500, CBR1000, all died of that.

 

[4hfarms]

I like the torque from the quad. Not sure a sxs can pull a trailer of wood up to the house. Also considered that If one is to choose a sxs, would you prefer the diesel engine, like Kubota?

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I like the torque from the quad. Not sure a sxs can pull a trailer of wood up to the house. Also considered that If one is to choose a sxs, would you prefer the diesel engine, like Kubota?

Side by sides will handle loaded trailers much easier than quads will. I tow full 16 ft trailers behind our Ranger.

 

[jltrent]

I have an older Honda Rancher 350 manual shift and a Honda Foreman manual shift. I had a co-worker who had the electric shift only Rancher and had problems with shifting. Both of these so far have been about bullet proof. I took the starter off the Rancher and soldered new brushes in a couple years ago as the starter was getting dead spots from worn out brushes. I have had three Honda 300 TRXs, a Yamaha 225 Moto 4 and a Kawasaki 300 Bayou. All were pretty nice.

 

[Atimm693]

Polaris is a pile of junk IMO. Take that for what it's worth, a lot of guy use them, but I have not liked what I've seen on the ones that I work on.

I traded a motorcycle in for a new CFMoto last summer. I like it so far. Has more features than the competition and is about 20% cheaper. Brand new 2020 400 4x4 was right at 5k OTD. The 500 is a much better value though for $1200 more, you get the bigger engine, EPS, winch, and alloy wheels.

I found the same thing you did. Used ones just weren't worth the value, and I'm not sure you would want to risk it with what some people do to them.

SXSs are nice, but unless it's really cold, I prefer an ATV. SXSs are a lot better for heavy pulling too.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I looked at a few cfmoto vehicles yesterday at a local dealer. Is yours out of one of their Chinese factories or was it assembled in Minnesota?

 

[Hardnosecattleco]

I have a Yamaha kodiak 06 maybe. It's been put threw it's paces never any issues I'd really recommend one to anyone I think besides basic maintenance the only thing I had done to it was a wheel bearing and a new winch that's it

 

[Ky hills]

A while back we set out looking at quads, and in the process looked at some SxS too and eventually went with a SxS. They both have their place no doubt, and at times one would be better over the other, but overall the SxS is much more versatile and useful for us. Ours is said to be able to pull 2500 lbs. It has room to carry some fencing supplies and tools, feed etc. We got a Polaris Ranger 1000. Of the quads we looked at, I liked the Polaris, and Hondas.

 

[Atimm693]

I looked at a few cfmoto vehicles yesterday at a local dealer. Is yours out of one of their Chinese factories or was it assembled in Minnesota?

I have no clue. I was under the assumption that they all came on a boat.

Really the only complaint that I had was with the factory speed limiter. The throttle had a cast in tang so it would only open about 30%. The dealer wouldn't disable it, but said they would honor the warranty if I did, so it got broken off with pliers. It's way faster than it needs to be now, before it would hardly spin the tires.

The biggest worry I have, is where is the company going to be in 10 years. There's been many foreign companies that made a go of selling in powersports industry, and haven't succeeded.

It's really hard to get away from China. JD Gators have a Chinese car engine, smaller Kawasakis are made by Kymco. CFMoto builds engines for KTM.

Arctic Cat dropped Suzuki as their long-time engine supplier and is now part of Textron, a huge conglomerate that is also involved with Polaris and a whole lot of other companies.

The "who makes what" situation has gotten a lot more complicated than it used to be.

 

[504RP]

I don't think you would go wrong buying a Honda. I have the Honda 450 Foreman 4x4. I started to buy a Rancher but, had a friend who had owned Ranchers before he went with the Foreman 4x4. Said the Foreman 4x4 cost a little more but could pull a pretty good load compared to the Rancher.

I don't even know if Honda still makes the 450 anymore. Mine is a electric shift. I have got a ton of work out of that dude, It's been treated as ruff as ruff could be. Used daily runs as good as the day i bought it new. Probably 15 years old. Thought about buying another one but really no reason too with this one running as good as it does and as ruff as i am on one. I have a 6 x 8 tilt trailer that i use to unroll barb wire off of when building fence with oxygen and cytelin bottles. Hooked behind my Foreman right now. It's a work Horse. If I eventually ever wear the thing out ? Well I was going to say buy another one just like it. But I am getting long in the tooth. Don't know if i can wait until I wear it out to get a new one before the hour of the tiger arrives if you know what i mean ? Lol !!!