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Little OT, but does any of you have quads?

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Looking to get one, but don't want to spend the money on a 600+ cc monster. Main job would be carrying my 220 pound butt on a 5km loop twice a day, occassionally pulling a small trailer around to pick up horse fruit from the pasture and/or pulling a small harrow around.
There's a local guy that is cuddling 300 pounds easy that has a 250 cc 2wd chinese made one that zooms him around with a 4x6 ft trailer like it's nothing. Just don't know if it has a bigger motor than the stickers say. Of course, a dealer wants to get you on the biggest thing possible. Thought you folks may have some input.


Dave
 
I got a 2007 Yamaha Grizzly 450 4x4 that I play around with. I bought it brand new and use it for trail riding and also for skidding wood. It does good and would be great for what you want to do with it. Mine has independant suspension for a good ride and TRUE 4 wheel drive (all wheels will spin regardless what traction is available) It also has 2 wheel drive and regular 4 wheel drive.
Brad
 
My vote is for the Honda Foreman. I use it daily, and it gets alot of hard jobs. I have not had any issues with it in the 5 years I have owned it.
 
There are lots of real brand name 400-450cc 4X4 quads going cheap with low hours. With the slowing economy and high debt. The toys are getting sold off.
The 2007/2008 new stock is being deeply discounted as it gathers dust in the showrooms. It"s common to see new product on sale cheaper than somebody trying to sell a 1-3 year old used machine.
 
We have a 400 sportsman and a can am 400 outlander. The can-am is the better machine all the way around. If you read any of the 4 wheeler reviews, honda takes a beating as far as trail handeling, climbing, suspension, but...

If I was buying a 4 wheeler just for around the farm stuff, honda or arctic cat would be the first two I`d look at. Like I said the can am is great, but too pricy.

Honda has kinda stuck true to utility 4 wheelers, Arctic cat has a great attachment and accessory system. We`ve had a few polaris`s and always had trouble with something. If you aren`t in a hurry and can wait for some hold over deals, or a promotion, you can darned near buy new for the same money as used..

Whatever you buy, you`ll use it twice as much as you think...
 
I have a 07 yamaha grizzly 350 and a yamaha rhino 660. Make sure if you get something like a rhino, you get insurance. My first one was a 05 and it was stolen a month ago. Insurance paid me the original price and was able to get a new one with accessories due to drop in prices.
 
I have a 2002 Honda Rancher. It's 350cc's.

One winter I had a friend on the back, pulling a large buck on a rope, uphill, in 12 inches of snow. Not fast, but sure and steady.

It's easy to load, easy to push if you have to, and easy on fuel.

Best piece of equipment I ever bought.

Gordo
 
Most of the comments I've heard on the Chinese quads are similar to those on the Chinese tractors- stay away!
 
Hi Dave,

Last month I just bought a new 07 Honda Rancher TRX420TE, 420cc EFI, liquid cooled, 4x2, $4250 otd. They wanted another $900 for 4x4 that I just don"t need for how I ride in AZ, no water or mud.

Electric shift was $200 extra and that gives you the electronic instruments, well worth the extra $200. The machine is rated too pull a 850lb trailer. Looks like about 30mpg. We ride double, about 400lbs total, with out any problem with power to spare.

Good deal used machines in AZ were going with-in $500 of new cost, alot of times more than new cost. For $1000 below new cost, I would have still bought new as I didn"t want someones past headaches.

T_Bone
 
I don't have one, but all of neighbors think they're a necessity and write them off as a farm expense. However, in reality they just seem to use them for playing. I guess my philosophy is that if I need to get somewhere on my farm that my truck won't go, the money would be better spent on cat work. Or alternatively, I'll just keep the money and walk there.

On the other hand, with the fuel prices, I was considering possibly getting one to rake hay with. Even then it would take a looong time to pay for itself. Does anyone even do this?
 
(quoted from post at 02:48:57 08/05/08) Looking to get one, but don't want to spend the money on a 600+ cc monster. Main job would be carrying my 220 pound butt on a 5km loop twice a day, occassionally pulling a small trailer around to pick up horse fruit from the pasture and/or pulling a small harrow around.
There's a local guy that is cuddling 300 pounds easy that has a 250 cc 2wd chinese made one that zooms him around with a 4x6 ft trailer like it's nothing. Just don't know if it has a bigger motor than the stickers say. Of course, a dealer wants to get you on the biggest thing possible. Thought you folks may have some input.


Dave
Click to expand...

Dave, I have a Honda Foreman (350cc, full time 4x4) that I bought new in 1986. It will haul my 230 pound behind around faster than I want to go and will climb these Tennessee hills like a billy goat. I have never had a moments trouble out of it and it still runs like new. I have changed the oil a few times and put probably a half dozen batteries in it over the years.
Last summer I took it off roading up at Land Between the Lakes with some friends of mine who all had big 550-700cc machines and the little 350 didn't have any trouble keeping up. In the woods I considered the smaller size an advantage.
 
We've had two Yahmaha YFM 225's, a Honda 300ex, a Honda Fourtrax 250 and now a CanAm Outlander 400. My brother also has an Outlander 400 HO.
The best bikes of the whole damn lot by a wide margin were the Yahmaha's. We beat those things, and beat them, and beat them, did a ring job and then beat them some more. The only other that cam close was the Fourtrax 250.
The 300 sits in pieces. Clutches bad and crank splines gone.
The Outlanders are good bikes in a way... but I don't care for the way they drive. It's always at half throttle or more to move, and then hurry up and burn gas. They don't descend hills very well because they either want to stop or roll away. You can't just ease them down a hill. There's also been minor electrical problems and a broken shift lever on one. As far as I'm concerned, they'r ebasically a F*****g old Ski-Doo and nothing more.
If I was buying another today I'd look hard at Yahmaha again.
I'd also look at the Chinese bikes. I've looked at them a bit. If you've seen the one I think you have, it's the Baja 250 which is a DIRECT copy of the old YFM225 Yahmaha's we had. The only question in my mind about that bike is whether the Chinese were able to produce the bike to the same tolerance as Yahmaha did. If I knew they could I'd probably buy one for some purposes.
I'd suggest that you get FWD though. That is invaluable. A lot of the pounding our old bikes took was because they were getting pushed through mud where a FWD would have just driven through...
I would suggest staying with a smaller bike though. The bigger ones get too high and heavy which make them unmanuverable and not so pleasant for a lot of jobs.

Rod
 
I have two. A polaris 400 and a Yamaha 400. I use the polaris all the time and love it. Got it in 2001 and no problems at all. Use it every day summer and winter and no problems at all. The Yamaha has been a money pit and is hard starting in the winter. I say keep it this country and buy a polaris.-Bill
 
I have a 04 honda 450 foreman 4X4 bought new, now with over 1200 miles on it. I gotta say I love it. It will pull a trailer made from the back half of a datsun pick up with over half a mile's worth of barb wire, t-post, and pigtail post with out a problem. It is small enough to get around in the woods looking for a stay cow or pulling out locust post. It is big enough to pull a 8' spike tooth harrow, jocky around (most) empty tobacco wagons, and haul off tobacco stalks with the dat-sun trailer piled as high as it'll go plus a 5X8 trailer hooked to the bumper of the the dat-sun. For me it is just the right size. (Also, a 25 gallon sprayer on the back rack and I can still get across all the creeks on the farm)

Only thing is, years ago I had a little 250 yamaha timberwolf 2wd. I could run it for about 6 weeks on a tank of gas. Honda, maybe 2 or 3 but I use it more and the 250 did not pull the things this one will, also the yamaha I could not keep brakes on. If I could find another small one, real cheap, I'd get it just to ride around and check fences with and use the Forman for work. Of course this is the guy who has a chevy cavaleir too drive to work and hauls 100 lb of seed at a time in it and uses the ton truck for anything bigger than that.

Good luck.

Dave
 
have 2, Honda 250 ranchers 4 x 4, will haul you and everything you mentioned easy, they are both "04 models and are used everyday and neither of them has had the first problem and they are electric shift, never had a problem with either.....

in the small engine world I will only buy Honda, my generator has a v"twin 20 HP and my welder has a 9 hp and the ranchers so 4 Honda motors and none of them give me any trouble
 
Dave- forget the 4 wheeler and get a golf cart or a Geo Tracker. My old gas Yamabomer goes damn near anywhere (we put knobbies on, but no lift), totes plenty around in the box we put on back and hauls more folks than 4 wheeler. Use it every day in every way- probably my most used peice of equipment.
Also use the Geo Tracker- not much bigger than the golf cart and will go any damn where with 2" lift and skidsteer tires, and will pull more than you'd ever pull with a quad. I've got about $1000 in mine- think cheap Gator with heat, AC, stereo, full safety equipment and auto trans, seats for 5.
I figure I can buy about 10 trackers for the current price of a 4 wheeler or Gator!
 
POLARIS. I have two four wheelers, a 2004 Magnum and a 2004 Trailboss. Both of them have 330 engines and the polaris PVT transmission. No shifting, just put in forward or reverse and accelerate. I have everybody riding them and that is why I got the Polaris. Don't have to worry about anybody tearing up a clutch or transmission.

Might add I also have a Polaris Ranger that my wife loves.
 
MSN had a story recently on the Chinese atvs. This one burst into flames and severely burned it's underage rider. The Chinese ones are much cheaper. I say don't buy it , it is cheap junk. Honda , Yamaha , Kawasaki and Polaris have a proven track record.
 
We use a Cushman turf truckster, golf coarse maintenance equipment. 22 hp. 3speed transmision with a 2 speed rear axle. Hydraulic dump bed rated at 2500 lbs. and 540 pto.ground clearance isn't the greatest. Paid $1100.00

We've move top soil, hauled fire wood, drag logs out of the woods, picked sweet corn in to it, even a trip or two to town. We even drove it to the neighborhood tractor party last year called the tractster after that.
 
I know the current thought is to go big or go home.

However, I have what I consider to be pretty close to a perfect atv.

It is a Suzuki 160. 158cc 4 stroke engine.

The thing is tiny compared to most machines but big enough for me (6' 3", 230) to ride comfortably. It fits nearly anywhere and doesn't weigh much so if need be you can just pick up the back end and swing it around.

I have plowed snow with it, pulled out deer with it, pulled trees with it, set up full sized completely built ladder stands deep in the woods with it. I haul it around on a 4'x8' trailer and when I get to the woods I hook the trailer to the atv and go. Bigger machines may give you a bit more pulling capacity, but I will take my little one any day of the week.
 
Just my two cents worth.I've ran a Polaris for many years,never any problems no matter how cold or hot, no shifting or clutching, just fire it up and run, hit the button if you need 4x4 and away you go.
 
I started out with a yamaha big bear, was constantly repairing it . end up as a parts machine for a neighbor. went to honda 300 4x4 put 3000 hard miles on it sold to sil she still rides has over 5000 miles . added rancher 4x4 electic shift use it daily 5000 miles then added a foreman electic shift has about 3000 miles now last a rancher at has about 1500 miles. we chase cows,irrigate and spray weeds and play once in a great while. like my old rancher best,wouldnt buy another At. 2500 miles is about all we get out of tires. Have been around most other brands and they will not hold a candle to a Honda for long life.will problable up date at least one machine this year.
 
Thanks for the tips. These things are quite a bit more pricey here in Germany, with the chinese ones being the top sellers because of the price (less than half the price of Japanes). I'll keep looking until something comes around. Anything bigger than a quad won't fit under and around the fruit trees on my pastures. And the $10 a gallon gas that will go init makes the smaller ones look better and better. The more affordable ones have manual trans and chain drive instead of shaft and automatic. Is that a show stopper?

Thanks,

Dave
 
Chain drive isn't a big issue. That is the way they all were for years. It is simple and it works. You will need to replace the chain maybe once every 3 years or so. Not a big deal.

The semi automatic transmission (no clutch to engage) works just fine too. Technically it is a bit better for pulling loads as well.
 
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