Gator / Mule / Ranger / RTV / UTV / golf cart... do you have one that you use around your homestead?

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Deer Lodge, Tennessee
Just curious whether some of you may have a utility vehicle that you use around the homestead?

I've kinda got the bug that I think I want one. And I have this idea that I would use one around the place, anything from picking up sticks to hauling tomato cages to checkin' on the edges of the place to carrying some water buckets when it's dry weather. Haulin' produce in season. Maybe even truckin' on over to see the neighbors down the road, which would be a couple of miles round trip.

Unfortunately, they're quite popular and that means they're expensive. I can afford one. But I'm not convinced I really need one. I already have an ATV that I gotta climb on like I would a motorcycle. I'm gettin' too old for that and my wife sometimes wants to go with me. Would be a whole lot easier with a side by side setup.

Another thing I get hung up on... analysis paralysis. No matter what I look at, somebody loves it and somebody hates it, somebody thinks theirs runs great forever while another with exactly the same thing thinks it's total junk and would never ever recommend it to anyone.

So whatcha got? You like it? You ever wish you'd bought somethin' else? Overspent for it? Wish you'd paid a little more to get somethin' better?

Curious what you all think! Thanks!
 
We have a side by side, a 4 wheeler, and a golf cart. The one that gets used the most, by far, is the golf cart. It's an EZ-go workhorse that has a dump box behind the seat. When we're just riding around, the pups sit back there. But I use it all the time to haul stuff around and to pick up leaves, brush, wood, etc. around the property. We bought it used from a local golf cart dealer and we've not had any major issues with it. If something happend with this one, I'd buy a new one in a heartbeat! Our is a gas powered model and we use it all spring, summer, and fall. It's a handy little cart for sure!
 
We've got a Kawasaki SxS for the farm. Doesn't get used a whole lot, but it serves a purpose of getting from here to there in places where you don't want to drive a truck. We have 4 different farm properties and my brother uses it to go back and forth from his house to whatever farm He's working at the moment...

It's old and breaks down too much but it didn't cost much. Not totally necessary, but it serves a purpose...
 
I have two JD Gator XUV850Ds

They run a Yanmar, 3 cylinder 850cc water cooled diesel engine and a CVT belt drive system.

We have had them since new (about 12 years). We use them for routine patrolling around the farm, carrying fencing gear, towing water tanks, spraying herbicides (with a 60 gallon boom less sprayer that does about a 30' pass) and carrying our fire fighter (5HP gas powered pump on a 120 gallon tank).

They have a good 4WD system (with diff lock), ROPS and have a lower centre of gravity than quads. Overall they are safer than quads and use less fuel. They can carry and/or tow big loads.

However, we still have (and need) quads too - mostly because quads will fit through places the Gators won't go and we have found that you can't herd cattle with a side x side..

Gators are an OK type to get - but they have a mid mounted engine under the tray that limits the ground clearance.
Gator.jpg
 
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Does a D-8 dozer count, or the Case 450B w/ 28" tracks count, or the Duce and a half.........At the moment I am out of snow machines......But they are the most useful here.....????
 
Thanks for the comments so far! I would think everyone would have a somewhat unique situation that would affect what works well. I have some hills but not much as far as restricted spaces or really rough terrain. I know some of 'em travel at like 50 or 60 mph, which to me is just crazy. I don't think I've had the ATV over 35 and even that was faster than I shoulda been going... that was down the road towards a neighbor's place and cars don't usually go much over 30 on this road. I kinda like the Kubota ones with a top speed of like 25mph, which people complain about, but to me, that's as fast as I'd ever need to go, and rarely. The neighbors have Rangers. A brother in law has a Mule. Another brother in law has a golf cart. I'm leery of a standard duty golf cart 'cause I kinda think I might work it harder than they're intended to be worked and ask more of it than it's designed to give.

At the moment, my go-to "farm vehicle" is an old minivan. It works. But really, it's not the right tool for jobs like haulin' around buckets of water or bags of fertilizer.
 
Does a D-8 dozer count, or the Case 450B w/ 28" tracks count, or the Duce and a half.........At the moment I am out of snow machines......But they are the most useful here.....????

LOL!! Not much use for snow machines around these parts. We got our big snow storm last week... about 2 inches, and it was gone in a few hours.

I do have a tractor. But that's not a "jump in and go" kind of thing.
 
Like a lot of things....once you have it, you wonder how you ever got along without it.

Got a Club Car golf cart now.

15 years ago got rid of the 4 wheeler , couldn't get on and off anymore. Got a Bad Boy sxs loved it , don't do much around the farm anymore ,so I sold it for more than I paid for it.
Get a winch on the front ,. Handy .

Get it.

Jim
 
Thanks for the comments so far! I would think everyone would have a somewhat unique situation that would affect what works well. I have some hills but not much as far as restricted spaces or really rough terrain. I know some of 'em travel at like 50 or 60 mph, which to me is just crazy. I don't think I've had the ATV over 35 and even that was faster than I shoulda been going... that was down the road towards a neighbor's place and cars don't usually go much over 30 on this road. I kinda like the Kubota ones with a top speed of like 25mph, which people complain about, but to me, that's as fast as I'd ever need to go, and rarely. The neighbors have Rangers. A brother in law has a Mule. Another brother in law has a golf cart. I'm leery of a standard duty golf cart 'cause I kinda think I might work it harder than they're intended to be worked and ask more of it than it's designed to give.

At the moment, my go-to "farm vehicle" is an old minivan. It works. But really, it's not the right tool for jobs like haulin' around buckets of water or bags of fertilizer.

The Kubotas use a hydrostatic drive system that is fully sealed and handles dust, dirt, mud and water better than the belt drives do.

They also have better hill descent control.
 
I have a Kubota RTV 1100 at work and would love to have it at the house.

I've been eyein' up a used one here locally. It's an RTV 1140, I think. It has a front and back seat but seems to be about the only one that you can fold up the back seat and expand the bed to be bigger. I can see that being useful for both when I need the bigger bed and when I need to haul the grandkids. They go for like $20k new and the used one here is around $10k. I'm tempted. But even $10k is a lot of money, at least to me. Could probably offset that a little with selling the ATV, I know one of the neighbors would like to have it.
 
We've got a Polaris Ranger that we use all the time. The twins ride it and use it for work projects. The cleaned out a massive barn of manure recently, a 3 weeks project. The manure had been in it forever. Just drove the ranger in, shoveled the back end full, drove it where it needed to be dumped. More fun than a wheel barrow, and easier. Husband and I take it all over. Into town for ice cream. Husband has a unique toy he rides all over the farm, even can handle rough areas. It's a Pride Mobility Wrangler. Kind of a supersonic scooter. That thing can go anywhere.
 
Husband and I take it all over. Into town for ice cream.

I wish I could do that here. We live about 6 miles from the nearest very small town. It would be very handy to be able to run a utv there. But... there are no back roads to get there and the main road is a state highway a lot of which has pretty much zero shoulder. It would be a hazard, unsafe, and in this case, illegal, possibly getting away with a big orange triangle and claiming "farm use", maybe, but it still wouldn't be a very safe thing to do. The road we actually live on connects to the state highway but there isn't really anybody back here except the people who live here so nobody cares on our own road. That and just around our place, between house, barn, several gardens, that kind of thing would be the usual.
 
Maybe members could mention any restrictions on there use in your area. I am surrounded by National Forest, and ATV's are 100% illegal there. They are also illegal on the public road system.
 
I am surrounded by National Forest, and ATV's are 100% illegal there.

Wow, I didn't know that. I don't think I'd have any issue with that here, none of those types of places (National Forest) are easily accessible to me. But it's definitely something I'd wanna know about before purchasing if I were gonna wanna use it that way.
 
There's plenty of ways to get around here on the dirt roads. Horse and buggies use them all the time. And they use the paved, but go to the side.

Reminds me of where I grew up, Lancaster county, PA. Lots of Amish there, and just like you said, on the road with their horse n buggies but to the side. Lots of dangerous places with no place for them to even get off to the side, no shoulder at all, and no shortage of crazy "English" drivers to pass where they can't see.
 
Reminds me of where I grew up, Lancaster county, PA. Lots of Amish there

That was a wonderful place to grow up......me also.
 
We don’t have the restrictions that Sourdough has on ATVs in these parts. My little spread is on a mountain with some very steep terrain, so a tractor isn’t practical. We use our ATV/Side by Side/snow machines heavily throughout the year. My ATVs/side by sides in particular live a very tough life. They are the unsung heroes on my spread.

While a D8 would be overkill for my needs, that case 450 that Sourdough has would be perfect for my needs if I only had the skills to keep it running!
 
we have a polaris general, bought it new in 2017 have not had any issues with it other than a recall i have to take it back in for but that is free. We use ours for trail riding too so we use it on the farm and for fun. On the farm we use it for hauling chainsaws/fuel/oil, we use it to pull the log splitter to where we are splitting, fencing tools/posts and whatever needs hauling. it has a 1500 lb tow rating, we have a 6 x 10 motorcycle trailer that I pull with it often but when it's full of fire wood I pull it with the tractor and the splitter with the sxs. ours is fancy, has a radio, extra led cube lights, windshield, roof and adjustable shocks but most of that stuff is for trail riding in the mountains and is not necessary for a farm machine. my FIL had a ranger and we didn't like the bench seats so we opted for the general, they are spendy comparatively but when we ride in the mountains we spend 12+ hours in it. We also removed the shoulder belts and put in harnesses mainly for comfort and we do ride in some pretty rough places in the mountains too.

do we like it, absolutely. Will we buy another one when this one wears out, indeed we will!
 
We have a Kawasaki Mule that gets used every day here. If not for using in the yard and woods then just going down the 1/4 mile lane to get the mail.

We also have an atv ( forget the name) that I haven't used in years because I like the Mule so much ( I kinda commandeered it lol)
 
been thinking about upgrading. Not sure what to get. It don't need to be fast but 30-40 mph wouldn't be bad. Would like something with out a lot of electronics, if that's even possible. Four wheel drive, lights.

I use mine to haul water, clean out barns, feed, gather up fire wood, check property lines, etc.

I have a old early 1950s willys jeep I thought about modifying into a farm machine. I like the idea there is not much for electronics on it.

I thought about a "mule" but the cost are probably more than I am willing to go.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M274_½-ton_4×4_utility_platform_truck
 
With age comes a cage. I have used the Kawasaki mules for work, no issues. When I did search and rescue the team had a Honda Big Red. It was donated to us by Honda. That thing was impressive in that everyone used it and no one worked on it. We barely checked the oil. One day I hit a bowling ball sized rock with the front tire at about 25 mph. I was sure I was walking back to camp. Not a scratch on it. I don't currently have a side by side, but with our rainfall I think one of these would be nice. They are in the same price range. Just look up mini truck.
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