Hello everyone. I know pretty much nothing about ATV's except that about 8 years ago I drove my nephews. I am 62 years old and live in the Nevada desert and have 2 acres. I have a couple of needs that I am trying to fill and make my life easier with a ATV. Hopefully I can spell them out.

I have a lot of trees so there is always pruning and clean-up. I want to be able to pull a small trailer to load tree clippings and weeds and leaves on.

Weeds are a big problem here for me and I like to keep the land fairly clean. The problem is that when you get one type of weed gone in a few weeks a new type of week pops up and it all starts over again. I want to pull something behind my ATV that can help uproot the weeds when they first pop up and then pull something again that will smooth out the dirt. I also want to smooth out the dirt because my two dogs play really hard and they have many indentations in the dirt and when they are running they step in these and hurt themselves.

I seen a lot of implements that seem like they could do these jobs for me and they don't seem to be too badly priced. I know I will need to be sure I have the correct hitch in the back. Some of the implements Ive seen have stated that they take a 1 point lift system and Ive seen that for sale on Amazon. I need a little advice to know what type of hitch or hitches do I need to do these jobs.

Now that being said the other thing I would like to use it for is to take a nice easy calm ride in the desert. The ground is nice and smooth and some of it even has dirt roads. I wont be doing things like climbing steep hills, mud bogging, going into lakes and streams. In other words what you might expect a typical 62 year old to do! Although I am sure that there are some who like to do the more exciting things but not me.

I am looking used and would like to keep it under $4000? Is that even possible? Im not even sure if I need a 4x4 as we do get some snow and some rain but not tons of it and the dirt on my land is nice and soft and grainy. If I was ten years younger I am sure that I would be at a dealership somehere and buying a brand new one but Im not and I only need it for the things I have stated above so I don't want to get too crazy with price if possible.

Thanks for any help, tips or advice I get.

Tom

 

Hello tsfrance from Nevada. Welcome to the ATV Connection. My first post here last November was very similar to yours. I knew nothing, and needed advice about these ATVs. I'm older than you and retired. I think you will get lots of replys to your thread. I'll start off with my inexperience.

I recently moved to Colorado from Minnesota. In Minnesota I had a compact tractor for mowing, blowing snow, grading, and it had a loader. Perfect for my acreage. Here in Colorado my ground has many pine trees and I couldn't get the tractor around at all. So I sold it. Sad. Snow falls is my biggest headache in Colorado, as well as dead pine trees.

Most ATVs will carry about 300 pounds on their racks, they have limited tongue weight capability on the trailer hitch, like only 50 pounds. And there is no PTO for driving other implements. A tractor they ain't

However I told the wife that an ATV is like a mountain tractor, or mountain goat. It is less than 50 inches wide, and with 4wd a pretty good tug. It will push snow, and pull a small trailer. I can maneuver it between some of the trees. It has a winch on the front. That is about all I need around here. I think an ATV is better at pushing and pulling. You can use the winch to lift an implement. That's how I lift the snow plow on my ATV. It was designed that way. Besides, I wanted to go trail riding here in Colorado and I enjoy "motor toys". Ulterior motive!

I have learned on these forums that the Honda ATVs are reliable and good workers. Honda was a leader in making the quad ATV a good farm implement, not just a trail riding "toy". I think you would find the 4wd option handy from time to time. You can push and pull more with 4wd. Polaris is maybe the largest volume manufacturer and has lots of dealers. The reliability reputation for Polaris is not as good as Honda. Many folks do a lot of work on Polaris machines. Yamaha makes a good machine too, same with Arctic Cat. There are many choices. Folks more experienced than me will advise on good makes and models to consider for your "ranch".

The main purpose for an ATV is trail riding, rough trail riding I might add. ATVs are motorsports "toys". It is not unusual for owners to completely submerge the ATV and have it ingest swamp water into the engine. Or roll the thing over. Or jump off a ramp. These machines get used hard and may have many problems sitting on a used ATV lot or somebody's garage. Being very clean means nothing related to mechanical condition. But a good used machine is thousands less than a new one. Your budget is very reasonable for finding a good machine it seems to me. Just take your time. I spent 4 or 5 weeks just deciding which way to go.

You need a dealer or seller you can trust, and who will stand behind their description of the machine.

It might be that something in the 400 to 500cc range will work for you. I don't think you need gobs of horsepower for dragging (or pushing) a spring tooth rake over your ground to help cultivate it, or push snow, or pull a trailer with brush in it. And you can ride trails with your ATV easily, that's what they are designed for. Gobs of horsepower just allows you to accelerate faster, do wheelies, pull through deep mud, and jump farther. None of which either you or I will be doing.

This ATV Connection forum does have a used machine clasified section. Here is a link to an example:

https://atvconnection.com/forums/cla...y-660-4x4.html

Hope this helps your thinking.

David

 

I think a lot of ATV's would fit the bill. Find one that has been taken care of. I would look for one from 300 cc's to 500, maybe 550 cc's. You may like a 2 up machine, I personally like the longer wheel base. I'm an Arctic Cat fan, I own 3. Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda offer Japanese reliability, CanAm, Arctic Cat and Polaris are awesome ATV's (USA and Canada) and you might check out the Kymco's (Made in Taiwan). Personally, I'd stay away from the Made in China stuff.

 

You need to look for a 4x4 utility ATV to do your work. The brand and displacement are choices you can make after you learn more about them. I personally like the 500-550 cc class machines. They can do a lot of work and don't cost nearly as much as the 800-1000 cc quads.

 

Thanks everyone as there is a lot of good info here. In the area I live there are a lot of quads around but not many for sale on Facebook or Craigslist so I may end up checking out a dealer. Im going to look for someone to take with me who can look at the machine and see if there are any major things wrong, frame, etc. Should be a fun process that I am looking forward too.

 

You should be able to find a nice used 4x4 utility for under $4000. Dealers do get a lot of used quads that buyers trade in for new ones so that would be a good place to look. And you can also go look at it and test ride it anytime you like during their business hours. Also, you can directly compare it to a similar quad of another brand assuming they have many used units there.

 

Here's a picture of the 2002 Arctic Cat 400 that I bought for $1,400. It was in very good shape. The second picture is my 2008 Arctic Cat 700 Super Duty diesel, I bought for $4,000. Got em both off <ArcticChat.com> Check out the for sale section on a few ATV sites, including this one. Good machines are out there.

 

We have a property similar to that. We have 12 acres with a ton of trees, and sections of large weeds/fast growing grass. We have a Polaris Sportsman. Is is 4 wheel drive, can pull trailers, can pull a mowing cart to get rid of the weeds, and is a great machine, i suggest getting that.

 

As others have said most 4wd utility machines will fit the bill. I'd stay at or above 500 cc just for pulling power. Use low range and 4wd for the chores. Plenty of torque and traction. A 4wd will dig 4 holes in the ground before it gets to the point it can't pull something in low gear. I know you said $4000 but there are new quads that are sub-$6000. 2017 Sportsman 450 H.O. EPS ATV - Velocity Blue | Polaris This quad actually has a 500 cc engine. They call it the 450 to get people to buy the 570 cc with a bit more power.

 

The Sportsman 570 has 1/3 more horsepower than the 450 H.O., 44 vs. 33, so it's a significant difference. It's $700 more but I'd pay the difference if I was buying one of them.