I'm a newbie, a FNG, a Greenhorn and have never owned anATV/Quad before. I have run heavy machinery, belonged to a Jeep club for years, fly airplanes, run boats and ride Harleys but ... I haven't a clue about these new quads so I'm turning to you guys for some advice.

The unit will be used to pull a good sized mower, a trailer for dirt, stone and firewood and for snow plowing. I anticipate 75% of the hours will be doing work along the lines of what I described.

15% will be for hunting with myself and my son aboard (220# + 150#) as well as rifles, trees stands, etcetera. The terrain is hilly, muddy and a little rock with falldowns and what-not to traverse. Dragging logs and brush will be a common chore fore the machine. Stream crossings with mud and rock will be done regularly.

The remaining 10% will be trail riding and just screwing around.

Speed is not of importance to me but reliability is number one; followed by ease of maintaince and then durability. I have enough machinery to worry about service cycles, maintaince, winterizing, lubing, charging and the like - I do not want some high performance Ferrari that needs me to talk it to sleep every night in the garage. I have no problem with oil changes and routine maintainance but I want something that can be ridden hard and put away wet without whining.

This is my first post. Sorry if I went on too much. I would really appreciate any advice from you guys. Thanks in advance.

 

WTF....gotta like your choice in nicknames.
Sounds like youll be wanting 4wd and solid axle, instead of irs. The 700 prairie or the rubicon should be able to fit the bill. The honda has a much lower towing rateing, and thats because of the drum brakes, but itll pull alot. They are both autos, but done differently. The honda is hydrostatic, and the kawi is cvt belt drive. The suzuki twin peaks is basicly the same as the prairie, except with suzuki styling, in front.

 

hondabuster, Thanks for the quick and informative reply.

I have a friend of a friend that is a Kawasaki dealer and can save me a lot of money. Hydrostatic seems much more reliable than a belt, no?

I am partial to Honda only because everything with that name on it that I have around here still runs. The only Kawasaki I've had withthin the past 30 years is a 27 h.p. engine on a "Mud Buddy" I bought a little over a year ago that we use for duck hunting. Darned thing never ran right and had to have the carburator replaced (under warranty) after much aggravation and fiddling with.

Will a belt drive stand up to the type of use I will put it though? If I went Kawasaki instead of Honda I could probably save enough to buy all the accessories I could possibly want AND a new shotgun if I wanted one! But a belt drive? Hmmmmmmmm.

 

the rubicon will take a beating...dirtwheels sent it out to a running farm...the guy put 3000miles on and rolled it once...never did a thing to it...didnt eve change the oil...then they went out and drove it around it ran like new...

theres people on these forums that put alot more abuse on the beltdrives than you will be from the sounds of it...i dont remember if praires have a low gear?...but if they do just make sure your in it when you've got a heavy load or are towing...both are good machines...obviously the praire will have the extra power with 200cc and a V-twin so it might do your work easier...plus you can get one for a good price...

 

[[[Speed is not of importance to me but reliability is number one; followed by ease of maintaince and then durability]]]

You are talking Rubicon here. Just get the solid rear axle and you will be a very happy owner. We have seen rumors that Honda may change the Rubicon for 05 to IRS but it does not need it. For your use my guess is you would like the solid axle better. Dont worry about tow rating. Honda is very conservative in their ratings and the Ruby will easily do everything you need. I don't own a Rubicon but have been researching this subject for years and have friends who do own them.

 

If you're going to have your son on the machine with you then you may want to consider one of the Bombardier or Arctic Cat 2 seater ATVs. Neither one is a speed demon but they seem like nice machines.

 

yea get a prairie or brute force

 

Theres been some complaints about the whineing from the kawasaki autos. Its just a characteristic of the unit. Make sure you get to test drive the choices before you buy. You may find the whine to be too much, or you might not like the way, the motor is always revving, with a belt drive. If you want down low torque, and low center of gravity, (which means stability), youll lean towards the rubicon.
The nice thing about the belt drives, theyre cheaper to fix when they break.
Just make sure youre in low range when you need power, and the belt drives will last for years, with out working on them.
The important thing is to get a test drive on as many as you can before buying. Once you buy, and if youre unhappy, theres a steep dollar hit, to get into something else.
The front differential on the honda works very well, and for almost every situation,... but the kawi, has a locking differential, that at times are needed, and will get you thru more effortlessly than the honda.
I would think either one of them would last for many years and many miles.

 

Thanks for all of the info guys. As it turns out, a friend of mine has both a Rubicon AND and Rincon! I'm going to try to get up to his place before I buy.

I read the specs on the Hondas and they are one cylinder - must be great for torque down low.

Is the basic difference between the Rubicon and the Rincon the fact that the latter has IRS while the former has a solid rear axle?

Will I really notice the difference in the size of the engine? Remember, I will be pulling stuff but am not look for a speedster.

Am I to understand that the Hondas are basically three wheel drive with a locked rear and basically an open differential in the front?

 

Im not sure the rincon will be what youre looking for. The auto tranny is a 3 speed, with a torque converter, automotive style tranny. Theres no low range, and the rubicon will easily out pull it.
Honda has a torque sensing type differential in front. Same design as whats in a range rover. It works on a bias...the side that has traction will get up to 5 times as much torque as the slipping side. But if one front tire comes off the ground, it will have no resistance, and 5 times zero is still zero, so the tire in the air will spin. Then you have to use the "honda assist"...use the front brake , to get all 4 tires turning. It works, but requires some practice.
The trannys, and rear suspension, and disk brakes on the rincon, are the big differences. It rides like a cadilac, but its not the willing worker, that the rubicon is.
Youll notice on the hondas, they sit lower, which means more stability...but it has lower ground clearance as well and will be the first to get stuck in the ruts, getting high centered.
Almost all quads have a locked rear differential (spooled), only a couple have a differential action in back. The big difference in the different 4wd systems is how the front diff works. Almost all can be applied on the fly. Some are full time, such as the rubicon. Which , if you want to powerslide or do donuts and goof around, will be hard to do on a full time 4wd. Sometimes it nice to disengage the front. Warn and some others, make a disconnect kit for the rubicon if thats something youd be interested in.
Some front diffs are speed sensing,..the tire with the most speed gets more, kind of like the diffs in the back of trucks. Some have the ability to totally lock all 4 tires with a lever or switch. The some kawis and some yamis and some suzis. Others, like the bomb and honda, use a torque sensing type, the tire with the traction gets more power( until the side opposite gets none). And then there is polaris, which is totally different. Polaris is a spooled type front end, and uses electrically operated, hillyard clutches, to engage the axles. Basicly you have to loose traction in back, to gain traction in front and It wont engine brake the front coming down a hill.
Heres an old article from popular mechanics on the honda differential. Im not sure why its called a 400 rubicon, it might be a typo. The article is almost 5 years old but, honda hasnt change anything about it. pop mechs article
Lets us know your thoughts after riding the two hondas.