Hello, I'm glad I found this site!


I will try to give you as much info as possible, please bear with me if I miss something, for I'm totally new to atvs.

I am looking to get a dedicated ATV for my landscaping business.
It will be used for Spreading fertilizer, and spraying weeds. Fertilizer spreader will be mounted in the front... welding and fabricating the brakets is not a problem. Spray tank (25 gallon) will be mounted on the back.

What I'm looking for.

1. It has to be small (like kids size 50-90 cc range I guess).. Reason it has to be small is: It cant weight a lot, and it has to be super manuvarable, small turning radius if at all possible.

2. It has to have reverse

3. 2x4 is ok, because it will only ride on turf

4. Power, just enogh power to handle me and the materials (total maybe 300 lb) on the turf going between 5-10mph. I dont think I will ever need to go above 10mph.



I am a small guy, at about 130lb.

I have seen a lot of things that I dont know what I need,

1. Rod or chain drive..? Pros cons of each?

2. Manual or Automatic... I'm leaning closer to manual since I will need to stay in the lower gears a lot (at a constant speed)

3. How does the rear drive work in a tight turn... do both tires turn at the same speed...will cause divots in turf??? Or is there somekind of differential?

4. Taking mud tires off and installing some turf tires on that thing should not cause any problems?

5. It has to have electric start and a battery charging system on board.

I live in Charlotte NC area.
Given the criteria I have, what would you recommend, and approximate price tag that I should be looking at?



Please let me know if I missed something, and I thank you in advance for all the help.

 

I have an acreage and a 25 gallon sprayer with 30' boomless spray nozzles. IMHO - an Atv is not a good choice to spray with. With 25 gallons or even 20 gallons full it is way to heavy to operate safely. Granded some of my land is hilly, not steep but hilly, its just not that safe. Sidehilling you run the risk of tipping and going up you run the risk of flipping. For you business you do not know what you are going to be spraying. Bottom line get a tractor for at least a Ranger type vehicle that can support that payload. I ended up getting a cheap carry-all (3 - point attachment) and putting it on the back of my tractor. A friend put one on his Ranger and it worked okay but once again tractor is the proper tool.

 

First off, kids quads are to small for anything but a kid! Of the bikes I have had experience with, I would suggest something like a Honda Recon 250 or even a Suzuki 160 (no longer made, but you might find one used). I would take Gretna's advice, and not try to put the weight on the machine, but rather put the sparyer rig in a TRAILER, and haul the trailer around with the quad.

Both the quads mentioned are foot shift autoclutch bikes. The Honda is shaft drive and the Suzuki is chain drive. You can put on a hitch for the trailer on either one. Both have racks, that you could use to carry stuff, for light chores.

One problem on turf is that the axles are solid, so the outer one has to slip during a turn. Might hack up the turf???

 

First one that comes to mind is a Yamaha Breeze.

#1 For what your doing either will do.
#2 Again, either will do.
#3 No diff, just a solid axel. This will cause some problems with agressive tires in turf.
#4 None what so ever.
#5 Breeze has both.

25 gallons X 7 is 175lbs. That's a lot for a little quad. You might want to get a little tow behind. I have both set-ups and they both work fine.

 

Breeze is belt drive, right? You would toast that belt in no time.

 

I haven't on mine.

I weigh 200lbs and the previous owner weighed 300lbs. This guy used it in the pits and they had some pretty big hills that I saw this little quad go up. That's one of the reasons I bought it. I saw what this quad can do with 300lbs on it and I was VERY impressed.

 

But that's not the same thing as putting along at a snail's pace all day. Come to think of it, this is probably one of the most abusive things you could ever do to any air cooled machine.

 

I don't think any small machine will do what you require. You will, in some way, wreck a childs ATV and there isn't anything else out there. The only rig I know of that will haul the sprayer tank, be stable and powerful, and turn corners without tearing up the sod, is the Polaris. They have a rig that you can put into "turf mode" which disables one rear tire. Because the other rear is the only one pushing it does minimal damage. This sized ATV is safe for hauling sprayer tanks - they do it all the time. I have used ATV's for landscaping (family business) and they do just fine.

AC has a feature called Multi Rack Platform which makes it possible to quickly secure all kinds of work related equipment onto your racks.

Both of these suggestions are going to cost you but they might be worth gold in the end.

 

Yeah, the full size Polaris with the open diff may be your best choice if you are going for an ATV. That is where I would start looking. In the end though, you could probably just buy a nice tractor for less $$

 

The way I understood it was that the weight rating suggests that the user that weights X pounds will jump, and ride that thing hard. I am not planning to do that. So having around 300lb on that thing will still break it?

My primary focus is on granular fertilizer, about 100lb worth. As far as spray tank, I may even put a 15 gallon tank, instead of 25, as spraying is not my concern. Spreading granulars is. I'm working on very tiny lots 3000-10000 sq feet... where anything bigger than a kids ATV is just too big.

Questions:

1. It seems that most of the suggestions have automatic clutch...how will I able to regulate my speed, without it having to shift into a highter gear? Also, how hard to shift into reverse, as I see a frequent need for this in tight spaces..

2. What type of clutch do these machines have... wet clutch, centrifigual clutch?

3. Someone mentioned belts..? This concerns me if the speed is regulated by belt slippage...please explain.

4. Pros and Cons of Chain vs Rod? Longetivity, ease to service, etc.


If I uderstood everyone correctly my choices are :
Recon 250
Suzuki 160
Yamaha Breeze

Any others?

Thanks you for the help.