I have a 900 acre cattle ranch. It's mostly flat to low hills, sand and dirt, no rocks. There's gravel roads along parts of it, I can use an atv on it, roughly 2 miles or so if I'd drive one end to the other bordering my property, getting from one pasture to another. I always had Honda 3 wheelers, mainly Big Reds, '84 200 (h/l/r shaft drive) and '85 250 (5 spd, shaft drive), at the same time. Final break down was about 10 years ago, and I parked them. One of the tractors is a small, handy, 60hp tractor. That, a vehicle, and my feet, that's what I've been using since then. Now with where my cows are, around cedar trees and about a mile from the yard to the gate, it takes over an hour to check them each time, usually walk because it's too rough riding the tractor, and can't see out of the vehicle very well everywhere, or get to everywhere, so I'm thinking atv time again.

I want an automatic, not push button shift only either. Too many times I carried something across my lap (say baby calf) holding it and I couldn't hardly work the foot shifter, and certainly couldn't reach buttons to shift very well. I'd haul them that way rather than coming back for a trailer after I see them, if they need in. My gut tells me Honda Rubicon, I'd probably be satisfied, but they seem priced as high as some of the others with "more". HATE drum brakes. I fixed them on what I had, they'd work a while and get moisture. I pay someone to fix them, last time they worked about two weeks. So I basically had no brakes most of the time. With the 3 wheelers, I could chase cows easily, whip around fast. So I wouldn't mind something capable of fast. Though like on the road, I probably will drive like I did, maybe 35mph max. Power steering and winch, probably. I know Yamaha is ok, and I like the look of Can-am overall (warranty promotion, know some may have some electrical issues, etc., but might like the lighting on them too, I know they don't have as much low end power), I suspect I would be in low range most of the time anyway. Neighbors around here have Honda, Yamaha, (1) Polaris, the neighbors are moving more toward side by sides. I don't need 2 passenger, feel a regular one would be more agile for chasing and easier to see around all sides. They get along with them, only heard bad things about Polaris around here.

So cow checking, fence fixing, hauling out range cubes or some corn (maybe 600 or 700 pounds on a trailer at a time). "Fun" is not a factor. Just would be nice if it rode decent, fairly reliable, and decent on gas. I used to get gas delivered by truck 300 gallons at a time when I had gas tractors in the hay field, switched to all diesel so I don't do that any more. Now I would need to get gas in the vehicle, station is a 30 mile trip, 60 miles if I need a store with supplies. I would rather not have much sitting around or have a big tank taking up room on town trips if possible.

John Deere dealer with Gators is 60 mile total trip, decent town for supplies, only atv dealer. Yamaha dealer is 100 mile round trip, no stores other than grocery there (can't combine supply run if ATV needs warranty work or whatever). Arctic Cat, 80 mile round trip, only groceries in that town. Most of the rest are about 140 mile trip, closest Walmart there and a few ag stores. I go to that town most often. I have not ridden or driven a 4 wheeler other than an '84 (?) 200 my dad bought about 20 years ago. It was in bad shape, don't know why he bought it. It ran what seemed hot, wouldn't start, frame bent, ...junk. Didn't last a dozen rides. Could ride a few, some dealers allow it, but generally I get along with anything, as in I wouldn't be scared to just order something in without riding it first, if that were possible. It should at the least ride better than the 3 wheelers did hitting bumps with that front wheel....

Is there a question here? I don't know, mainly needed to type out my thoughts I guess. Maybe wouldn't mind some comments. I've read many of the "which should I buy" threads, so I see what people say, although often about trail or fun riding.

 

In your case I would get a straight axle ATV because trailer tongue weight has no effect on rear suspension and ground clearance like on a IRS rear end.
Not many left around now because people want ride comfort and ground clearance.
But a 400 Yamaha Big Bear, 400 Suzuki King Quad or a 500 Honda Foreman or Rubicon are still being made with them.

 

I had a Polaris Sportsman X2. At the time I bought it, they were only offered in 500cc. The new one is 550cc with a good jump in HP over the previous 500 model. It has a dump box in the back that can convert to a passenger seat the few times you may need the second seat. Takes all of 10 seconds to convert. The big thing that sold me were the towing and toting numbers. 400 lb. rated rear in the box, and 1500 lb. rated towing. I towed more than that many times. It's, in my mind, the best work machine in a quad width other than the Polaris Big Boss 6x6 that has true 6 wheel drive in a quad width machine. That is rated to tow 2000 lbs. and tote 800 lbs. if I remember right.

On the reliability front, over 3600 abusive New England miles (Mostly NH, and Maine) I had one issue that was from slamming into a rock going pretty fast. Other than that a couple things like two bearings and a thorough radiator cleanout. I didn't baby the machine. Ran well. Just wanted more power for winter rides where the trails are wide open and snow covered. The 500 didn't do more than 40 mph with my 350 lbs. on it.

 

Thanks. About the tongue weight with independent suspension (since I know you're right about the options becoming more and more limited), I already was wondering about that. I was thinking about a 4 wheel trailer (making one). I was thinking fixed back wheels, 360 degree swivel front wheels, tongue so it could pivot up and down, but fixed so no left/right. It would be easier to maneuver that way, similar to two wheel, compared to the 4 wheel ones with wheels that turn with the tongue (tie rod connected to tongue), which are harder to maneuver and back up with. I have pretty much everything here to make one. If I needed traction I could put a salt bag or two on the back and front. I don't know how much it would squat pulling or even with that much weight on for traction. My weight (210) plus weight of atv, was thinking it might be close to having enough traction without much. Where I would go with the trailer, it would be after the tractor, snow should be packed down. Also, if it would be too muddy, I'd just throw it on the little tractor. With that plus knowing that stuff on the back would be more stable with a straight axle, I guess I'm still thinking.

Forgot to say, with the fuel efficiency thing and the 3 wheelers. With the small tanks it seemed like I was filling them every other day which I also found annoying, I wasn't getting the impression either was very efficient, but I never calculated what they did.

One of my cousin's family had one of those Polaris x2s. But I believe it was an '06. Now they have a Yamaha, 700 or 800 (forget). They've been through a Kawasaki too. I asked them, they said they would never get another Polaris. The Yamaha is newer with EFI, it takes it a start or two to idle sometimes even when warm. They had no major complaints, and I know they are very hard on stuff, doubt it's maintained much. The neighbor has a 900 Polaris side by side about a year old, he likes it. I almost thought about the smaller version of those, but again, I don't think chasing and seeing around would work as well. The plain Sportsman 500 now is a bargain I'd say, I see around $5200 online since they were phased out. Like I said here, people talk down Polaris most of the time. Online, there are people that love them, and people that hate them. I have no doubt, as with most things, people online generally complain about something more than praise, so it's tough to get a real picture of things. With the dump box on there, an X2 would be nice and more capable than making a box of some sort for the back. For work, something like that looks like a good option.

Tow ratings, I see that, and that Honda is very low compared to others. I know that real world what they can actually do varies. I pulled some crazy stuff with that '85. Actually, other than sometimes not having much traction (even with the sort of flat/wide tractor style tread on the rear), I don't recall thinking that I needed much more power.

The other thing is the 3 wheel drive on the Honda. I know the plain Foreman has a locker now, and I'm a bit perplexed why they didn't add it to the Rubicon too. I was stuck a few times with the 3 wheelers, usually while chasing something and going somewhere that I know I shouldn't have, the more traction the better.

I guess I'm over analyzing options. I look at one model, and there's one or two things that I don't like about all of them, not going to get something perfect.

 

This is a picture of my previous X2 500. ATVConnection.com ATV Enthusiast Community - MooseHenden's Album: Moose on the loose in New England - Picture It's got about 10-12 cubic feet of dried firewood. I'd say a couple hundred pounds of weight or more. It's facing uphill so most of the weight is on the rear. It didn't squat much at all. The trade off was that the ride, while better than a straight axle, was a bit stiffer than the regular Sportsman line. I've pulled an industrial sized diesel powered wood chipper when we couldn't get our trucks with rear lockers and 4wd to pull it up a wet grassy hill. The quad did it without a hiccup.