Hello,
New to the forum and joined as I am about to start a new chapter in my life.
As a kid I grew up in a rural area and we always had quads from sporty fast ones to 4WD workers for hunting.
I never had a need nor the place to have any dirt bikes or quads since moving away from home, but that is all about to change as I am moving into a 9 acre home in the woods in a rural area outside of Rochester, NY.

My primary needs are going to be plowing a fairly long and narrow windy driveway that leads to the house. It slopes down from the road for a bit and then slopes back up to the house, but neither are too steep. I also have just under a 1/2 acre of grassy field out by the road that I want to keep cut down for the kids to have open space since the rest of the land is hard woods on rolling ridges. I was looking at the Swisher pull behind mower decks for that. I plan to use a quad with a wagon for hauling wood around and any other similar needs on the property.
An ATV is much more attractive than a tractor to me. I suppose the ability to have a front end loader would be a nice bonus of a tractor, but aside from that I am thinking the ATV will get around better and be a lot more fun. I do intend to hunt as well and would use the ATV to haul deer from the back end of the property (God willing there will be deer and my arrows will fly straight ).
I know there are a lot of threads about similar topics, but with my specific scenario laid out I was hoping to get some input.
There is a 2012 Yamaha Grizzly 550 EPS with a Warn winch and Moose plow with only 372 miles on it available for $6200 near me. Seems like a fair deal. Would that do these jobs for me?
When I went to a dealer that had Polaris and Yamaha they were recommending the Polaris Sportsman 570 (no power steering). I was early in the process of research and didn't get into much of a discussion on why the Polaris over the Yamaha. Not sure if Polaris is just better cut out for the work or what. I do kind of like the idea of controlling the 2W vs 4W on the Yamaha over the AWD on demand of the Polaris.
I welcome and look forward to your input.

 

I would call the Polaris 570 and Yamaha 550 about equal. Yamaha has a better front end suspension where the Polaris 570 is using McPherson struts, the Yamaha has a true front double A-arm. Both good workers and both would be excellent for plowing.

Another machine to look at is the Polaris Sportsman X2 550. It's the most work oriented quad out there and has an upgrades suspension over the 570 (as well as a higher price). It has a true 400 lb. suspension in the rear with a dump bed that is really handy. Nice feature is that you can convert from a single rider machine with the dump bed to a 2 rider machine in about 10 seconds. The driver's back rest folds down to become the passenger's seat and the passenger back rest flips up from the dump bed. I used to have one but wanted more high end speed for winter riding in New England. Liked it a lot.

 

Does the used price on the Grizzly seem reasonable?

 

The dealer probably suggested the Sportsman 570 over the Grizzly 550 because it's $1,500 cheaper comparing new models. Brand new it's only $299 more than the used Grizzly you looked at. The 570 is too new to say if it's going to be good in the long run but I'd try one anyway.

 

To answer your question, yes that is a good price on the Grizzly. It's going to have better engine braking than the Polaris.

 

Even if it had no engine braking you can manually use the brakes at any time.

 

We'll I bought the Grizzly. Comes with the plow so that is for sure my snow removal method. I plan to get a dump trailer to cart stuff around.
Last thing to solve is my mowing situation. I am having second thoughts on the pull behind idea. Looks as though I could get a cheap rider to get the job done. The area isn't that big. I would likely have a smaller deck but could probably mow faster than those pull behinds allow.
Thoughts?

 

Congrats on your new grizz

I've seen tow mowers for sale but I can't say I've ever seen one actually being used. Usually tractors handle the field mowing duties around here. I'd say for around the house, it wouldn't be the best idea simply because you wouldn't be able to get around tight corners or around objects in the lawn (trees, rocks, landscape,shed,fence) nearly as well as a ride on or push mower. I'm going to guess that a tow behind for an atv is more designed for long straight stretches of land.

 

I have been contemplating a purchase with a similar scenario. However, I need a rough-cut versus finish cut where most cheaper riders will be finish cut.

And also OP, congrats on the Griz purchase. Should be lots of fun when you aren't working. I used the snow plow angle and the justification for my purchase...however, I do have a very large driveway to plow.

 

Well, my property is 9 acres of mostly woods. There is a small open spot by the house that is grass that could easily be pushed or done with a rider. Not 100% sure, but I think it could probably be done with the pull behind too as there is no landscape or trees in the middle of it...no place I need to make a tight turn. I had just been figuring I would push it though in like 10 to 15 min tops.
The open field out by the road is where I need a rider or pull behind. I believe the previous owners were not mowing it, but it may have been mowed at some point. There are some small trees or bushes of various types that have taken off a bit, but not enough that I couldn't clear that junk out and have it pretty much wide open. There is also a side hill area I am not sure what I am going to do with. Not as concerned about that but the bigger open area would be great to keep groomed so I can do sports with the kids out there. I do think the terrain, layout, minimal obstacles lends itself to flying on a rider or doing the pull behind thing.

My wife is laughing at me now though When I showed her some of the riders I could get for less than a pull behind she was like "you just spent 3 weeks convincing me we needed an ATV to do EVERYTHING instead of a tractor and now you want a tractor too???"
What she doesn't understand is those small inexpensive riders aren't plowing our long windy driveway or getting back into the tougher terrain of the propery. And they ain't nearly as fun!!!!