My Can Am Outlander has a 2" receiver. I find it handy for the various ball mounts I have in the shop.

But don't be fooled. My Can Am specs say 50 pounds tongue weight max. That ain't much. I believe it is due to the fact the 2" receiver is mounted to the aluminum rear differential housing. Maybe the housing won't take much side loads, or bending, before it cracks.

I think most utility ATVs are in the range of 50 pounds tongue weight and 1500 pounds gross trailer weight. A two inch receiver is just handy so you don't have to stock up on 1 3/4" ball mounts.

kymco 450i makes a good point about the side by side utility vehicle, UTV. I see more of them in farm and ranch applications. They are bigger, carry more, and more expensive. My friend has a Deere Gator on his farm. Uses it to go get the mail!

David

 

If I read it right my ATV can handle 100 pounds tongue weight. It's hard to make out the little numbers but it's 3 digits starting with a 1 so it's at least 100 pounds. The frame is solid steel and it would take a lot of weight to do any damage. How many ball mounts do you guys have that you would need to keep swapping them out? I have one on my truck and one on my ATV. They're both 2" to fit my trailer. On the extremely rare occasions that I might want to pull my friend's yard trailer I can just use his ball mount that has a 1&7/8" ball on it. Other than that both ball mounts stay where they are.

ETA: It's funny that Kymco 450i mentioned climbing a tree. I flipped the switch to 4x4 and put my front bumper up against a tree and gave it the gas. I stopped when my quad was pointing straight up with the frame snugged up against the tree. I was laying on the ground laughing like an idiot.

 

JumboFrank.......that is funny and brought back some memories of days gone by. Back when I had my Praire I said the same thing about climbing a tree. Friend had an old building to be torn down so I put the front of the old Praire up against the side and hit the throttle.......yep it climbed up the side and put my fat behind on the ground, and like yourself, just laid there laughing my butt off !!

 

[QUOTE=dbj216;3360950



kymco 450i makes a good point about the side by side utility vehicle, UTV. I see more of them in farm and ranch applications. They are bigger, carry more, and more expensive. My friend has a Deere Gator on his farm. Uses it to go get the mail!

David[/QUOTE]



My UTV has a 200lb tongue weight and can tow 1250 lb. As far as costs go, if he is going to buy two machines for him and his wife or just one CanAm twin seater....the Kymco 450i lists for only 7995.00 and from the ads around here the CanAm may be more expensive!! Depends on the area in which you live......

 

I suppose it comes down to a personal preference on what the user finds more enjoyable. There may be a day where I purchase a SxS but there is no way in hell I will sell my Grizzly as I find it way too much fun. There are many tight 50" trails that I like to ride where I use body english and also throw the bike around where a SxS is not suited to that style of riding.



On a different note... the high country trails out here also don't lend to wide open throttle so going after a much heavier 1000cc ATV also doesn't tempt me either. Power to weight ratio and being able to hook-up that power to the ground in multiple trail situations is what rates high on my list. And I totally accept other's wants/needs for more hp for their style of trail or riding they do.

That is the great thing about the different options available out there for sale and it is great to hear all of the recommendations from users on here with different machines. OP needs to go and try out some different machines to get a feel of what he and his family will find best for them.

 

I believe my towing is rated at 1,225 pounds just like the Sportsman 570 so it's almost the same as your UTV but my quad can't handle that much tongue weight.

I've been looking at how the Sportsman 570 compares to the Kodiak 700. The 700 puts out 4 more horsepower than the 570, 48 vs 44, but costs more. The Kodiak has less suspension travel front and rear, less ground clearance, and no pre-load adjustments. The Sportsman has 3 50 watt headlights and the Kodiak has 2 30 watt headlights. The Sportsman has the Lock & Ride system with more accessories available and most of the accessories cost less. For example a front brush guard for the Polaris is $199.99 and for the Yamaha it's $299.99, a $100 difference on just the one part. The Kodiak 700 can tow 75 pounds more than the Sportsman 570. That little bit of difference and a little more horsepower are in the Kodiak's favor but the Sportsman 570 seems to outdo it at almost everything else.

 

Don't forget though that Polaris needs to get their act together in regards to the more than acceptable amount of recalls, including the recalls for fire danger which the 570 is included. The amount of recalls Polaris is facing is really unacceptable and they need to get it figured out!

Aside from that, I really like what Polaris is doing in terms of a wide variety of product offerings.

 

Good point about the recalls. I wasn't even thinking about that. 2014-2016 Sportsman 570 Touring and X2s and 2017 Sportsman 570 6x6 ATVs were recalled for a fire hazard. The regular Sportsman 570 wasn't on that list buy it may have problems anyway. On a bunch of different 2017 models the EPS can malfunction. So far no one has been hurt.

One thing I thought of after my other post was that the Kodiak 700 is more than 40 pounds lighter than the Sportsman 570 and has a better horsepower to weight ratio. One good thing about the Sportsman is how much storage it has under the front rack and in the rear compartment. 6 gallons in the front and 2 gallons in the rear. I would have a hard time giving up my front storage. Yamaha says, "the Kodiak 700 features a compact and comfortable chassis". Whether compact is bad or good depends on how big you are.

 

The UTV's can handle much more tongue weight due to heavier frame. If you were to look at the rear of my 450i you would see a 2" rectangular tube frame bent into a large horse shoe as the frame section with a 2" receiver welded on this frame. The added weight of the tongue is carried thru the suspension similar to a car, where as the ATV carries much of the tongue weight on the rear axle housing. Those axle housings are normally cast aluminum and can't handle 100's of pounds bouncing up and down where the UTV frame distributes that tongue weight thru the frame.

 

On ATVs like mine the tongue weight is directly on the steel frame but it puts a load on the the suspension and because it's IRS and the more weight you put on it the more it squats.