Looking for a second ATV and can get a great deal on a new John Deere Trail Gator 2X4. Does anyone have any experience? Is it Reliable? I know it has no suspension, but it will haul a load. Is it high maintenance? Any advice or experience will be appreciated.

 

We had a gator 4x2and we didn't have any problems really with it mechanically. It is built pretty heavy duty. It did a good job as a pure work machine on the farm. Not much fun for recreation but then again it wasn't really mean't for that. And it is fairly low maintenance. Now we upgraded to a 6x4 gator with electric dump box (worth its weight in gold) and we like this one a lot more with liquid cooling, more power, and higher load capacity.

 

I would reccomend the 6x4 also - it's just a better machine. We have one on the farm that we use for spraying fencerows and they can be pretty fun - they need about 300 pounds in the back to ride nice though. I wouldnt tell you to buy one for entertainment, your money is better spent on a nice wagon and a quad to pull it with, and there are a number of reasons for this. First and foremost it only goes 15-18 mph, depending how you tweak it, so the quad will be leaving you behind. secondly, the 6x4 is absolutely helpless in the sand. We have a sandbar by the river, and you have to move in a straight line on level ground or you are in trouble. Additionally, you should stay away from lots of water, because it will splash up on the belt and make it slip. On the other hand, they will crawl up just about anything if you have the right angle, and they are quite reliable. We wouldnt trade ours, but we also dont take it anywhere with the quads. I reccomend getting a 4x4 and a trailer with a pintle hitch, you will be much happier with the versatility unless you have lots of chores moving material around with the dump box (which is extremely nice) Good luck