No matter how much you like working on them, I think doing it for a living would take all the fun out of it. My mom would have paid my way through college if I wanted to go, but I was young and dumb, and hated school so bad I never wanted to go again. So I joined the army at 17 instead, and spent 2 months leaning my choice of jobs, small arms repair.

 

That's so true. I ruined a hobby as I has 7 motorcycles and a couple atvs in the garage before I started working on them as a full time job. As far as college training on cycles,atvs,we've had that for a good many years now at Cedar Valley College.https://www1.dcccd.edu/catalog/progr...h_cert&loc=cvc

 

The side-by-side is a fairy new innovation right? Nope! The Polaris RANGER just turned 20! Polaris is celebrating its birthday by handing you the mic:

https://atvconnection.com/articles/a...id-you-know-5/

 

Today isn't just the Polaris Ranger's birthday, it's also Star Wars Day. May The Fourth Be With You!

 

I didnt realize the Ranger had been around that long. I haven't seen one that old anywhere. I think the oldest one I have seen still running is about a 2002 model for sale. The Rhino was still the first "sport" utv. Then the Rzr 800 came out and totally changed the concept of what a sport utv is. It was the first utv designed for people to ride just for fun, not meant for work.

 

It looks like 2016 or 2017 was the last year for the Ranger 6x6. That's too bad. The dump box capacity was 1,250 pounds. It could haul the weight of an ATV plus the maximum weight that the ATV could haul on its racks. They used to make tracks that went over the rear tires making it into a half-track that could go places other UTVs couldn't, for a fraction of the price of a full track system. If you did want a full track system there was one that replaced both the rear and intermediate wheel on each side with one long track. I don't think there was a more capable UTV for snow. There are still track systems available to replace each wheel separately so it has 6 independent tracks.

 

The first Ranger I had experience with was at the county park where I work during the summer. The Ranger had a much greater ground speed than the Kubota diesels we usually used. We could get to the far corners of the park much faster.

We liked it.

David

 

I just looked a a Kubota diesel online with a top speed of 25 MPH. Another Kubota diesel with a bigger engine can do 29 MPH. Polaris makes a diesel Ranger with a smaller engine than that one that has more power, but I don't see the speed listed. The Kubota has a limited slip front diff and a foot-operated locking rear diff lock. What the ___? The Ranger has On-Demand True AWD/2WD/Turf Mode.

They still make old style John Deere Gators and those are really slow. The top speed on several models is only 20 MPH. The 6x4 gas engine model has an air-cooled 675cc V-twin but it only has 15.5 horsepower, less than half the power of the liquid-cooled 500cc single in my quad. It says Rear Suspension - Coil over Shock. It doesn't say 4 shocks, or 2 shocks, or independent like the front. At least it has some rear suspension. I'm not sure if they had any at all when they first came out. And they make an 11 horse gas-powered 4x2, less than 1/3 the power of my quad. They're basically large lawnmower engines, and that's what Rangers had for competition when they came out.

 

Kawasaki still makes the slower Mules as well. Top speed of 25 mph on those. They are cheap brand new though, I've seen them for about 6K brand new. I guess they would be great for landscaping or a jobsite but would be painfully slow and underpowered to ride for recreation. Very little ground clearance and not much suspension travel so probably about 25 mph is about as fast as you'd want to go. There are some pretty reasonably priced utvs that are good for work and offer some recreation though. The Polaris Ranger 500 and Textron Prowler 500 and its twin the Kymco 450i would be machines that could put in a good day's work and still have enough sport in them to be fun to ride on the trail. Honda has the Pioneer 500 but its lacking in the power department compared to those 2.

 

An under-powered Honda? Tell me it's not so!