Over the summer I caught the ATV flu. My buddy lives about 1/2 mile from me and I knew I could get to his house by trails through the woods. I told my dad who lives in Illinois, where all of my family, that I was going to save up and buy a quad. He quickly donated his old 90 polaris trail boss he bought for me when I was 14. Even though I had asked him once or twice, maybe three times, If I could take it because it has been sitting in one of his barns for about 5 years. Well however long it's been since I gave it its final ride ... so I thought. He got tired of fixing it since he takes good care of is stuff and as a kid I seemed to trashed them. But when I said that I was going to buy one he quickly said not to because he'd give me the old polaris. So one weekend he brought the bike to me in Indiana. Of course it wasn't running. I called the polaris dealer and the mechanic?? told me to bring it in and they'd get to it as soon as he could. Awesome. So my dad and I take it about a half hour ride to drop it off. I went to the bathroom while my dad was waiting to talk to someone and when I came back he said that they wouldn't be able to work on it. Then they tell me that they don't work on anything more than 10 years old. I was kind of pissed off. Then out of fustration I got a little shitty with the guy in the service department. On the way home I knew of a banshee that was for sale. We went by it and stopped to look at it, it's bored, shaved, 110 octane. A fast ******. He bought it on the spot for me. It's fun but more than i need on the trails. He said fix the polaris and we're even. I'd tried to pay him for it and the other one but of course he wouldn't take it. Now I'm fixing it. I think I got it narrowed down to the cdi, I am an electrician, my dads a electrical engineer. He thought it was a electric problem when he gave it to me. I've stripped it down to where I can begin to work on it. Took the carb off and cleaned it, cleaned the gas tank. Gone through the Clymers manual electrical system, everything seemed to check out ok and the manual says if everything checks out right and there is still a problem get a new cdi. Now I'm waiting for the part.

Anyways I'd like to get him something and was thinking of a big boss so he could let the dogs ride in the back, since where he goes the dogs usually go too. Anyone have much experience with these machine? I wondered how they rode, drove, handled the snow, and if they are AWD. I'm looking for advice on that type of vehicle. Gators, mules, rangers, some may be out of my $ range. I think I might be able to do an older Gator, he never has passengers so I thought the big boss would be ideal.

Thanks for reading, That may be the longest thing I've ever written.

Thanks again
Ryan

 

I can't speak for the rest of the ones you mentioned but we had a gator at work and it was a turd. I don't know what type of riding your father would do with it exactly but IMO they're pretty limited. I think the gator would be ok on gravel roads or around the farm for hauling alittle feed or t-posts and such. The one we had at work would probably only run 25 or 30 mph. Very slow and rough riding!

I think it's really cool that you're wanting to do something like that to say thanks to your dad. My dad use to do cool stuff for me like that all the time. I lost him in March, sure do miss those times. Enjoy him every second you get! I'm sure he'll like anything you get for him.

 

He has trails through woods that are used to move farm equipment down below the hill and he'd have to go through a few fields. I think the big boss would probably be better especially with the quality of the ride. If not the big boss the sportsman 6x6.

 

the gator is slow!!!!!!!!! I used to ride one with my buddy and it really rode and drove like a 6 wheel gas golf cart. It rides rough. I figured because it was so slow it would really pull good. It didn't. Deere really crapped this atv up. Not up to John deere standards by a long shot.