I've some property that I need to clear and it's full of small-to-medium trees. Trunk size anywhere from 2 inches to 8-10 inches across.

What 4-wheeler would the forum recommend I look at to do this as well as other work around the place like hauling and some mowing with drag mowers?

Thanks,

AJ

 

Honestly, you might be able to pull some 2-3 stumps out of the ground with an ATV and /or ATV winch depending on the root systems of the trees. But to give you some perspective, I recently pulled a bunch of shrubs out of a yard 4-7 inches across and some of them required extensive digging and root-cutting. And we were using a Jeep with a 9,000lb. winch! If you do want to use the ATV, I would suggest getting a 3,000lb. winch and a ****** block which will double the pulling force to 6,000lbs. The only problem with this is that you'll have to chain the back of the Quad to something so it doesn't just move the Quad instead of the stumps. Hope this helps. Sounds to me like any 4x4, 350cc and up would work just fine for what you'll be doing. I have an Eiger 400 4x4 auto and I love it. All the guys that have the Honda Ranchers swear by them as well. My brother has a Kawasaki Prairie 300 4x2 and it will do a lot for being only 2wd. It is actually rated to tow 200lbs. more than my 4x4. Those are the only machines that I have experience with or have heard great things about.

 

Hey there: Thanks for sending the note back. I'm really wrestling with whether or not I'll be able to do this with an ATV, but what the heck.......if it doesn't work, I'll buy a couple of shovels, hire a couple of operators, and ride around on the ATV and supervise!

Any thoughts on the Kawasaki Brute Force? Looks like an animal from what I'm reading. Am also looking into the models you mention here.

Thanks so much.

AJ

 

No problem. From what I've heard, the Brute Force is an awesome machine. Any of those "big-bore" machines are going to have incredible power, but I'm not sure how reliable they are. I'd love to have a 700cc+ machine, but my budget won't allow it right now, and I honestly don't need that much power, and don't need to be refueling it every half hour. My Eiger is a 400, and it has plenty of power to plow and tow whatever I need it to do. It's rated to tow 996lbs. The reason I got the Eiger is because it was rated very high in the reliability department, has high/low range, and has selectable 4x4/4x2. It also does 55mph which is more than enough for where I ride.

 

I just got done pulling a few stumps with my 800. Smaller ones it worked ok but much above 3" I had to get the silverado 4x4 out. The atv would just dig 4 holes on bigger ones. So had power but not traction. It depended on the roots, how rotted they were, type. These were popular. Same with pulling rocks, it did good until above 24" diameter and also depended on if it was wedge shaped where it would try to plow. For pulling the more weight the better as it puts more friction to the ground.

 

yeah look at a sportsman...they have an awesome powerband for working, but like a previous poster said, it all depends on how deep down the roots are and traction will also be an issue.
but good luck and be prepared to do some hard labor if all else fails

 

I agree with Upnort. I've experienced the same while tackling the same tasks with my 450 Kodiak. Although it's a middle-weight, it does a pretty good job for "wood lot management" (as I've seen it described on landscaping websites) When it came time for me to take out the larger stumps I left it for dozer work.

I was fortunate enough that my neighbor had a buddy with a small dozer and a reasonable rate to regrade and remove stumps in total about 1-1/2 acres worth. I rented a walk behind brushhog for the small stuff (up to 2" dia). The 3" & 4" stuff I cut and pulled out with the quad and the bigger trees (6"-16" dia, but mostly 6"-8") I cut down and left a stump 18"-24" tall enough for the dozer to push over. My soil is mostly clay & dirt. Most of the bigger trees had fairly shallow roots (elm, maple, beech) and push over pretty easily for the dozer. The stubborn ones were the locust (which I found out later I could have sold for a few $$) those trees ate up the chains on the saws in no time and they weighed a ton. After the initial clearing by the dozer, most of the work I did with the quad was skidding smaller trees and branch bundles, moving some field stone followed up by a ton of regrading with a york-rake after the dozer was through backblading. All this in the first few months of owning it, Yeah, it's earned it's keep.