Picked this up today from Harbor Freight. Thought it was pretty dang good for the price, and for what I need. I looked up the manual for the bota, only supposed to put like 110 lbs tongue weight on the hitches, so this is more than enough weight wise...
Put it together this am. Followed instructions. After assembly and putting it on the bota, decided I wanted the rail to be towards the vehicle, so opposite the way manufacturer intended. Luckily the holes are evenly spaced on the sides and center piece, so took it apart and turned it. This way I can have wood or whatever hang off the back edge. I also want to make a step thing to attach to this so our 90+ Rotti can get in the back easier.... I'm also thinking I will take some plywood and cover the bottom, maybe even make some sort of box with some sides to hold supplies better....
I don't know how I got along without my mule. Felt almost a little too easy hauling deer out of the woods this year.
I've wanted to open some paths in our woods for years, one that's already partly there some saplings/brush just needs to be cut, and a couple new ones that wouldn't take much. Original thought was for my truck or tractor....now of course it's mainly for the bota. But I would rather wait till after deer season so as not to disrupt...although around here it would probably attract them more than scare them. Did you throw deer in the cargo box, put in a hitch haul thingy or drag with a rope/chain? I have a little old trailer a lady gave me years ago that I never messed with. I need to get that out and fix it up, it'd be perfect for pulling with this. Dam the projects are starting to pile up even more now with this thing!
I looooooooooooove my SxS. Just got done cutting 500 foot of trails and it's completely indispensable. I fill my bed up with all my trail cutting tools: gas saw, electric saw, pruner, leaf blower, a cooler for drinks and stick a fan on the roll cage for breaks and I can get a lot done. Get a winch asap. I use the winch constantly. Great for when you have a downed tree in the path, simply cut it six feet from the stump for leverage, put the winch line on and yank the fricker straight out of the ground. Tax:
What winch did you get? I've looked at the ones in northern and harbor freight . Don't know that I'm gonna spend the $ on a warn. The badlands seem to have good reviews...
I have a KFI winch and it's fine. Biggest complaint is that it winds in way too slowly. What I have found is that the weight of the sxs matters way more than the winch capacity. In other words, every winch is fine. Anyway, my one big piece of advise is to use a synthetic rope. They are far safer.
I have a John Deere x530 garden tractor and I was wondering what specs I should have before putting a winch on it. The weight of the tractor is about 800 lbs with a battery rated at 500CCA and a charge rate of 15 amps.
So I'd found a utv adjustable hitch that was a bout $80. Thinking I may want a 1 7/8 in ball and 2 in ball (and obviously not have to actually change balls, or have the adapt a ball thingys laying around) I then tried to see if I could get another ball piece for it. Didn't seem to be the case for that one, but I did find another similar product where that was an option. The hitch came yesterday, was going to use it yesterday afternoon but ran into a problem (that I had previously read about on some sites and had with my truck hitch when i tried it). The shaft of the hitch bottoms out before the pin holes line up. I hoped it wouldn't be the case with this one..... I don't have the metal working tools needed to address this, but there are a couple metal shops not too far away. Do I: -Just shorten the shaft so that the holes line up? This seems like the quickest solution, but then obviously buts the ball that much closer to the utv. It will already be fairly close and right at the edge of, or under, the bed. -Or have them re-drill the hole where it's needed and not shorten the shaft? Probably would have to "fill" the front part of the factory hole, in case the new drilling created an 'oval' hole that allowed the shaft to slid back and forth... Looking at what metal would have to be drilled for the new hole, I think this would be the case. At least this way the shaft is the same length as now for ball location reference the back of utv/bed... Thoughts?
Shortening the square tube would obviously be the easiest and I doubt you’d notice the little bit closer it will put you in towards the bed.
Weight wise, the vids etc that I'm watching about winches for utvs recommend somewhere around 1.5 times the weight for the winch rating. I haven't really seen anything about the battery or other electrical details, so I'll be interested in seeing what others have to say.....
I have a winch on my wheeler, it was on it when I got it so I’m not positive about the rating I’ll take a look when I get a chance.
