There is an excellent thread about ATV Advice that I got some really good information on. Wanted to piggyback off of that thread and ask more specifically what to look for when buying a used ATV and what to avoid? I am looking more for the utility type ATV (Ex: Foreman, Rancher, Etc..). Like anything there are some common sense questions, standard eye and ear tests but maybe some key questions to ask the owner that I am not thinking of because I've never owned an ATV or something to specifically look for on the ATV that is a red flag? Thanks in advance gang!
Mud, snorkels, big (tall) mud tires, aftermarket performance stickers, loud pipes. anything that indicates a young fella might have beat it up... Look for an adult owned, low miles machine, owners manual and maintenance/repair receipts...
With proper maintenance they’ll last forever excluding abuse. I’d ask about the maintenance schedule in general and general use. Adult ridden is best. Check wheel/axle/swing arm bearings. Tie rod ends. Ball joints. All fluid levels and condition. Price accordingly. ETA: TurboDiesel beat me to some of it.
When you find a machine, Google it--for example "Known issues for 2013 Honda Foreman 500EFI" . If you find tons of comments, youtube, etc---theres your answer//// you can also find the opposite with no derogatory information. There are lots of good brands, what you may want to do is figure out your exact needs then match the brand and model to your needs.
I put a little thought into this! My property is a typical suburban home, neighbors on each side. However my property extends back almost an acre into a pretty nice sized wooded lot, if I had to ball park about 50 acres give or take in all. I plan on using the ATV to move wood around, hauling wood out of some tight and semi steep places, joy riding a little bit with the kids for fun and moving my small bass boat to and from the back of the house. I have my neighbors fences on each side of me but it stops and the woods open up so I want something nimble enough to get around in tighter spaces when I need to closer to the house. I've had my eye on the Rancher which is on the smaller side and one that is not full time 4x4. Thanks Fella's some great info I will use for sure!
Just a couple of things. I lucked into a 420ES Rancher several years ago and use it much as you stated you want to use yours. The electric shift has worked well but be aware if you stop on a steep hill and shut it off when in gear, it won’t want to go into neutral unless I rock it back and forth. It won’t start until in neutral and rocking it on a hill isn’t easy. In case of a failure of electric shift, there is a wrench provided to put it manually in gear. I don’t have a winch on mine, something I think would be handy in the wood yard. The Rancher is small and nimble enough to get anywhere I want to go and has been used to haul a lot of wood as well as pleasure riding. I added a storage box on the back which comes in handy. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
One of my wheelers is a '13 Honda Foreman 500 EFI, the other is a '11 CanAm Outlander 800R with power steering. For tight places the Honda win's hands down because its small. For tight spaces and it rough terrain, heavy loads, overall comfort, the CanAm with power steering wins. The Foreman with the solid rear axel is a rough rider in difficult terrain. The Honda Rubicon, is very similar to a Foremen except it has independent rear axel. At machines forth coming, power steering is a must. I love my Foreman but like the CanAm better. My Foreman is a standard shift and like stated above if on a angle its hard to get into N to start. The CanAm will start in any gear as long as a brake is applied. Lots of good machines out there and deals to be had. Good luck on finding your perfect machine.
Great looking set up you got there, love the wood hauler too, have my eye on that as well but one thing at a time! My property is heavily wooded so being smaller, nimble, and having optional 4x4 would work well for me I think. There is so much wood way out in the woods behind me that I cannot access with my riding mower, some inclines I cannot handle with it and the deck just gets in the way too much!
Do not discount the Yamaha machines. I've had 3 of them and very, very little fixing has been done on any. I've had a 250, 450 and 600 (or is it 650?) We have an excellent mechanic near us (independent) who swears the Yamaha will outdo the Hondas and yes, he still likes the Honda but much prefers the Yamaha. I laughed when they came out with electric power steering. Why would anyone even want it or need it? Well, now I would not like to have one without it. Especially when getting firewood and using a trailer. I like to sit side-saddle when backing up a trailer so that means one-handed steering. Much, much easier on the body having power steering. I would still prefer manual shifting but most have gone to auto which I'm getting used to but still like the manual the best. Look at the rubber boots! They do need replacing at times especially if someone has been rough on the machine. Beware the winch. I would hate to be without one but one must realize the drawbacks. You can not run them steady or you'll burn them out fast. Read the manual! It will tell you to run it in short bursts and give it plenty of time to cool. Basically is is the same thing as a starter on any engine. Do not run them a long time.
Pretty much the same situation I was in. The quad allows me access to a lot of areas I couldn’t reach with the mower. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
As others have said, you want an adult owned machine. I would see who it was that was selling the ATV. I also would look at the general condition of the ATV. I have a 15 year old Honda that looks like new-I have used it for the same types of work the OP listed. In my experience, if tractors and ATVs look good cosmetically, they usually are in the same shape mechanically-just my observation.
We have an older Yamaha ... It's a good runner but the transmission, especially the shifter has been a Pos. Maybe the shifter forks aren't beefy enough but it has been difficult to shift gears from the get go, and last summer locked itself in first gear. I really don't want to spend the money to get it fixed and splitting the case is a bugger on these. It's still usable for dragging stuff around at the beach house... But I would not recommend it. Father in law has Honda it's been reliable. Doesn't eat the bumps as well, but works flawlessly. Some of the the newer Polaris models were nice, and I have a week spot for the goofy arctic cat that had a diesel engine. It's probably crap... But a little diesel sounded neat for the mostly dragging stuff we use ours for .
do you own the 50 acres? have permission to use it? Are there ATV trails or others using it now? If you don't own it and don't have permission but others are using it I'd bet at sometime the party will come to an end. New owner, old owner getting tired of people abusing his property, old owner afraid of getting sued.
do you own the 50 acres? Nope, but I wish! Twp owns the land! have permission to use it? Don't know! Are there ATV trails or others using it now? No ATV trails, nobody else using it now! If you don't own it and don't have permission but others are using it I'd bet at sometime the party will come to an end. New owner, old owner getting tired of people abusing his property, old owner afraid of getting sued. Don't plan on ripping trails through it or joy riding, perhaps an occasional venture to haul out some fallen trees on the edge of property
So you don't own the property but your going to drive your ATV on it and take firewood from it? Do you see anything wrong with this? Even if this is "publicly" owned it does not give you the right to drive ATV's on it and it does not mean its OK to take fallen trees off it. You may think taking fallen trees is no big deal but other members of the public who also "own" it may not see it the same way. Not to mention the potential legal issue the twp is putting itself in by letting you do what you want. I know this isn't going to be a popular statement but I think you'd better find out if you can legally do what your thinking of doing. And if someone says you can I'd get it in writing before I did a thing. I'll bet nobody is willing to put it in writing, if your smart you'll walk away from it. I know that if I lived next to township property and there was someone in there driving an ATV and sawing up trees, fallen or not I'd make the town board aware of it.
PM SENT! To set the record straight because I feel like am being portrayed as some deplorable. There is a lot of jumping to conclusions here. I never claimed to be doing anything you mentioned. Please re-read what was written before one draws a conclusion. I never claimed I was driving on this property or hauling wood from it. Sawing up trees, where did that come from!
I didn't jump to conclusions, I asked do you own the 50 acres? You replied "no". I asked if you had permission to use it, you replied "I don't know" which means no, you do not have permission to use it. It may be legal for you to drive an ATV on it and saw up trees, in that case you would not need permission. But you have not asked and don't know at this point so like I said, you don't have permission. you commented "Don't plan on ripping trails through it or joy riding, perhaps an occasional venture to haul out some fallen trees on the edge of property" Right there you state your going to "venture" into property you don't own and take trees from the property. Fallen or not they are not yours to take. Doesn't matter if the trees are on the edge or in the middle once your over the line thats all that matters. I didn't claim you were going to do it, you said you might. Even if a tree that was growing on the opposite side of the line falls and lands on your side I'd call the town and tell them what your going to do before I went ahead. I'd suspect they would be OK with this. I'm not portraying you as a deplorable as you claim, seems to me you did that yourself. I gave you good advice, before you do anything get written permission. I'll bet you can't get written permission, nobody will be willing to put there name on it and be held responsible for when something happens to you and you decide to sue. Speaking hypothetically here. Your putting the township in a potential bad place and there is no up side for them to allow you in. Plus Town boards are like little versions of Game of Thrones, everyone thinks they are King, they love to lord power over the peasants. They make up rules as they go along. You may get a wink and a nod from someone who doesn't think anyone will care. But when someone else sees you in there they will figure its OK. Then it'll be open season, things will go down hill from there and finally someone will have to put a foot down and the party will be over. Don't mean to be a bad arse here but I didn't put words in your mouth. I replied to what you said. I mean no ill will here. I have seen similar situations end badly for others. You are opening your self up to legal issues if you don't get written permission. Trespassing, theft of public property, destruction of public property are few of the possibilities. Your unlucky its township property, that worse than private. At least with private you ask and its yes or no. With "public" you'll get a different answer with everyone you ask, nobody wants to be responsible, everyone of them will pass the buck as fast as they can, its a can of worms. Be smart, firewood is not worth the possible trouble. Get written permission before you drive one wheel over the line or saw up one rotten punky fallen tree.
My advice is to not get sucked into more machine than what you really need/want. (at least for this first quad) Everybody thinks they need big horsepower, liquid cooled, 4x4, independent 4 wheel suspension, electric this-that-n-the-next-thing, blah blah blah. All that stuff is great, but those bigger, heavier, more complicated machines cost more to buy, maintain, and repair. I remember when a 350 was a huge quad...but I don't recall anyone really needing more power (other than for racing, of course) Get what you want, but just beware that an older 2wd 250 can be a lot of fun and very useful...while still cheap to buy and maintain. (right Horkn ?) Also the older machines are a lot smaller too. I have a 660 Grizzly (just because it needed work and was very cheap!) and the dang thing is a huge tank! I can't believe how much room it takes up in the garage compared to my previous machines (and I've had a ton!) and heavy! Geez ow...it usta be that a guy could get himself out of the mud if you got stuck...now it takes an F350 or a tractor to pull one out if you bury it good! In my opinion all the big four Japanese brands make decent stuff anymore...it used to be that Honda was the king if you wanted the best, but now it seems everybody has kinda caught up...Polaris too. Whatever you look at, just make sure you can get parts and service nearby. Just stay away from those cheap Chinese copies...the quality is just not there and they can be very hard to get parts and service for... Those old Yamaha quads had some real shifting issues...the original Big Bear and Kodiak 4x4s were about the worst...but almost any model with forward/reverse shifter was sometimes a problem...there are things that can be done to help, but nothing ever did make them shift buttery smooth like a Honda! They held up pretty well normally, but were a real pain to live with! Back when Honda was the clear cadillac of the quads... To be fair, I mis-read/mis-understood too...
I'd rather not bore the FHC community but so be it. You clearly need to re-read what I've written! You asked if I owned the acres, yes I replied no. What does me replying no have to do with anything? You asked if I had permission, I said I don't know, but its irrelevant if I am not trespassing on it, right? If you look at my comment closer you see I stated " occasional venture to haul out fallen tree on the edge of MY PROPERTY! MY PROPERTY! Yes I might have to step into the twp property to remove a fallen tree that's on MY PROPERTY! How do you know I wouldn't call the twp to inform them I am stepping on their land to remove a tree? Right there jumping to conclusions......You stated I am sawing up trees, where did I say that? You mean sawing up a tree on MY PROPERTY. You said I was joy riding on this property? Where did I say that? This is the silliest pi$$ing match I've seen in awhile. You clearly are attacking without proper knowledge and picking apart what I said and taking every thing I've said and mis construing it. If you have a problem again I kindly ask you PM me and hash it out vs. boring FHC about it this way off topic.
