OT!! ISO of ATV Advice
 

Hello guys,
forgive me if anyone feels this is out of place, but you guys are a group of guys whose advice I value.

Basically I'm in search of a 4 wheel drive work/hunting duty ATV. I'm debating between Can-am versus Honda. I know you can ask 5 different guys and you'll most likely receive 5 different opinions.

I'm not looking to spark a controversy by any means, so please don't call out another persons opinion.

Thanks in advance,
Stan

I bought an Arctic cat mud pro a few years ago and am very satisfied with it. Plenty of power for moving, trailers and boats around the barns. Factory winch, snorkel, extremely aggressive tires (don't make sharp turns on your lawn) 700CC fuel injected, 4 wheel posi lock front differential. Great suspension system, it's geared low to start with but low range is really low. Racks have a quick release system for a ton of different accessories. I would buy another if I were to ever wear this one out...….

Aaron

However for all year around use and both on and off road, why not a nice rebuilt/up Jeep CJ5 ? Bill K :)

Thanks for the suggestions Aaron and Bill K.

Aaron,
I’m not real familiar with the Arctic Cat, that sounds like a nice machine with a bundle of horse power.

Bill K,
I can understand your logic on an older CJ5, I wonder if it wouldn’t be more suited for the West with the 2 tracks and all? Here in the northeast I’m looking to haul corn and deer if we’re fortunate enough to kill one through the farmers field and through the woods which would be a little difficult with a bigger vehicle.

Stan

Stan:

In that case, maybe a dog teem or horse would work better.

Cheers, good luck finding what you need.

BK: Friend Mike in C/Spgs would agree with you there.
He has one, think it's a '48 trying to rebuild the sheet metal on.

It's probably too light for what you are looking for but I have a fourteen year old Honda Rancher 4wd and it still runs like a top. Had to rebuild the muffler intake pipe and change the battery but other than normal maintenance no problems.

A review comparing the Can-Am to the Arctic cat

https://www.atv.com/comparison/2018-...mr-650-numbers

I'm a bit predictable towards Honda myself
 

A Honda vehicle, motorcycle, lawnmower, outboard, stringtrimmer....So the ATV needed to be a Honda. 1997 TRX300FW gets beat on a daily basis. Hauling feed, dragging logs and maintaining the driveway with a front end loader bucket. Cheap parts are available on Amazon if you ever need them.

Once I went UTV I never looked back at ATV. Lots of choices and guys will swear by and swear at the same models. Currently have a Polaris Ranger 570EPS and it has served me well. Had another Polaris and a Kawasaki side by side that were good. The 570 has a safety switch through the brake pedal that does not fully engage at times and sounds like the battery is low but pump it a time or two and it starts.

what 30 years of atv's and utv's have taught me. just like in most things there is a pecking order. when I ask my mechanics which atv was best it went like this, honda/ Yamaha was interchangeable the most reliable with honda on top most of the time. highest maintance was the can am and a nightmare company to deal with from a dealer or consumer standpoint. from a reliability stand point artic cat came in last. the Polaris 570's always sounded like they had a low battery when you tried to start them, atv or utv. they had a program fix that helped but did not eliminate.
Suzuki and Kawasaki were somewhere in the middle in reliability and resale value.
this is from someone that has sold all the different brands and owned most.

the Yamaha grizzly is a great unit but was designed for a left hand user, a pain to operate the shifter lever.
I currently have a 420 honda ranch and it does it all, don't like the electric shift but it was best for my arthritic big toe. sold the Polaris ranger and used the money to throw a going away party and good riddens.

Polaris 800 atv was a beast for work and was a reliable work horse. Suzuki's were underpowered and had to have multi speed transmissions to make up for the lack of power, lots of cables to break.



as a testimonial I sold a 4x4 honda to a rancher to a cattle rancher in limon Colorado. he brought it to the shop upset with me because it was burning oil. he had used it on the ranch for 6 years on a daily basis by several ranch hands and himself.
dick and I sat down and did some math, this was before hour and odometers. his ranch was 60,000 acres. it was used every day to check cattle and break ice when needed. the daily trip around the ranch was 40 miles. we calculated the atv had in excess of 60,000 miles on it and probably more like 73,000.

once I pointed this out to dick he calmed down. we put a new set of valve seals in the top end and the oil consumption stopped and dick bought 2 more.
other than that I know nothing.