[Thordale]

I have some crofts in Shetland.

Anything I buy will have to be bought sight unseen.  I would buy new.

I want to buy a machine with a steering wheel (no motorbike handlebars) that will go over rough open hill pulling a bowser of water. 

There is no track, so it must have good ground clearance and 4x4 steering and rough terrain tyres that won't get stuck in the mud or wet ground.

I don't want to go fast. I hated the quad I had many years ago. It scared me when it felt like it was almost tipped over on the slightest hill.  A slow and steady trundle with my water for my horses would be fine.

I can live without a cab (dress for the weather). It does not have to have anything fancy - no mowing or tippers or diggers.  A harrow might be useful one day and perhaps something that will plough a bit of snow on our house track.

Easy to run and maintain.  Not fancy.  The equivalent of a little grey fergie!  Preferably no complicated levers.

Any recommendations?

[stufe35]

A Suzuki Jimmy with mud terrain tyres.

[Penninehillbilly]

An ATV? We have JD Gator, don't like the new style, but other makes available.
Presume you mean chain harrow ?
You can get snowploughs for them.
Very useful

[SallyintNorth]

Pulling water on wet mud ... is a challenge.  The weight of the towed bowser... sounds like you'd need a 4wd tractor I think.  Or maybe a Mule type thing - quad with a steering wheel.  But you'd have to research the weights they can tow, a lot of ATVs can't tow great weights, not designed for that. 

[arobwk]

Well [member=214971]Thordale[/member] I'm looking for some clarification on your remark  "... it felt like it was almost tipped over on the slightest hill".  Was that with a bowser of water attached ?

[Buttermilk]

Are you trying to go diagonally across the hills?  Straight up or down is the way to be safe.  To get a steering wheel you will have to go for a mule as I have never seen one on a quad.  Mules are higher off the ground so not as stable on the hills I would have thought.

It sounds as if you need a quad with power steering.  I have a can-am and it can pull quite heavy muck trailers through our clay, but we do not have your hills.

I think you really need a small tractor.

[landroverroy]

I agree with the comments above that you definitely need a 4WD tractor. Even a 250 gallon (1000 litre) bowser weighs a tonne.
I have a Land Rover Defender that will pull 2.5 tonne on the flat so can pull our smaller water bowsers with ease - on dry flat land. But I don't use it when the ground is wet, or uphill.
 As you have horses I am assuming you will want a bowser of at least 1000 litres - ie  the size of an IBC. I would not attempt to pull anything like that weight up or down any sort of slope with the Land Rover and even on level land we need the 4WD tractor after any amount of rain.


Even a small tractor like a grey Fergy (I have one) is not heavy enough to deal with the weight should you get stuck on a slope. You are likely to get pulled down and jackknife. (Been there). You need a 4 WD tractor  with some weight behind it, and at least 50HP.


I would also agree  with Buttercup about going up and down slopes, not diagonally  across which is a recipe for overturning. I would suggest you look at some Utube videos on towing over different surfaces.


Remember there is nothing so important it can't be done safely. 
     

[SallyintNorth]

The equivalent of a little grey fergie! 

is the Honda Fourtrax.  Weight puller (for a quad - the 420 is rated for towing up to 385kgs), has power steering (on motorbike handlebars), since around 2004 has had selectable 2wd/4wd.  Simple, maintainable workhorse.  New the 420 is the smallest and is a very capable machine.  Secondhand or reconditioned, you may be able to find a 350, but they are getting on now,

I have owned a 350 and three 420s, and used other people's Kawasakis, Suzukis and Yamahas.  Honda Fourtrax for me every time.  Just make sure you use a clean filter to pour the fuel in, and don't allow bits (or rain) to get into the petrol tank.  And keep the oil topped up.

(In 2006, we bought the farm with its 350, which we worked hard.  After a few years we upgraded to a new 420.  When I left for another farm I bought an 8 year old but low mileage 420 and neglected to keep the oil topped up, so the engine seized.  Entirely my own fault.  Bought a reconditioned high mileage 420 in around 2014, which I carefully maintained!, and is still going  It is not worked hard.)

[oor wullie]

Over rough hill with no track, I'm not sure there is an obvious answer unless it is a very small water bowser.
Anything too light will struggle to get traction when towing a heavy weight. Anything too heavy will sink into mud.

Most of all note that a good cab is not so much about keeping the weather off as it is about keeping you out of hospital (or worse) if (when) you roll it. 

I've come closer to backflipping my small tractor when towing be a heavy trailer (trailer wheel sinks into hole, tractor wheels keep turning with traction, front of tractor rises very fast) I'd imagine the risk of doing that with a quad would be pretty high.

[SallyintNorth]

I've come closer to backflipping my small tractor when towing be a heavy trailer (trailer wheel sinks into hole, tractor wheels keep turning with traction, front of tractor rises very fast) I'd imagine the risk of doing that with a quad would be pretty high.

I have experienced that with a 2wd tractor and never with a 4wd tractor nor a 4wd Honda Fourtrax - and we routinely carted loaded sheep feed snackers (carrying rations for up to 350 in-lamb Swaledale ewes, so quite a weight) and big bales of silage / haylage up hill on rough tracks and across moorland, some of it with drainage grips (some of them hidden) on no tracks, so no I don't think quads pulling weights necessarily risk backflips.  You 100% need 4wd though, especially going uphill towing a weight, or you can get the quad snaking side to side and making no forward progress.  And you need the big squishy tyres on the trailer too, so it is less prone to sink into wet ground. 

I am now remembering having a few goes at towing a partially filled IBC using the Honda 420.  1/3 full was plenty of weight for towing it on flat tarmac.  Too much on soft ground.  I think I probably asked on here if anyone knew of bowsers for quads, as the partially-filled IBC on a trailer (we used an adapted motorbike trailer, which had a long A frame at the front, which may not have been the ideal configuration) wasn't a comfortable combination.  You also need it to be a 2 axle trailer with a jockey wheel, or be happy to leave the whole equipage, quad included, in situ until the water is at a low enough level you can lift the trailer to unhitch! 

[landroverroy]

I would not recommend pulling a part filled water bowser on any sort of slope. All the water will go to one side and it is one of the best recipes for overturning you can get.
I would also not recommend pulling it on the flat either unless you have a towing vehicle significantly heavier than the weight of water and with excellent brakes. When you apply the brakes of your vehicle, the vehicle and trailer may stop but the water inside keeps on moving inside the partially empty container. This will push the whole outfit forwards and then back again, and you need a substantial vehicle to be able to control these forces.   

[SallyintNorth]

I would not recommend pulling a part filled water bowser on any sort of slope. All the water will go to one side and it is one of the best recipes for overturning you can get.
I would also not recommend pulling it on the flat either unless you have a towing vehicle significantly heavier than the weight of water and with excellent brakes. When you apply the brakes of your vehicle, the vehicle and trailer may stop but the water inside keeps on moving inside the partially empty container. This will push the whole outfit forwards and then back again, and you need a substantial vehicle to be able to control these forces.

Beautifully expressed.  Yes, of course, it's the physics of the liquid load which make it difficult.