Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Which quad..  (Read 3489 times)

Stu

  • Joined Sep 2018
Which quad..
« on: September 26, 2018, 06:38:13 pm »
Evening

Just after some advice if possible, we've recently purchased a house with a bit of land, it's in 2 fields and one is on a slight incline but flattens out.

I'm looking to get a quad to help outt with pulling a gang mower, trailer etc... and are looking at the Yamaha Grizzly 350 4wd or the Polaris Sportsman 570.

Any views??

Cheers

Stu

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2018, 10:21:06 am »
If it's mostly flat you probably won't need the 570.

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2018, 01:08:46 pm »
..depends on your intention with the fileds.. self-propelled gang mowers can be a pain to maintain sharp, expensive to buy and not so good on long grass - excellent on a park or lawn etc. If then going to use powered cutters behind a quad then also expensive to buy and yet another engine running... better to look at compact tractors and PTO stuff.As for quad bikes.. around here they simply say 'Honda'

CarolineJ

  • Joined Dec 2015
  • North coast of Scotland
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2018, 07:11:14 am »
Unless you've got serious hills anywhere, go for the lower-powered one.  We've got a Can-Am Outlander 450, we had the 570 on trial for a fortnight and I nearly wheelied the thing a couple a times.  The 450 took about 350kg of hay on a trailer up a fairly steep slope no problems over the summer.

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2018, 07:28:42 am »
I have used a Can-am 400 all through the wet winter and it has taken a 6ft long trailer full of muck to the muck heap every day.  The smaller 2 wheel drive quad failed at the start of the winter to get that far.  The mud only got worse as the season progressed.  No hills here to say what it would be like on them.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2018, 10:06:51 am »
No experience of that Yamaha but when I started we had a Honda Fourtrak 350 and that pulled a big round bale of haylage up a reasonable slope no bother.  When we replaced that one, the new Honda was 420cc.  We did notice and appreciate the extra, but I’d still be happy with a 350 for a smallholding, unless you anticipate needing to pull a lot of weight up a steep slippy slope a lot.

That’s reminded me...  When I was with ex-BH, I had another Honda 350.  We had one long (more than 400m) steepening, gravelly slope with a tight turn on the steepest bit (at the top, of course) and a drain crossing the track too just below that point.  It was a well-used tourist triai, so sometimes you’d have the added complication of walkers appearing on the track and not realising you really didn’t want to have to stop or take avoiding action... :o   If I needed to bring more than one smallish ewe and her lambs up that track in the lambing trailer, I’d borrow his beast of a quad for that one ;)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Stu

  • Joined Sep 2018
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2018, 08:57:17 pm »
Thanks all for the replies, diffently some options.

Cheers

Stu

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2018, 12:29:13 pm »
As a rule of thumb, you want the vehicle your towing with to be heavier than what your towing.  Go for the bigger bike.

alang

  • Joined Nov 2017
  • Morayshire
Re: Which quad..
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2018, 04:16:26 pm »
We have both the Honda Foreman 500 and Suzuki King quad at work (pig farm) and whilst i like the Honda for the power steering i have to admit i prefer the Suzuki for torque, easy of gear shift esp reverse (has a hand shift lever instead of foot shift),and believe it or not, reliability. The parking brake is also so much easier to apply on the Suzuki. The Honda's have had two head gasket changes, lights give up working and the brakes fail twice. Yes i suppose it come down to the operator (and we have some numpties using them at times) but i've not had any other problems other than the brakes wearing on the Suzuki.

Also it has to be noted that the Honda has a slightly higher tow hitch, making it harder to get the trailer on/off at times (depending on terrain). Certain trailer tow hitches also can catch the bars either side of the quad tow hitch.

Either quad will serve you well if you look after it. But my personal opinion pushes towards the Suzuki
I'm not scared to be seen, I make no apologies. This is me!

 

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