ATV or UTV ?

> What kind of vehicle do you guys use when you get out of the truck and head toward the back forty?

Harold,

I have, and use both, depending on the situation.

I use the UTV as much as I can. I can haul more gear, and it is more comfortable to work off of. The ATV is more nimble, and easier to get unstuck. I do not have a winch on the UTV yet, but I have one to mount on it.

It looks like you just bottomed out because the ruts were too deep. I would put a winch on your ATV. It looks like you could have easily winched yourself out if you would have had a winch, in this particular case. I stuck mine on my first big job, and bought a winch the next day.

Good luck,
Jimmy

That would be a winch cable. A wench cable is what you use to keep your serving wench close to the kitchen. (wench noun ?wench : a young woman; especially : a young woman who is a servant)

Sorry. It's been several days since I've found an excuse to put on my spelling police badge.

I do my best to avoid the need to go places such as where you were headed. Simple little four-wheeler either gets me there or I don't go until conditions are better. Yeah, I know, I'm a wuss. That's OK. Wusses live longer.

However, I will admit to having used a six-wheeler Polaris provided by the client to go through duck marshes about ten years ago. I have no idea how we would have ever been helped if we had become mired down. Probably would have had to get a couple huge beavers to give us a pull.

> What kind of vehicle do you guys use when you get out of the truck and head toward the back forty?

I'll bite. Why wouldn't you just slip your truck into 4WD and drive back to the back 40?

If my grizzly won't get me there, JD will.

JD with all the survey gear strapped to him would be a great picture.

Kent, the bridge across the ditch was built for a UTV and too small for a truck. It will hold up his small four wheel drive tractor and UTV, but the bridge is too narrow for anything larger. Plus, I have a two wheel drive truck! I have found out that it takes a tremendous amount of effort to get a 4WD truck out of the mud than an ATV. I can get much more stuck and it takes something big to pull me out. Northeast Mississippi soil is either slick red clay, or bottomless silty muck or sticky gumbo clay. And there are a lot of creeks and ditches to cross. A nimble little ATV does well for me.

I have a wench........uh, I mean, winch! 😛 .....to put on my ATV that is still sitting on a shelf in my shop building. I now have an incentive to actually install it. There were nearby trees that I could have used and to pull myself out. Still, the best system I have used is to drive around those places. The last time I got stuck was while trying to drive around a big mud hole. A log skidder had done the same thing and I found the silted-in rut that he made. I buried the ATV and had a logger guy use a skidder to pull me out. That was odd-looking.....a skidder pulling an ATV out of a mud hole! With all the gear I carry for my solo operation, I use my ATV a lot. I look and feel like a pack mule when I use my boots!

I have a Honda Rancher

Sometimes it is the tires and not the vehicle

Since changing over to Interco Reptile Tires, have not had that problem.

That looks like over saturated clay...my 4WD pickup would bury itself there.

Wow, I have never got an ATV stuck. I've buried the truck a few times which is not fun.

An ATV is what we have.

I would prefer a Jeep. Light weight, short turning radius, can be driven on the road.

I've always used a Honda Rancher but i bought a Polaris 900 Ranger last year. Use it around the farm mostly, and wish I'd bought one 10 years ago. Hauls more, but mainly because it is a lot easier to get on and off. Plus it will run 65 down the road.

[sarcasm]You got a rover antenna mount for that?[/sarcasm]

> [sarcasm]You got a rover antenna mount for that?[/sarcasm]

Yepper. My GPS is a 5700 backpack. I lead another horse with a packsaddle & Utah bags that carry the rest of the gear (shovel, rebar, caps, wire brush, tape measure, metal detector if necessary, lunch, canteens, beer, etc.). The rover rod is custom made to fit in a rifle scabbard. It does takes a while to get saddled, loaded and mobilized, but to get paid while searching for stones in the mountains on a horse - priceless. 😛

I love my Yamaha Rhino. The ability to carry everything I need is great. Getting in and out of it are much easier than climbing over an ATV. I haven't found a place my Rhino won't go that an ATV will, but that could be due to it being a 2007 model and it having the same width as an ATV. I think in 2008 they were widened to lessen the likelihood of rollovers.

Several years back I high centered my quad on a snow drift filled ditch I didn't know was there. Looked level enough to me, but Mr Gravity said no. Actually maybe high center is the wrong term, more like it floated into nowhere.

Turned out the ditch was likely 4 ft deep and about 8 ft across. An hour or so later after lots of digging and tugging, I got it out. I almost pulled it out with my truck, but would not be denied (it was a roadside ditch) so I did eventually win the battle. That time.

Talk about a bad day... 😉

Be careful on those 4 wheely dealy thingofabobs. It all happens before you can blink your eye, so plan accordingly.

We use a six wheel polaris ranger. That thing will climb trees. Running up and down the mountainous terrain they have a better center of gravity.

So looking at your pic, you could use some newer tires, and then I would also say like others a winch is very helpful, save me may times. If you havn't gotten your ATV stuck, then you haven't taken it every place that you could! The independent rear suspension helps alot too, especially climbing logs.

We have 2 identical 4-wheelers, one had the 4-track system. While hard on the shoulders for turning, they are hard to beat in the wintertime.

These 2 pics both we in the last 12 months, the mud one was 2 miles of this logging road, I finally got stuck 300 feet from the section corner. That would have taken all day to hike to, and I got it in just a couple hours.

The winter one, that is my helper, and in both of those pics he is standing on the ground in very light snow, but as you can see, the 4-track is stilling on top, enabling us to get to that 1/4 corner miles back in the woods.

UTV, if for some reason we're blocked (heavy brush, low hanging thicker branches, steep creek banks, etc...) it's usually not to far from the point. We used to use two polaris sportmans and loved them but after my stroke I didn't know if I could count on my weak leg holding it up in case of a roll over. I had it happen once on a steep ditch but was able to hold it up with one leg till my partner rolled it back over. We've got a 2014 Polaris Ranger (100 cc bigger than the 2012 we had) and it is wider than the older ones but it still gets to where we need it and carry a larger load than my 2002 I've got at home. We usually keep it in 1 wheel drive (or lawn mode) and in 4+ yrs. haven't had to put it in 4 wheel more than a hand full of times and we've had it in some deep stuff. We bought doors and wind shield w/wiper for it and drive it to most jobs within 15 miles of the office. We've got to get turn signals for it, the 2012's of course won't fit the 2014. We trailer it for the far jobs.

By the way, the only time it has been stuck is when it got belly hung in the snow. Other than that keep it moving if it starts to bog until you get to solid ground and you should be ok.