i am moving to a parcel of land of 10 acres surrounded by about 100 acres i have permission to roam, hunt etc on in south texas. gonna sell my $10,000 new kubota mower as i won't have 4 acres to mow and wanna put that towards a "gator" type rig of some kind. want one with front and back bench seats, 4x4, bed in back. i have a 61 willys jeep but its too rough for the wife to drive around. can't afford a new one. i know nothing about theses things except what i see on trailers everywhere here heading to the lease during hunting season. be good if i could get schooled on what to stay away from and whats good etc.

Deere has a lease program or something like that for govt agencies.
They trade them off after a certain time period for a new one.
Most of these trades have very little use and sell for way less than a new one.

A friend bought a trade that was brought in by the bureau of land management or some such that had less than 50 hours on it and looked like new.
He got it at a great price.
Since it was a lease the warranty didn't start until he bought it.

A local fire dept traded one off with around 10 hours on it. They used it around the station to move things.

It might be worth looking into if you have a JD dealer near.

I have a relative that is on his second Gator. He has this disease that requires all his farm equipment to be green. To be honest, he his hard on his toys and probably only does maintenance when it breaks. His gators break alot!
I have a friend who I hunt with a lot, his family has Polaris side by sides. These run forever and seem to never break down. He does do maintenance as specified by the manufacturer.
Speaking personally, I would be more inclined to buy Polaris.... but it might be more a bias acquired by who services the machine and who does not. Your mileage may vary?

thanks guys. to me, the JD stuff looks like it belongs puttering around a tree farm/nursery. but thats an observation born out of ignorance. never drove one. saw on craigslist a polaris with the 2 row seats and bed, winch, etc but has 1000 hours on it and they wanted $15,000. so i'll keep lookin.

I have a Gator 590i that I bought 2 1/2 years ago Absolutely no problems, runs 40+mph when necessary and crawls along at 1-2 mph in 4WD, low range with diff locked when need be. Part of my property is low ground and has been flooded for the last 4 months. Never bogged the Gator but if I did, I would use my 4WD John Deere tractor to pull it out! BTW, I bought it as a dealer demo with 19 hours and new warranty but got it for $3000 off list.

why are kawasakis cheaper than rangers, polaris and mahindras ?

Everything is cheaper than Polaris.

kawaski or kubota? looking at 4x4, 4 seater, diesel etc

I’ve had really good luck with Kubota RTV’s
First one was a 900 Diesel that I ran to around 7000 hours and traded off . The second one was a 500 gas engine that currently has about 1850 hours. I just sold my 1100 diesel with about 12:00 on it. I’m going to purchase an 1140 diesel crew cab.

Never had any issues with the three that I have owned.

The Honda pioneer 700–4 looks interesting to me but I have no experience with it. I might buy one to see how it works out.

I’d never buy another Polaris after my last experience. It was like a mid 70s era Harley Davidson. Every time I drove it something broke or fell off.

an 1140 is exactly what i'm looking for. just gotta sell my boat and kubota Z726X. tried to do a deal with the dealer but they're not interested cause the fuel injected ones are out now. i told him what the hell difference does that make, u gonna mow upside down? he said they're better cause they run so smooth. they also cost $3500 more! uh huh. mine has 17.8 hours on it and they'll give me about half of what i paid for it 6 months ago new.

quote:

Originally posted by john c.:
an 1140 is exactly what i'm looking for. just gotta sell my boat and kubota Z726X. tried to do a deal with the dealer but they're not interested cause the fuel injected ones are out now. i told him what the hell difference does that make, u gonna mow upside down? he said they're better cause they run so smooth. they also cost $3500 more! uh huh. mine has 17.8 hours on it and they'll give me about half of what i paid for it 6 months ago new.

I have a 2010 Kubota 1140 that has been essentially trouble free. I did break the throttle cable about a year ago, only problem in nearly ten years and I'm pretty rough on it, daily use on my farm. I really like the ability to change back and forth between two seats/large bed and four seats/short bed. The hydraulic dump bed is a nice feature as well.

quote:

Originally posted by john c.:
an 1140 is exactly what i'm looking for. just gotta sell my boat and kubota Z726X. tried to do a deal with the dealer but they're not interested cause the fuel injected ones are out now. i told him what the hell difference does that make, u gonna mow upside down? he said they're better cause they run so smooth. they also cost $3500 more! uh huh. mine has 17.8 hours on it and they'll give me about half of what i paid for it 6 months ago new.

Sounds your Kubota held its value really well

it actually really did! i turned down 85% of what i paid for it yesterday. the problem is the dealers greed on the trade in offer, not what its really worth. try selling a car to an individual as opposed to trading it in and then get back to me when you see how it actually works.

finally snagged one, a 2018 kawaski mule pro DXT 4x4 6 seater all tricked out (top with rack, 4" lift, skid plates, led lites front and back, winch mount, glass windshield that folds outward to open up, locking diffs, etc etc with 100 hours on it. what i'm not seeing and wondering why, is how come they (all brands) don't come with spare tires? seems to me it would be a common sense thing to have. also, the top folds in half towards the front, i guess so you can stand up in the bed and shoot over the top? hell, i dunno. we hauled it home and my son put my 6 yr old grandson (his nephew) on his lap and floored it all over the 200 acres while the kid steered. granddaughter in back was squealing the whole time and the 6 yr old had a grin from ear to ear. in 2 wheel drive that thing went thru 12" deep long muddy ruts and everything else we did. wish we had some hills for it to climb. i'd post a pic but its beyond me here on this site. i really havent had a chance to look much but if someone has a favorite place where they sell accessories like gun racks, spare tires/wheels etc that has a good reputation please let me know. driving with a buddy this morning to pick up 200 catfish fingerlings to stock the 4 ponds with.