suggestions atv or truck?

[firefighterjake]

Terrain . . . if the wood lot is relatively flat and open the truck may be perfect for getting in close to the wood . . . if the terrain is hilly or there are lots of ruts and the woods are tight the ATV or tractor may be a better option. In my own case there is no way I could (or would want to) drive my truck into the woods and get very close to my wood -- the ground is too rough and the woods are tight with lots of tire puncturing sticks and rocks.

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The Titan has a better COG than the Kubota. Put 10-plys with rim guard on the Titan and you will laugh at potential punctures. :lol:

On the othr hand, the wife can take the Titan to work . . . she'd freeze to death on the Kubota :wow:

But if you look around on Hearth, I think you will see that with these newer ATVs, many people make them work very well for wood retrieval. I'd not want to hook onto a 60' Oak 30' over a bank with the ATV though.

All depends on where/how yer gonna use it. ATV also prolly the easiest sell to the 'ole lady

Hehheh . . . just picturing my wife making the normal 20-30 minute ride into work at night on a Kubota in middle of winter and having to leave a few hours before her shift starts kinda amused me . . . I don't think she would be so amused though.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I bet she thinks she's the queen when perched up in the 56 though ;-) I know mine does . . . when it's useable :sick:

 

[firefighterjake]

I bet she thinks she's the queen when perched up in the 56 though ;-) I know mine does . . . when it's useable :sick:

Actually she wants me to get a pair of side steps or nerf bars as she sometimes has problems getting in due to her short stature . . . thinking about some N-Fabs or a similar style of Nerf bar . . . she also has mentioned eventually getting a plow for it and even lifting it . . . man, I love this woman!

 

[certified106]

I would vote for a tractor......Sooo many uses....
I use it for bush hogging, tilling the garden, plowing the drive way....
I use the loader to pick up logs for bucking, pushing piles of rounds, hauling rounds, loading stoves into trucks, hauling split wood to the porch then just pick the bucket up and set it on the railing so there is no walking up and down stairs with wood, I leveled the ground for the wood shed, spread 60 tons of gravel/limestone dust etc.....The list goes on

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Truck chicks are hot, are they not?

Tell her that higher heals and a shorter skirt will help her get in better :red:

Damn! Hold on . . .what was the OP about again???

 

[firefighterjake]

Truck chicks are hot, are they not?

Tell her that higher heals and a shorter skirt will help her get in better :red:

Damn! Hold on . . .what was the OP about again???

She's not really into high heels or skirts . . . she's like me . . . what you see is what you get . . . and I like her that way.

OK, back to our reguarly scheduled program . . . sooooo . . . to the OP . . . have you any idea of which way you are leaning?

 

[lukem]

. . . except Lukem who ended up with a heckuva deal on his ATV . . . I still can't believe the deal he got.

It is still a good deal...or at least it still feels like it.

Here's a good first-hand experience of wood hauling with ATV from the weekend:

I loaded up my trailer with 1/3 cord or so (4x8 trailer with 30" side panels tossed in a heaping load)of wood the other day....I was just moving it from the shed to the house, but i figured since i went to all the effort of loading it, i might as well see what the new quad could do. I'm guessing the load was 1,200 lbs +- 100 lbs. The 1,000 lb trailer axle was starting to deflect quite a bit...and the tires were showing a good load.

I drove up a fairly steep and long hill...steep enough and long enough to get a good leg burn when walking up it.... maybe 1/8 mile...and I have no idea what grade...let's just call it moderately steep. This is a well established and hard-packed dirt road, so traction and tire flotation was excellent.

I put it in low range, ESP 2 and it marched right up the hill...I could tell there was a load behind it, but I didn't feel like i was even challenging the machine. I though going back down was going to be an adventure, but it handled surprisingly well for having double the weight of the quad pushing it down the hill. I put it in 4wd and the engine did 75% of the breaking.

The manufacturer says I can tow 900 lbs. I feel like 900 - 1200 is a good workable range....unless the tires on the trailer were sinking down too much. That's a fair amount of wood.