We had a Mazda B2000 pickup truck back in the day, thing was an ugly red color and the "moonroof" leaked, but it was a workhorse! Wasn't bad for camping either, even though it was only 2WD. 
Utility vehicle for around the homestead... (road legal would be nice, too)
- Thread starter PopPopT
- Start date
Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:
I use a Honda Pioneer 1000 5 seater for our property. I don’t take it on the street but it can be made street legal here in TN with the addition of side mirrors and a couple other things, as well as registering it. I love the Pioneer! My husband talked me into trading my old Pioneer for a Polaris General 2 seater for a minute and I hated it for taking care of the animals and plants. So, traded the General back for a new Pioneer.
I had 2 buddies when we were in HS that had old school jeeps. They would go places we probably shouldn't have tried
---
A Willis is a tank...
---
When I was a kid we had a number of Ford made jeeps from the 1940s and maybe early 1950s... Supposedly some were ..."surplus... from the local area armories, this accomplished by my crazy veteran uncles and some of there friends... We had a couple jeeps licensed for road use, several in the shelter belt for parts, a couple that never had a license or left the property...
Several ranches in the area had groups of jeeps like this..
---
A Willis is a tank...
---
When I was a kid we had a number of Ford made jeeps from the 1940s and maybe early 1950s... Supposedly some were ..."surplus... from the local area armories, this accomplished by my crazy veteran uncles and some of there friends... We had a couple jeeps licensed for road use, several in the shelter belt for parts, a couple that never had a license or left the property...
Several ranches in the area had groups of jeeps like this..
This little thing has been game changing for me.....and faction of the cost of a 4wheeler (much less capbility of course too) But for all the endless trips up and down the hill its been really great:
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2017
- Messages
- 8,129
This one slipped my mind in previous posts.
How about a Mahindra Roxor. Pretty sure they have most if not all things required to make it road legal but they're made for off-roading.
How about a Mahindra Roxor. Pretty sure they have most if not all things required to make it road legal but they're made for off-roading.
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2017
- Messages
- 8,129
I know someone that has a Roxor as well and really likes the machine.
My uncle has an 83(?) mazda. it still lives! A friend of mine bought a 74 Mazda for scrap because the bed was caved in, still going! No wonder Africa mounts Ma deuces and 104 MMs in the back and uses them for tanks!
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2017
- Messages
- 11,875
Great for camping & about town, but not good for hauling wood & tools.
I guess that why it has a trailer hitch.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2022
- Messages
- 509
It really sounds to me like you're trying to find one vehicle to do two very separate things. The gator sounds ideal for the type of homestead chores you're doing, but it was never designed to be a going to town rig. I live seven miles from the nearest post office/auto parts store sort of place, and I wouldn't want to take my changes with the gator on the road, even though ORVs can be used on road in most areas around here. And seven miles will take a while on a gator. My neighbor is always running back and forth on his, but only a mile or so between the farming operations.
You might want to keep the gator doing what it does best, and just get a little going to town rig of some sort. A long time ago I had an S10 pickup and it was perfect for hauling brush and moving stuff around the yard but could still go to town. Unfortunately little trucks like that are scarce now and priced over their worth. Maybe you could find a little car for the going to town trips.
You might want to keep the gator doing what it does best, and just get a little going to town rig of some sort. A long time ago I had an S10 pickup and it was perfect for hauling brush and moving stuff around the yard but could still go to town. Unfortunately little trucks like that are scarce now and priced over their worth. Maybe you could find a little car for the going to town trips.
My brother bought one earlier this year, lightly used, I think a '17 model with a long bed. That is one NICE truck. I think he has about 40k on the clock now. I told him if he takes care of it (I know he will, he's pretty meticulous about taking care of his vehicles) it'll probably be the last truck he'll ever need.
I have a truck, an F350 crew cab dually, which will pull my big fifth wheel but it's miserable to drive as a run-about. Had an '89 Ford Ranger years ago, still kinda miss that thing. But... as long as I have the RV, I feel like I need to have something to at least be able to move it. It's too easy for me to accumulate vehicles.
Yeah, I'm kinda coming to that conclusion, too.
Not much longer than in a standard vehicle. Speed limit is 55 on the main highway and I know it'll do very close to that (I don't know exactly where the governor kicks in, it's somewhere between 50 and 55.)
It's interesting to me that I could slap a triangle on my ol' Farmall tractor and drive to town without ever even being questioned. Way more of a road hazard, no turn signals, no flashers, no windshield, no lights, no seat belt, and way slower than what traffic I'd encounter. Just seems odd. But... I'm kinda resolved to the idea that I'll just keep the Gator at home and drive a standard vehicle to town. I do have a Subaru Forester that is pretty small but no way I'd want to be hauling the stuff I haul in the Gator in that.
Anyway, I guess some depends on exactly where you are and what roads get used for access. If all I had were small county roads around here, I could probably get away with driving it most anywhere. But since the US highways are pretty much the way to get around out here, I just can't. It's OK. Probably best not to have the mindset of being able to just run to town at the drop of a hat anyway. Who knows, the Gator may not even get that great of gas mileage?? It's not been on road enough for me to even know.
I like what I've seen of the Honda Pioneer but have yet to see one locally. Not sure where the nearest dealer is.
I started out thinking I wanted a Kubota side by side. We went and looked at one. They're built like tanks. But it seemed like they were harder to get in and out of and were not very comfortable to ride in. The Gator was much more comfortable. Looking back, I'm not so sure that was as important as I thought. Around the place, we don't spend that much time riding. And since we can't do on-road, the actual time in the seat isn't that much. The top speed on the Kubota was something like 30 or 35 mph which sounds slow but that's the speed limit on our little pig trail of a road anyway, which is pretty much all of the on-road driving it gets.
It's easy for me to second-guess and wish I'd bought something else. And who knows what the years will bring. Not much is forever. And so far, the Gator has pretty much been as reliable as it gets, comfortable, and has sure been a help around the place. Hard to argue with that.
We got a small Kubota side by side, 4x4, with a dump cargo bed..
We went to 2 John Deere and 1 of 2 Kubota dealers in our area saying we wanted a small, cheap farm useful vehicle.. As if they rehersed it all together they said ...this is what we have to sell you, you will not find what you think you want... All there machines being the go fast, bounce high type trail machines... My response was ...want to bet...
Went to the lesser known, smaller Kubota dealer in the area owned by a local Mennonite family.. With a bit of a chip on my shoulder I told them what we wanted.. They said ...follow me out to the lot... That is where we bought our little machine named PEPE.. It has been a most wonderful, useful work and energy saver around the farm... PEPE being the name of the get away vehicle in the old date night movie by Mike Douglas called ...Romancing the Stone...
We went to 2 John Deere and 1 of 2 Kubota dealers in our area saying we wanted a small, cheap farm useful vehicle.. As if they rehersed it all together they said ...this is what we have to sell you, you will not find what you think you want... All there machines being the go fast, bounce high type trail machines... My response was ...want to bet...
Went to the lesser known, smaller Kubota dealer in the area owned by a local Mennonite family.. With a bit of a chip on my shoulder I told them what we wanted.. They said ...follow me out to the lot... That is where we bought our little machine named PEPE.. It has been a most wonderful, useful work and energy saver around the farm... PEPE being the name of the get away vehicle in the old date night movie by Mike Douglas called ...Romancing the Stone...
Actually, for just around the place, I had wondered if I could use a golf cart. It's got steep enough hills and I wondered if a typical golf cart would hold up over time. If I were more flat, I'd have probably gone that route to begin with. Heavy loads aren't such a big deal when there are no hills.
It is interesting that one of my biggest peeves about the Gator is that it's more noisy than I would like it to be. It's noisier than the neighbors' Rangers of similar size. Quiet would be nice.
- Joined
- May 13, 2021
- Messages
- 2,016
My cart started life in 1988 as a 36 volt plain jane Club car 4 seat golf course cart I bought it not running for $300 last year and built a 16s 105AH LifePO4 battery for it. Since then it has pulled some crazy loads up hills. I will freely admit the brakes SUCK but other than that it's been AWESOME! I did put a lift and bigger tires on it and you have to be careful not to flip it over by hitting the throttle to hard. If I didn't have the rear seat footrest I can think of several times it would have flipped. The footrest sort of acts as wheelie bar. I could stand to calm down the takeoff power some, but it is what it is. It's sure not short on pulling power!
Didn't Subaru make something like this a long time ago? I think it was called the Brat; I am not sure
Subaru did make a small truck called the brat, 70s and 80s maybe. IIRC, they re-released the brat a year or two ago. But I have yet to see one.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 18,028
We have 2 Yamaha atv's and a CanAm side by side, none of which are "road legal". I don't care, in 40 years I've never licensed an atv yet. Occasionally I'll drive an atv or the side by side on the roads around here, never had a problem.
I wouldn't worry about the licensing issue unless you live in a highly populated area with too many bored cops who have nothing to do.
I wouldn't worry about the licensing issue unless you live in a highly populated area with too many bored cops who have nothing to do.
We've got a Kawasaki Mule 4010 trans model. The nice thing with it is that it is a 4 seater with a short box when you need to haul people but you can fold up the rear seat and make the box longer when you need to haul more. It can be made street legal by adding turn signals and mirrors to it in most places, but I run it around the homestead and in town and haven't run into any issues with johnny law.
Hubby has his '71 CJ5 now with a top & complete with running parts. Next is to get the heater hooked back up.
The reason the gater is not allowed on the road is safety, It can not travel at the minimum speed limit thereby it is a road obstruction/ accident waiting to happen
A crotch rocket can travel with the flow and not be an obstruction
A crotch rocket can travel with the flow and not be an obstruction
My property is thick woods
When I cleared the house site. I used a riding lawn mower as a tractor to pull trees to the burn pile
When I cleared the house site. I used a riding lawn mower as a tractor to pull trees to the burn pile
What would it take to make your Gator road useable? Brake lights, head lights, seat belts and ?
Drive it on the berm?
Drive it on the berm?
I don't know how fast most of them go. This one can definitely travel faster than the minimum speed limit. It's actually a little too easy to speed on some roads (the limited ones I've actually been on despite not supposed to be.)
Kind of a non-issue anymore. I've pretty much moved on from the idea. It's just not gonna happen. And I haven't seen an alternative that works any better than just keeping that at home and running a regular vehicle in to town when I wanna go. And that can be pretty much anything, car, truck, whatever. Not quite as handy, but that's just the way it is.
Funny thing is, I could drive my ol' Farmall tractor to town and never raise an eyebrow. Couldn't go even half as fast and really would be more of a traffic hazard. Welcome to life in these here United States.
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 1,744
Gator XUV 850D has a top speed of 30 mph.
The sort of engines, transmissions and tires they have are not really meant to drive at top speed for extended periods of time.
Standard ATV/XTV tires are soft to get traction when offroad - they wear pretty fast on tarmac.
Most modern mid-sized tractors max out at about 25 mph. Their tires get hammered when they are used on sealed roads. Most of the miles done by tractors on sealed roads around here are done by ag contractors and people with more than one farm. The price is increased tire wear.......
Using the right vehicle for each job is mostly the best plan.
The most versatile vehicle I have is the Unimog. They can do some of the jobs of a tractor and offroad truck - but they can also do 55 mph and make big journeys/adventures.......and you don't have to worry about what might happen if some one runs into you.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 18,028
I've got a CanAm HD 10. It's a great year round tool for use around the ranch. I especially like the heater and AC. I have a set of tracks for use in winter, and a 6 foot front mount snowblower for clearing the road. We live 2 miles off the road and can get 6 feet of snow and are usually snowed in for at least 2 weeks each winter. I needed a tracked vehicle to get out in case of emergency. Plus I use it for trapping in deep snow.
I drive it on the road when needed, don't care about the rules. Town is 18 miles away so I seldom drive it that far, but I do see ATV's and side by sides in town all the time and occasionally on the highway. Nobody seems to care around here.
I drive it on the road when needed, don't care about the rules. Town is 18 miles away so I seldom drive it that far, but I do see ATV's and side by sides in town all the time and occasionally on the highway. Nobody seems to care around here.
