Thread: Side by Sides - second hand

Gidday Guys - I know a bunch of you are farming and using these quite a bit . . . . but I've never had one, driven one that I can think of for about 5 minutes!

After a week of making way too much mud with the tractor (I'm a fencer) and having walked a lot more than normal to avoid making even more with the Safari, I think a "side by side" might be the way to go to cart the 300 kgs of gear I customarily have on hand. Ideally it'll ride on my normal trailer to jobs behind the Safari or tractor with all gear on-board so I can just drive it off straight onto the job. I'm not going to be going fast or doing steep stuff.

So - school me on what I should be thinking about if I'm to get something in the $10K class:

makes/models (to look for and to avoid)
what sort of hours/KM's to look for (and avoid)
what are the issues for specific makes/models

Thanks

Can't comment on second hand but my Honda big red has been great never let me down now done 900 hours still going strong, only downer is no power steering.

For a minute I thought you were talking about shotguns.

Around the 10k mark will get you a very second hand high km one most likely. They are around 20k+ for the four big brands. So the ones that have been around long enough to be around 10k will be the Yamaha rhino 660 and 700. Can am commander and the kawasaki mule and Teryx.

On the yamaha check for these common fucked out bits....brake pads, ujs, engine mounts, cv boots/which lead to cvs, a-arm bushes, wheel bearings, cracked frame around rear diff. Sometimes the 4wd shits itself normally a sensor/fuse. The drive system needs to have been serviced properly with the pulleys pulled off and the weight greased properly with cvt grease(not normal grease),pulley surfaces need to be smooth, belts last for ages on yamahas but a fuked cvt system on a rhino will get up and go slowly hit a flat spot and then mabe climb over that and reach full speed. Check engine braking if keeps running away on ya after taking foot of the gas the one way bearing behind front pulley is shot.

On the can am.. Same sort of shit really except the drive systems are crap, belts peel apart, ujs wreck themselves, cv joints strip all due to weight and power. Then there is the electrical systems, plenty of times we were rung up because theyve just stopped in the middle of the paddock. electronic keys were a nightmare.

Kawasakis mules are just plain old slow with there lawnmower motors, but they hardly break down. the Teryx was more like a rhino, was alright.

Dont know much about the hondas they look like big fat pigs aswell.

They all have there issues, and cost more to service due to there weight and still using atv running gear, a well serviced rhino will be more reliable than the can am, but your only wanting to spend 10k so your not gonna get a flash one. Ive been to yamaha/can am factory training and fixed enough of them to know they all crap out eventually.

Probley better of getting new and not spending much
Or buy s/h and spending shit loads on maintance that hasnt been done

Dont get me wrong there will be a good one out there, but the main reason they get traded in is because they start costing.

For a fencer I would only recommend a Kubota RTV 900.
Buy anything else and it will be f##ked in no time.
The Kubota has a 750kg payload and hold a heap of gear inside the deck and I have added deck staunchons into the corners and then pile a load of posts on across ways.
I made up a rack on the front tow bar receiver to take a fish crate and always pile in some of the heavy items like fencing wire and staples to help with keeping traction on the front tyres.

Bloody awesome machines.
Not the fastest and no racing stripes but very hard to break !
Really a shrunk tractor and that's what a fencer needs.
A bit more expensive but the diesel engine goes for ever on a tank of fuel.
Mine has taken some epic loads through acres of mud and it just chugs along ... almost unstoppable.
I also brought a set of chains that I left on it for months on one big remote access job and they cut through the dead grass that catches you out when you have used the same track every day for a couple of months.

I can put up some images of the modifications I have done to mine ... when it bloody well stops raining !!!!

Hey Thanks Frosty, great info! For the sort of slow stuff I'll be doing a Mule sounds like it might be the boring but sensible answer!

And Akaroa - never thought of the Kubota ones - Thanks

Originally Posted by Tentman

And Akaroa - never thought of the Kubota ones - Thanks

Well I recon a fencer will trash the usual ones in pretty short order.
The others are cheaper up front but have high running costs ... especially the brakes and transmission !!!!

But with the Kubota you hardly ever use the brakes becaause of the way the transmission holds it back brilliantly when you take your foot off the excellerater.
The brakes are wet sump type ones as per the smaller Kubota tractors and they will last for ever because you hardly use them with the hydro transmission doing all the hard work.

Ta muchly - its never going to stop raining - not here in Southland anyway!

The Kubota rtv900 is actually made for the kind of work you are talking whereas the others are pretty disappointing in comparison.

+1 for any Kubota product.

Stay away from poolaris, they fall to bits from new. Kubota sounds like it would fit the bill.

How about a Suzuki escudo/vitara