It's Quad Bike Time Again

[Andy Collins]

I have the TRX500 FE and I tow a Jensen chipper across plough, wet grass and so on, never has it been a problem. The 350 I used to have was permanent 4x4 and it did struggle more. Get the biggest winch on you can afford, I have the RT30 and I've pulled some serious butts about, dragged my chipper out, pulled a ditched Landie out of a ditch (twice...woman driver doing three point turn on a country lane , two different occasions on same road ) it's how you use the tools. I've put the quad in places that are simply not accessible to vehicles including tractors.

The winch plate from Warn in simply bolted on, u-clamps on the front down tubes and bolted in position underneath onto the chassis. I guess we fitted it, inc wiring in a couple of hours, though my brother is Honda trained fitter so it was easier.

Switchable 4wd is a boon, if you bog down just switch it on and drive away, if you're crawling on slippy surface keep rolling as you engage. I have pulled a decent sized tree out of a lake just driving in to chain on and drive out onto lawn, no loss of traction. They are nt tractors, they do have limitations, but so does everything.

[samarb]

I wanted to avoid 500 as did not want anything that large, also looking at 420 just because its newer. When I had 350 permenant 4wd was a bind, I may give the winch a go myself and if it goes peat tong then take it to garage. Aren't I limited on winch size due to battery I thought rt25 was biggest but if it will take 30 then ideal. Can you put up a pic of quad for me to see. Cheers

[Charlieh]

I run a 500FA with the auto/manual selectable gearbox and switchable 4x4, not as nimble as my old 250 but its certain nimble enough in the woods even if you do have to shunt on really tight turns, used mine today to pull out a 45ft grand fir that was hung up. I have a superwinch atv2300 on mine, its been sufficent when i have needed it but i dont really use the winch very often> Fitting kit was the same as Andy described I should think it took me about 3 or 4 hours to do in the farm yard got all the bits and the winch of evilbay so saved a fair bit over new prices. Also im really suprised how good the 500 is on fuel

[Andy Collins]

Sam, I wish my son was home, he knows all the info on what's suited to what, but he's off on his Honda apprenticeship course this week, and he's specialising on atvs.i believe, though I may be wrong that the RT30 is the largest atv winch from Warn, it certainly does all I need and more.

[Andy Collins]

If I were looking at a smaller model, it would definitely be a 420. It's the most popular atv Honda make, bags of oomph, I haven't heard anything bad about them, and both my brother and son work for a company that sells and maintains a lot of models.

Check out http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/arb-trucks/7031-atvs-quads-7.html for some glorious piccies of my little beast.

Edited December 2, 2012 by Andy Collins

[Chris Sheppard]

Ive a job coming up where i need a quad. What size would be needed to pull a tw 150? And are there and good OLD cheap quads worth looking at? Cheers. Sorry for de rail

 

Can't help from a towing point of view, but in my experience, any cheap old quad is going to be fairly knackered - and bits soon start to add up cost wise if you have to get geniune bits. Last one I had was an old 2wd honda 300 Big red and whilst it ran fairly well, needed about £400 just on a few brake parts and bushes for the suspension so ended up on ebay.

[Andy Collins]

A keeper friend of mine has a really old Yamaha quad, about 20 years old, looks crap but that little (200cc) bike is awesome. He does nothing to it for years, had it serviced by my lad last year, which cost £140 for oil, filters, air filter and a few shots of OKO, it pulls a trailer filled with feed every day, which is around half a ton, the knackered carry racks are loaded with sacks of feed too, it's thrashed across fields after foxes and trespassers. If you can find a cheapy, get someone mechanical to check it out, sometimes they look worse than they are. And old bike parts are still available, we ordered the Yam parts in from Holland, even though Yam UK said they were obsolete.

[swinny]

Can't help from a towing point of view, but in my experience, any cheap old quad is going to be fairly knackered - and bits soon start to add up cost wise if you have to get geniune bits. Last one I had was an old 2wd honda 300 Big red and whilst it ran fairly well, needed about £400 just on a few brake parts and bushes for the suspension so ended up on ebay.

 

true, would end up with a bag of nails i suppose....

 

i'll just have to borrow for now i think.

 

I'm not one to borrow if i can help it, i like to buy but depends how much use it would get

[doobin]

You're on a non starter trying to use an electric winch like that to pull timber about. Way too slow and will start burning your alternator out after a few pulls once it's emptied the battery. Get the right tool for the job, get a proper petrol powered winch such as a Lewis winch.

 

You say the work site is a nighmare- can you give us a more detailed overview? Myself, I work on some pretty tough sites, all 20-50% slopes and banks with the odd flat spot, and I favour tracked diesel machines (dumper and digger) along with a Lewis winch.

 

I've been in your shoes, using a big 500cc with a winch, and I would not even contemplate a quad bike nowadays. They're not designed for heavy towing and winching. You'll find an old 2 ton Kubota tracked dumper will be comparable in price to an old quad (around 2K) and will go anywhere a quad will, will carry all your tools easily, and drag pretty much anything you chain to the back of it, whilst sipping red diesel. You could even run a hydraulic winch off it, but I prefer a chainsaw driven one for versatility and line speed. Just a thought.

[WorcsWuss]

Something doesn't stack up here.... 2003 Fourtrax 400 was a racing quad..... Is it a Foreman 400 or 450 with the electric shift...? The auto was a 500 IIRC... [i used to work for a main dealer and still dabble]

 

Anywho.... 400..... The first Foreman, great bike, my old man still has one. Can't fault it. [Although his is in bits at the moment as he's stripped the front diff].

 

450. Came out in 2003 I think. We LPG converted a few, mechanically they were very similar to the 400 and just as strong. ES box is surprisingly simple and very reliable.

 

500 auto. Possibly the only 'pup' Honda ever made. Still a great bike but the legendary Honda reliability was dented by the hydrostatic auto box which had some occasional reliability issues, made worse by the hideous cost of repairs. Strong as an ox though when working and bags of fun to ride.

 

Can't say anything else other than, it's a Honda, so no matter what variant you buy it will still be better than any other brand you could have bought instead.....