ATV Utility Vehicles
Multipurpose ATV utility vehicles can take you and your tools where your pickup can't, including labor savings and specialty ATV attachments and accessories.
More energy-efficient than a truck and a lot more fun to drive, all-terrain utility vehicles (ATVs) are perfect machines for the farm, garden,or ranch, and works great for camping and hunting as well.
The new generation ATVs handle as well as a car, making them suited to anyone regardless of physical abilities.
Most of the new machines have engine displacements of 250 to 700 cubic centimeters (cc), can pull a load of up to half a ton and reach speeds of up to 50 mph. In addition, the many ttachments that can be added to the front and back of an ATV allow it to be a true multi-use utility vehicle.
One of the most valuable labor-saving ATV activity is hauling. Several models, notably the John Deere Gator and Kawasaki's Mule have dump boxes located behind the driver's seat.
They are both wellsuited to the homestead, built for work and should last a long time.
For ATVs without dump beds, trailers can be pulled behind the machine. Simply attach a trailer ball to the ATV's back hitch and your powerful machine becomes a hauling wonder.
Winter affords an ATV owner many opportunities for work and fun. Get a set of tire chains, available from most dealers, and you can go virtually anywhere in snow or on ice.
Several manufacturers make blades for the front or rear of the machine so you can clear snow from driveways and sidewalks, transforming the ATV into a snowplow.
When spring finally comes around, thoughts usually turn to gardening. The larger your garden, the more useful an ATV will be. Attachments such as disc plows, harrows, seeders, fertilizer
spreaders and manure spreaders specially designed and sized for ATVs are available.
Specialty Attachments are available for every job imaginable.
A frame attaches to the front of the ATV from which a number of tools—front-end loader, fork lift, backhoe, three-point hitch, skidder, clump box and grader blade—can be operated by a 12-volt winch powered from the ATV.
A frame attaches to the front of the ATV from which a number of tools—front-end loader, fork lift, backhoe, three-point hitch, skidder, clump box and grader blade—can be operated by a 12-volt winch powered from the ATV.
Because some people never outgrow playing in the mud, there is even an ATV specially designed for wet areas. The six-or eight-wheeled Argo has an enclosed body that floats. Part boat, part ATV, it will go anywhere. Tracks (wide, flat pieces of rubber with cleats on the bottom that wrap around the wheels), available for the Argo and other ATV models, let you travel through snow up to 2 feet deep, making it an all-weather machine.
With all of the choices available to the ATV owner, matching the right tool to the job should be easy. Of course the ATV is an enjoyable piece of equipment to operate, sometimes blurring the line between work and fun.
