Hello all,
I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice. I'm a member of an ATV club in SW Pennsylvania that has 41 miles of ATV/SxS trails with an additional 18 miles of dirt bike only single track. We're located in the mountainous region of the Laurel Highlands with lots of forest, hills, rocks, and winter snow. We allow riding year-round so the trails can take a beating, especially when they get wet and soft from winter snow melt and spring rains. Member volunteers do most of the trail work, cutting back vegetation and removing fallen trees. We occasionally hire an excavator for bigger jobs, but we typically try to do as much of the needed trail grooming as we can. We have a Bobcat Toolcat with a toothed bucket on the front that we use a lot, but it doesn't have the capabilities of an excavator. We use a lot of trail-hardening materials (mostly shale and some stone or rock dust) to fill the worst ruts and holes. Experience over the years has shown us that it holds up pretty well as opposed to dirt that washes out too soon. A few rural roads pass through our trail system and we have dump truck loads of these materials placed at points where our trail system crosses the roads. Our problem is that we then have to load, haul, dump, and spread these materials at locations that are often time miles back in our trail system. The Toolcat has been a godsend. With loads in the front bucket and in the rear hydraulic dump bed, it can haul 5 times what the Club's Yamaha Viking can. The Viking has a 600 lb. cargo bed load limit, that we probably exceed, and often takes 3 guys, one guy on each side and one pushing on the tailgate to dump. That's the background. We need an additional machine to help haul and dump material. We are applying for equipment grant from our state and they will not fund the purchase of a recreational SxS (like our Viking). They will consider a commercial grade UTV, like the RTV series from Kubota or the Pro XD from Polaris Commercial. As of now, we are strongly leaning towards the Kubota RTV-X. From everything we've read, it's a workhorse, with a diesel engine and a hydraulic drive, dump, and steering system that has roots in Kubota's tractor design (of which we also have a B3200). But we're also considering the Polaris Pro XD diesel with an electric-hydraulic bed option. We don't need speed, or bells and whistles. We need power, traction, climbing, turning, hauling, and dumping ability in a rugged design that will hold up to offroad use. I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, or recommendations, especially from folks that have experience with the Kubota or Polaris models. I've attached a few pictures from typical work days.
I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice. I'm a member of an ATV club in SW Pennsylvania that has 41 miles of ATV/SxS trails with an additional 18 miles of dirt bike only single track. We're located in the mountainous region of the Laurel Highlands with lots of forest, hills, rocks, and winter snow. We allow riding year-round so the trails can take a beating, especially when they get wet and soft from winter snow melt and spring rains. Member volunteers do most of the trail work, cutting back vegetation and removing fallen trees. We occasionally hire an excavator for bigger jobs, but we typically try to do as much of the needed trail grooming as we can. We have a Bobcat Toolcat with a toothed bucket on the front that we use a lot, but it doesn't have the capabilities of an excavator. We use a lot of trail-hardening materials (mostly shale and some stone or rock dust) to fill the worst ruts and holes. Experience over the years has shown us that it holds up pretty well as opposed to dirt that washes out too soon. A few rural roads pass through our trail system and we have dump truck loads of these materials placed at points where our trail system crosses the roads. Our problem is that we then have to load, haul, dump, and spread these materials at locations that are often time miles back in our trail system. The Toolcat has been a godsend. With loads in the front bucket and in the rear hydraulic dump bed, it can haul 5 times what the Club's Yamaha Viking can. The Viking has a 600 lb. cargo bed load limit, that we probably exceed, and often takes 3 guys, one guy on each side and one pushing on the tailgate to dump. That's the background. We need an additional machine to help haul and dump material. We are applying for equipment grant from our state and they will not fund the purchase of a recreational SxS (like our Viking). They will consider a commercial grade UTV, like the RTV series from Kubota or the Pro XD from Polaris Commercial. As of now, we are strongly leaning towards the Kubota RTV-X. From everything we've read, it's a workhorse, with a diesel engine and a hydraulic drive, dump, and steering system that has roots in Kubota's tractor design (of which we also have a B3200). But we're also considering the Polaris Pro XD diesel with an electric-hydraulic bed option. We don't need speed, or bells and whistles. We need power, traction, climbing, turning, hauling, and dumping ability in a rugged design that will hold up to offroad use. I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, or recommendations, especially from folks that have experience with the Kubota or Polaris models. I've attached a few pictures from typical work days.
