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| John Deere Gator |
If you are going to have a bunch of equipment around, the next problem is a logistical one. You need to get to the equipment. You could use a horse, but that is sort of dated, and pickups are plenty expensive---even old junkers have quite a bit of cost to them. That is where the Gator comes in. A lot of folks make various kinds and flavors of these. Many are ATW's, which are suppose to go anywhere and often end up turning over and killing their drivers. By contrast the Deere is not a trail bike. It rides close to the ground on low pressure tires making it easy to get into, and it doesn't make mud. For good reason they are popular on golf courses because they won't hurt the grass, yet can haul maintenance equipment around. Although Deere makes 4 wheel ones they only offer the diesel on the 6 wheel one, and since we are used to the dependiblity of a diesel engine, that is what we have.
The Deeres have an excellent skid pan that keeps jill pokes out of the running gear We are told that the drive train is basically that of a snowmobile, but don't think for a moment that this thing is suitable for navigation of snow. Once it drags bottom that is it. There is no rear suspension. The rear wheels are all bolted to the frame with the two right wheels chain driven toether as the left wheels. Normally just one side is powered to facilitate turning. A lockup locks all 4 rear wheels together.
They are also pretty decent for fence patrol and repair if you have as much as a jeep road along the fence line. Carrying a roll of barbwire on your horse can be tricky, but the Gator doesn't mind.