one owner's ramblings

O

oldforester

Member
As an owner of a 900 RTV for two years and someone who found this site 6 mos. before that,I know that there are a lot of different viewers of each post on here. You have the pleasure users who want to drive their kids and grandkidsfor a ride andoccasionaly use the rtv for a little work around the property,users that hunt and want to be able to get in and get out of some remote areas,users who work the rtv hard daily as part of their livlihood, people who spend time on their rural property and use the machine as a tool and then sometimes take it for a spin around the neighborhood to visit friends. And then you have visitors to the site who are interested in buying a Kubota or some other machine.</p>


One of the nice things about any the Kubota models is that there are lot of uses and they adapt well to any I've mentioned. I bought mine two years ago and with the no-interest loan program will soon have it paid for, yahoo! I've played with it; hunting and riding, sometimes hauling 6 kids in the back. I've worked it; dragging logs, hauling gravel, wood and manure. I've put it in a few nasty situations with mud and snow and ice and overall I know that it has been one of the better purchases I have made. Is it perfect? No, just read a few pages of posts and you will find problems (and usually solutions) to a number of things that have gone haywire with somebodies' machine. If you read a similiar site for any product you will find problems that can crop up. I guess the main thing is for the most part look at how long some members have been on the site and realize that they stillown their RTV and know that it is the most dependable, versitile machine on the market.</p>


Here in southern Ohio in the past 3 weeks, we have had an ice storm (no power for 5 1/2 days) followed by a windstorm (70 mph). Lots of downed trees and brush to clean up.I know the readers in Kentucky, Pennslyvania and elsewhere have had similiar problems. The one tool that I own that has been the most valuable is the RTV. It has hauled people, fuel, food and dragged brush and logs. It will take sometime to clean up from the storms but I have little doubt that the RTV is up to it. If you own one you already know and if you are looking at one I don't think that you will be sorry.</p>
 
I agree,theonly problems that I have really had are the drive shaft rattle and getting stuck in reverse,kubota made it right with meboth times.I truely like my 2006 RTV.coobie</p>
 
Luckily, I havn't had any mechanical problems yet. I know thatat any time something may go wrong with a part or system but overall this thing is well built. All you have to do is compare it to the competition, and if work is something you are planning to do, then I don't see anything better out there yet. When the power company finally showed up here the guy had a Mule and he was amazed at what I was doing with the 'bota. He may be faster butI could have pulled him backwards with a tow strap. </p>


One problem I did encounter was when parking the machineone evening when it was covered in ice and fresh wet snow. Ipullednext to the house on a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">slight</span> inclineand did not set the emergency brake because I was afraid that it would freeze up overnight. I left it in low gear and went inside. I went out a few minutes later and saw my machine coasting backwards down to the creek. What a shock that was! After recovering I went down and found it to be ok, just stuck on the creekbank. After somework the next morning I was able to drive it out and I learned a lesson without too much trouble. I probably lost a few minutes of my life due to heart damage but because I was tired I forgot to chock the wheel. Anyway, I fully expectto own this machine as long as my tractor which is now old enough to vote.</p>
 
Hey Bud..........Am from back in the days when an emergency brake was just that........The RTV is actually the first vehicle I have ever owned that that handle you pull up next to the drivers position is actually a parking brake. Just jokin at you but it is true. This doesnt have a "park" position like an automatic transmission in a car, nor does it have gears in the transmission that will lock it into place when you park, such as a standard transmission.</p>


No need to chock it.......just use the parking brake..............God Bless.....Dennis</p>
 
Well Dennis, I note that you hang your hat in Georgia. That would tell me that you never have to worry about your emergency brake freezing in the 'locked' position! It is a genuine issue for those of us who live in the North. When I am parking my F250 outside and it well below freezing, say -20 or -30 (as low as -55 or -60 sometimes!), I would never, ever put on my emergency brake. I might have to use the tiger torch to get it loose again or wait until Spring thaw. So I carry around some wheel chocks just in case I need to park somewhere and I don't want my vehicle developing a mind of its own. (When it is really cold, I do not shut my diesel F250 off, so leaving it in gear is also not an option.) Of course once a vehicle has been parked at -40 or lower, the tires kind of develop a flat spot until they warm up again--so they are less likely to roll. :-)</p>


God bless you!</p>
 
Dennis,</p>


I guess after reading Onfoot's reply that I'm somewhere in the middle on that thinking. Normally I stress it to my family and practice it myself as part of the shut-down of the machine to set that brake fully. I have had more trouble from my wife and daughter only setting it part way and then driving off and forgetting to release it. That has led to some nasty confrontations at the dinner table if you know what I mean! They now have something to rag me about and have some pictures to prove it. I went around some friends at a school basketball game the other night and now half of the county know what a fool I am! We had some strange weather this winter as a lot of the country has had.I normally park the 'bota inside with some heat from a woodstove and that lets things melt off at night but this time I left it out after running thru a lot of wet snow and since I also have had parking brakes freeze up I thought I was being smart. My family reminds me that I am not.</p>
 
oldforester,</p>


Don't feel bad feller, we all do crazy things >>>> As most know, I'm from the south, and it don't get as cold as it does up north.... Yes, we see a little snow flake every now and then. Yes, we get freezes. Not many, but we do.Back in the early eighties, we had a big freeze. At that time of the year, the ducks were coming in like I've never seen it before. We were having a great time hunting them. During one hunt, I dropped off my hunting partner at his spot, and continued on to mine, which was about one mile down the bayou..... I pulled my boat up on the bank. Covered it up and went to the duck blind. NOW, when I returned to the boat, ( it was dark by then ) the damn boat was frozen to the ground.There were no cell phones back then to call your buddy for help .....Done everything in the world to break it loose, finally, built some fires around the aluminum boat, and about the time I got it free, here he came a walking up as I was pushing it back into the bayou. From now on, I set the boat on a log or something like that, to keep it off the wet ground and to keep from freezing up. That was my parking brake nightmare !!! </p>


~~~~~~~~ jamie </p>
 
you reminded me of a day when me and my buddies went hunting it was cold and the water was frozen over in the bayou we had left before daylight and us being the brillint coonass's well we took a troll motor and a few batteries with us and used it to chop the ice in fron the boat . man it worked great and the sun came up and the bayou melted and we said man we glad we ain't gotta mess with that comin home cause we done killed dem batteries comin out. well just like you we got out a bit to late and it was after dark before we started comein out the swamp well here we was with a dead battery but the outboard was workin no good to us though. the bayou done froze over again and this time ole mother naturedone played a very cruel joke on us.you ever tryed to break your way through 3 miles of natural fiberglass that is 2" thick or more . when i say fiberglass i mean them damn lilly pads done moved from the side the bayouto cover the whole thing again and they froze up with the water we could have walked on it if we wanted to but we didn't even try . we tried drivin the boat up on top and then just letting the weight of it smash it and that worked for a little while but the later it got the harder the ice got . we ended up beaching the boat and toteing the batteries home and comin back the next day to get the boat.the things you do as a young-in.</p>
 
Back in the old days before RTV's I jumped out of the truck to cut off a cow{ took too long to stop and back up the Ford) and looked back and there it was rolling to the pond! Thank Goodness I had left the door open and was able to jump in and stop it just before the water. There's other stuff I won't own up to cause only I know about it !! :] Bordercollie</p>
 
Back in 1976 me and a buddy drove half the night to get up in the mountains close to where I now live. We kicked back for a snooze in a VW bug about 4:00 in the morning and woke up cold as heck about 6:30. now mind you we drove in snow for at least the last 150 miles. when I went to open the door I was pushing about 4 inches of snow above the running boards. No problem! We hunted till noon and went for some grub and cold ones. It had warmed up so I suggest we go up to the old mine/strip mine area at the top of the mountain. This road had washed out during hurricane agnes but that bug could crawl up the banks sidehill and we got to the top.My buddy shot a nice 6 point and we stuffed it in the back seat. Just as it turned dark we headed back down the hill. MINOR PROBLEM!! running thru the slush in the afternoon had froze the front wheels and brakes so the hand brake was all we had.We started down again slowly and stooped every 100-150 ft and had to get out and pick the front end up and slide it toward the bank to stay on the road. We got within 500 ft of the hard road and slid into a tree. We ended up using a log to pry the thing off the tree and slid on down the hill. We quickly realized we were going nowhere on macadam. Luckily another hunter came along and drove us up to his camp. We boiled up 2 kettles of water and dumped them on the wheels and got them loose enough to get back to town. I never fail to kick the frozen slush off my vehicles since then. Bill</p>
 
Appreciating and enjoying the cold weather tales! We have lots to tell up here in the Yukon, too--mostly around creative ways to get a vehicle started after its been sitting out in -40 or lower temperatures. One thing we know, you never go anywhere without your winter survival kit tucked away. Earlier this winter my son froze up the rear end of my old F250. We use it for hauling water and, when it is really cold, we need to make sure that we drain it completely between fills and leave the stopcock open on the drain (to keep it from freezing closed and bursting the valve). My son took the truck to work and remembered to open the drain when he arrived and parked on a slight incline. It drained the tank, but the water ran down the truck bed and dripped and froze all over the rear wheels and brakes. When he left his shop to come home, there was no way that the rear wheels were going to turn. I am not sure how he thawed them out--the trick with a tiger torch is to apply enough heat without setting your vehicle on fire (more than a few sad stories around that possibility)--but he was at least two hours working at it. Had he been in the bush, the truck might still be there.</p>
 
Fellas,</p>


Now I know why I like reading these posts so much, talk about entertainment. Besides sharing ownership of a machine, we all enjoy the outdoors and we all screw up sometimes! Anyone who has spent time working or enjoying the outdoor hobbies, no matter what part of the country can relate to these stories. I'm gonna tell one more on myself.</p>


Being a forester and working alone a lot in the woods sometimes I just have to laugh at myself with no witnesses. One time about this time of year with about 12" of snow on the ground we had a quick warm-up. I was marking timber in southern Ohio about a half-mile north of the Ohio River. After parking the truck and walking across a riffle on a small stream, I worked the rest of the day finishing up marking a timber sale. This was the last day of about 3 weeks work to paint and tally trees to be sold. At the end of the day I got back to the stream and it was ripping with run-off from the melting! I was carrying a paint gun, an axe and a tally book which I use to record each tree marked and data from them. AsI tried to balance on the rocks at what used to be a riffle, I lost my balance and fell in getting everything but my hat wet! Talk about a shock! That cold water took my breath and I scrambled out as soon as I could and made for the truck. By the time I got there I could barely get the key out of my pocket to open the door and start the truck. While warming up, I stripped out of everything and since I was by myself I hurried out of the truck and spread my clothes to dry on the hoodand used my spare set of socks, pants and shirt to change into. After getting thawed out, I started to drive back to the office and got about a mile down the road when I looked at the truck seat and could not see my tally book which was held in a 8x11 inch aluminum clipboard. Now that is bad news because it held all the information of 3 weeks work and if it is lost your only choice is to go back and repaint each tree (approx. 500) and recalculate all the data! No choice but to return to the creek and hope to find it! A million thoughts were going thru my head and I was hoping that it sank and wasn't floating down the creek to the Ohio River and halfway to St. Louis by now! I carefully waded back in to my waist and probed the bottom of the pool where I went in. Luckily for me, I found it, made my way back to the truck and rewarmed myself.No more dry clothes to put on. Needless to say when I got back to the officeI got some ribbing about my episode. Even today when I go by that spot I look at that little creek, that you can almost step across most of the time, and have to laugh.</p>
 
</p>


oldforester,</p>


I'm stilllaughing >>>></p>


LIke you,usally keepspare clothes in the tool box.But you were smarter than I, usedthe back-upclothes some time back,and forgot to replace into the tool box. Ended up really muddy and wet after going into the edge of a bayou to get a downed deer. Went back to the barn, undressed ALL the way down, clicked the tool box open, and NO CLOTHES. Had to get the cold, wet, muddy clothes back on that I just skinned off my cold body !!! Talking about feeling crazy ~~~~ Life is full of surprises !!!</p>


~~~~~~~~~ jamie </p>
 
Great stories, Oldforrester and Jamie--creating quite the mental images! :-) Thanks for sharing. I am new to the forum and am wonderfully impressed by the character and commitment of the members! I look forward to having some RTV900 stories to share once mine is ready to bring home--hopefully tomorrow or Monday at the latest. Won't be too soon, as there is supposed to be snow tomorrow.</p>
 
</p>


Onfoot,</p>


We all will beright here waiting with you ..... What are your plans as far as accessories, are we planning on the newmachine. Before you write the check, or do the final dealing. It would be wise to do some " haggling " with the dealer. One good thing is you are in a positionto make him give you the first service at no cost, or some throw in a high rise intake system. There is always something he can throw in the make the deal sweeter.Mostdealers down here in the south do. ALSO, at no cost, manydealers are giving you a choice of tires one wants or needs for his application on work withhis/her RTV..... In our case, we swapped out the worksite tiresfor the atv style for more aggressive traction. Run theatv in the summer months, and have a set of 589's for the bad, muddy months down here in the swamps ....</p>


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ jamie </p>
 
that little vw bug vrought back a memory. my buddy had one back in highschool and the throttle got stuck we rode home with it wide open . when we would get to 55mph we would kill the engineand push in the clutch and coast . same thing at a stop sign we would let her die out and then fire her up and pop the clutch and we was off. the same car was givin us problems one day and we couldn't kee her runnin she would die out about every 200 yards or so and we would have to get out and push start it cause we done killed da battery already . well we figured we was loosin time allgetting back into the car after it started so we tied a rope through the window and around the rear of the car and two of us would push and after she fired up we just jumped on and sat on the bumper . we got some funny looks pulling into the mechanic shop. then the same car we took it to a firemans fair and the little guys who tell you where to park told us to park right there so we did . well we come back about 3 hours later and the car wasn't there and the little guy said you ain't never gonna believe this but there was a truck behind you "we said no^%^%^%" and it had 4 guys in it well they picked up your car and moved it over there and pointed to our car next to the ditch witch was about 5 cars over. them little bugs are lite and can take a beating to bad they never made them with 4 wheel drive.</p>
 
Appreciate the cheering section, Jamie! With regard to haggling with the dealer, I think I have pushed them about as far as they can go. The model I have purchased is the 2008 worksite utility vehicle: rtv900T6-H. It comes standard with the highrise intake system, the hydraulic bed lift, and extra hydraulic utility valve. The current list price (remembering we are in the Canadian North, but converting to US dollars) is about USD$18,395. My price, which includes the glass windshield, is USD$12,865. I am sure that you guys in the Lower 48 can do much better, but I am feeling pretty good about this given my location.</p>


Then I have added the Kubota 72" plow with the electric lift. (I know it is the Curtis plow and that the electric lift is not anywhere as quick or nice as the hydraulic lift, but it will suit my purposes fine.) I also have added the Kubota plastic roof, the 3000 lb Warn winch, front and rear work lights. I am thinking that I should do something about a bedliner and I want to order the boot guards from Tommy.</p>


But the really fun addition is that I also am waiting for a 60" snowblower attachment which will be powered by its own 31HP Vanguard engine. You can check them out at: http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com/utility-vehicle-snow-blower.htm. Once I have it up and running I will post some pics.</p>


As for tires, I have decided to stick with the HDWS and see how they work. For my work in the woods (the other main application besides keeping my 2km driveway passable), I think the 6ply rating will be more critical than the aggressive lugs of the ATV tires. I don't have to worry about mud and if the snow becomes an issue I can always put on chains. But I think the HDWS will work fine in our dry snow.</p>


The cab option was not tempting, as I am always in and out when I am working outside and so I am already dressed for the cold. Having a cab would simply make life more complicated--or make me lazy about getting out into the cold.</p>


When I look at the accessory list posted on this site I confess to lusting in my heart... But I have already busted this year's capital budget and need to take a breather...</p>


Any thoughts or observations? I will try and get the 50 hour service thrown in...</p>


Thanks!!!</p>
 
[quote user="Onfoot"]Any thoughts or observations?[/quote]</p>


A couple do come to mind but you have things pretty well covered.</p>


Consider adding a block heater to both the engine and tranny. I put mine on a timer to come on an hour or two before I'd plan on using the machine. It'll make a difference in both starting as well as performance.</p>


On that snow blower, I'd recommend you get the side widening panels to get you out to 60". The RTV is 60" wide and you wouldn't want a blower that's any narrower.</p>


</p>


</p>
 
Thanks, BC! You are quite right and in fact, I simply forgot to include the 'warming package' in my list. I do have a block heater, transmission warmer and a battery blanket all included. And the snowblower has the side-widening panels to make it 60". Would not do to have it narrower than the RTV! Because I live off-grid, I have to give careful thought to the power drain from all the warming stuff. If the sun is shining, it's no problem. But otherwise I typically will start up the diesel genset and have it running while I have a vehicle plugged in.</p>
 
Well, since you're off-grid, I guess you need to put a solar panel on the RTV's roof.</p>


Once you get it, do we need to change your forum handle from "Onfoot" to "OnRTV"?</p>


</p>
 
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