Anyone use a John Deere Gator 4 x 6 in the woods for hauling sap?

[claystroup]

Withe the warm rainy weather we have had the past 3 weeks in southeast Michigan my old Farmall A is no longer usable in the woods do to mud in several sections that it would now get stuck in. It was fine when it was frozen. Would a 4 x 6 Gator better handle the wet/muddy spots?
Thanks,

Clay

[Austin351]

Yeah, a lot of folks use 4x6's. Ground clearance could become an issue though compared to your A.

[bigschuss]

Withe the warm rainy weather we have had the past 3 weeks in southeast Michigan my old Farmall A is no longer usable in the woods do to mud in several sections that it would now get stuck in. It was fine when it was frozen. Would a 4 x 6 Gator better handle the wet/muddy spots?
Thanks,

Clay

I have the same issue every year. When it's cold and I have snow I can get out on my trails with my ATV or tractor. When the snow gets slushy and muddy my trails become impassable. Thinking about a set of tracks for my ATV. Just crazy expensive.

[DASH]

Yes! Your Gator will do much better in the mud mainly because it is lighter with floatation tires. We used one for years, now we have a Kubota RTV. Be careful how much weight you put in it, sap gets pretty heavy and too much will put you in the same trouble you have with your tractor. Have fun!!!

DASH

[danielschauder]

IMG_2281.jpg
Tracks on a utv work very well in both snow and mud and when the ground gets soft, you don't tear up the trails. I've used a 4X6 Gator and it worked well unless you have deep snow or ruts, not much ground clearance.

[ash10383]

I have a 1995 6x4 gator we haul all our sap with. Found a used 110 gallon tank for in the bed. Our first big run this year had 2 inches of rain and gathered 100 gallons of sap. So my wife,me,5 year old, 2 year old and 100 gallon of sap across a field and through the woods with no issues. I was quite impressed lost a little power but never spun out.

[David in MI]

A little late with my reply but we use a JD 6x4 gator as one of our sap haulers. We use two 55-gallon barrels length-wise in the bed. If you have the dump-box model, you can remove the tailgate and use the dump to assist with getting the tanks empty. Here's a pic of ours from a few seasons ago. The gator does very well in the muddy, sloppy conditions unless you get ruts or more than a few inches of snow, as a few others have indicated.

Btw, we're not far from you; Ortonville.

Gator w barrels.jpg

[maple marc]

David, that's a nice setup with the buckets installed on top. How did you cut the drums so precisely?

[David in MI]

David, that's a nice setup with the buckets installed on top. How did you cut the drums so precisely?

Thanks. The setup with the tanks back there works great although if you have any sleep hills like we do, make sure to place a strap/tie-down behind the tanks securing them to the gator. Otherwise you may be in for a surprise.

To answer your question about how I cut the holes, I simply placed the bucket on top of the barrel and traced the outline if the bucket. Since the barrel isn't a flat surface I held a flashlight parallel to the bucket shining down into the barrel and used that as my guide. I traced along the edge of the light. I used a sabre saw to cut the barrels and found that erring on the side of slightly too small worked better than slightly too large of an opening. I had to trim a few places to get the snug fit I wanted but we don't seem to lose much sap out the tops of the buckets where they meet the barrels.

Hope this helps.