# Anyone using John Deere Gators????



## EGLC

I live in a lake community with about 2000 houses total. I have a good amount of accounts here and am looking to double them this year in this community alone. I'm looking into leasing a JD Gator with 6' hydrolic plow, cab & heat for the winter to do these TINY two car driveways.

Anyone who uses them looking to get feedback....what can they handle??


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## sidthss

I have used the gators, not for plowing, but in theory they should work excellent, the biggest setback is the large pricetag for the gator with cab, plow, etc. We have one of the new gator xuv's at work and it is very fast, responsive and with some weight in the bed, I cant imagine why it wouldnt handle a plow well.


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## F350plowing

we use a polaris ranger with a boss on it and a salter in the back it was one of the best investments we have made besides my ford


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## clacy

I have a 07 HPX 4x4 Curtis heated cab,with front blade and sander in back. Locked in 4 wheel drive it will move a ton of snow. Worst problem it has no power steering. I like it, and look forward to using it some more.


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## F350plowing

i just found you can get a boss V plow for a ranger


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## EGLC

thanx guys! I was quoted around 20k for the XUV but for now I'm going to look into leasing for this winter.

this is the exact one my dealer has....i figure with 2 guys and a few bags of salt it should have plenty of weight on it to push out smaller driveways.....I'm doing a 4" trigger so it's not going to be pushing a huge amount of snow

http://cgi.ebay.com/08-JOHN-DEERE-X...temQQptZUltility_Vehicles?hash=item439b9f9367


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## naturalgreen

I used a gator with 6 foot plow and worked great for what I needed it but no power steering killed me but way better than four wheeler because it weighs 1000 and plow had more down pressure.


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## naturalgreen

slower than four wheeler thaough


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## loudredram

EGLC;881020 said:


> ..I'm doing a 4" trigger so it's not going to be pushing a huge amount of snow


the way we get storms that thing will never go out plowing......gators should work fine for the amount of snow we get...... Hell I wish they had them years ago when I used to do all the small drives and walkway up in panthervalley in hacketstown


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## EGLC

its a 4" trigger on large storms obviously if storm is under 4" we will go out at the end and push it....


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## salopez

first of its not obvious. to the rest of us a 4" trigger means under that amount you dont go.

second try out a bobcat toolcat. it has some mass to it and can run a blower, ice scraper, plow, sweeper, and a salt spreader. has a 18mph road gear....might work out better for you.


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## EGLC

salopez;881884 said:


> first of its not obvious. to the rest of us a 4" trigger means under that amount you dont go.


 OK gotcha sorry :waving:



salopez;881884 said:


> second try out a bobcat toolcat. it has some mass to it and can run a blower, ice scraper, plow, sweeper, and a salt spreader. has a 18mph road gear....might work out better for you.


the price tag on those are crazy high though.....a gator tops out at around 30-35mph was just at the dealership. I want to do a lease with option to buy....much rather pull the the trigger on a 19k machine then 30k+++


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## EGLC

dealer quoted me $2000 a month hahahahaaaa


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## bam

we use them for sidewalks at commercial jobsites. we are on these sites from start to finish. We use the 50lb. bags of salt as ballast. They help us out, however with all the ice we've gotten in recent years, we have sheared the plows right off the plow frame. I'd have to look at the units we have to see the exact type of gator, some of 4 wheel machines, others are the 6 wheel machines. I can't really picture using them for a 4" trigger, unless it is always powder that you are moving. Also they don't seem to move that fast. 

They work for us to help move salt around and plow long walks, but we work thru the storm. I would think a compact tractor would work better, and depending on the layout of the driveways, like some of the guys on the this site have, actually a pull plow. 

Now that I'm thinking of it, one of my subs has posted some kubotas for sale on craigslist. He is an outstanding guy to deal with. The equipment was purchased new a few years ago for a large contract he maintained for many years, but his workload has changed over the past few years, and now that he has become our sub, his equipment needs have changed. Check out Maryland Eastern Shore (Elkton, MD) and type in Kubota and you'll see three or four different postings for snow built Kubotas. We are still using some of his bigger Kubotas for our sites this season and they kick butt in pushing snow.


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## DeereMan85

bam;885872 said:


> we use them for sidewalks at commercial jobsites. we are on these sites from start to finish. We use the 50lb. bags of salt as ballast. They help us out, however with all the ice we've gotten in recent years, we have sheared the plows right off the plow frame. I'd have to look at the units we have to see the exact type of gator, some of 4 wheel machines, others are the 6 wheel machines. I can't really picture using them for a 4" trigger, unless it is always powder that you are moving. Also they don't seem to move that fast.


Sounds like you are talking about TS or TX Gators - way different animal than the XUV, which is what I would recommend for this application. XUVs have 4wd, locking diff, several different cab options (wide range in quality/price), are fuel-injected (better for cold weather starts) and top out at 30 mph.

The sale price on that unit is super cheap. I would just buy the thing. Demo units are still considered "new" and should have a full warranty and be eligible for any finance programs. Even if you end up deciding you don't want to keep it, you're not going to lose a lot on depreciation.


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## TomB...IN

So has anyone or does anyone use a TS series gator to plow with? I am thinking about getting a plow for mine. It would be used on a paved driveway that is fairly long. My old man would be using it, and he is very good about "plowing with the storm." So basically is it good for plowing a few inches? How would it do with traction?

Thanks
Tom


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## emilbanks

I have a gator it's ok for plowing light snow.
No power steering so if you have lot's of turn it's a pos

On the back hitch I attached a spreader that will hold 200lbs of salt and i run that off the 12V battery that does a great job got the spreader for under 200.00 on e-bay.

For a long driveway you will be fine.


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## BIGBEN2004

Try out a Kubota. We have one on the farm and the guy I plow for has allot of them for the sidewalks. They have allot of power and nice cab. Power steering and a Hyd. dump bed all works nice together.

http://www.kubota.com/f/products/rtv.cfm


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## jkiser96

You should be able to find a good use dToolcat for about the sam emoney they want for the gator. If you are looking for versatility then a Toolcat is the way to go. I had a chance to buy a year old toolcat with several attachments including a blower last year for $20,000 an dit had under 100 hrs on it. The toolcats come standard with cab, heat, a/c, 4 wheel drive, and 4 wheel steer. Just my 2 cents worth.


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