This
2014 Polaris Ranger 900 was the first side by side UTV that I have spent
much time on. This particular unit was purchased around Thanksgiving 2013
with it's primary use as a transport vehicle for hunting guide operations.
Hauling hunters in and out of the woods as well as hauling harvested deer
and wild hogs out of hunting areas. The terrain is primarily wooded
mountains and river bottoms of middle east Tennessee. Steep, rocky, muddy
hills with an occasional gravel or tar chip road thrown in for good
measure.
Prior to the Ranger I primarily used ATV's in my hunting guide business
including Yamaha Grizzly, Honda Rancher, and Suzuki . Since the Polaris
Ranger I have also spent quite a few hours in a 2014 Kubota RTV as well so I
will be comparing the Ranger to my experiences with these other vehicles
that were used on the same exact terrain and same primary uses.
I'm writing this review after having driven the Polaris Ranger for a full
year and I have encountered several problems. However, one thing to keep
in mind is that during that year I have racked up 4,000 miles on the
Ranger using it an average of 5 days per week, often 7 days per week. I'm
not using that as an excuse for the issues, some of them shouldn't have
occurred and some were caused by either accident, ignorance of the unit,
or unintentional misuse.
In the next couple of paragraphs I will outline the issues I have
encountered with the Polaris Ranger, and in some cases, the cause of the
issue. Further down the page you can a bullet list of the issues.
What I don't like about the Polaris Ranger:
- No parking brake
- Skid plate not standard, with plastic floors sticks easily break
floor and damage undercarriage
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Problems Encountered (miles):
- Both rear outer boots split. (600)
- Rear outer CV joint went out (700)
- Dump Bed Shock Broken (1,000)
- Front Wheel Bearings (2,500)
- Drive Belt Needed Replaced (2,500)
- Driver side break lights, most of the bulbs no longer work (3,000)
- Universal joints wore out, replaced (4,000)
- Front, passenger outer boot split (4,000)
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