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Can Am Defender, sort of homely

T

Traveler

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
5,300
But the numbers look pretty good. The box is slightly bigger than a ranger, and the trailing arm rear suspension works pretty well on their Outlander 4 wheeler as far as ride goes, but not as agile as a Polaris Sportsman 850, imo. Will be interesting to see how durable they are, as they better be, with all the competition.

http://can-am.brp.com/off-road/defender.html

And as a sidenote, the Ranger cab and heater is definitely worth it when calving cows out, imo. A lot less stress on the labor force when the weather is less than beautiful. Especially when some of the labor force is your wife. :wink:
 
Faster horses said:
Our nephew is a dealer in Wyoming for them. I could find out anything you would want to know. Before this model, Can Am's were more for sport than for work.
Click to expand...
I'm intrigued by them. Some future updates on how some that have been put in service are holding up would be great!

Some of the things that I hope are better than the 900 Ranger would be:

The air intake. What a dumb place to get the engine air from than behind the door frame from where there's lots of road dust. I removed a piece of hose leading to the side of the plastic door frame so now the air is actually coming from behind the drivers seat, inside the cab. Poor design, imo. Actually needs a snorkel kit.

The electric fuel pump, which has also been a problem on the Sportsman(s) as well. Expensive.

The notch for reverse means go backwards. Never grind. Same for L, means low, not grind. I have a trick for making them catch in gear every time, but I do hear the wife and DIL making them grind. It's like this transmission design was a step backwards. Of course, imo. :wink: Probably think of more.
 
I am not a Polaris ranger fan. No one here knows how to work on them, they just want you to trade to a new one. We currently haver a Honda and while it gives up some conveniences to the ranger it is way more functional for what we do. Honda dealer is close and I know he will fix it if needed.
 
Friend of mine has a Canam commander 1000, 125 hp.. I tuned his arse in my dually on dirt roads... Really expensive machine that's worth more than my truck!
It was one of those "Hold my beer and watch this" deals
 
Traveler said:
Faster horses said:
Our nephew is a dealer in Wyoming for them. I could find out anything you would want to know. Before this model, Can Am's were more for sport than for work.
Click to expand...
I'm intrigued by them. Some future updates on how some that have been put in service are holding up would be great!

Some of the things that I hope are better than the 900 Ranger would be:

The air intake. What a dumb place to get the engine air from than behind the door frame from where there's lots of road dust. I removed a piece of hose leading to the side of the plastic door frame so now the air is actually coming from behind the drivers seat, inside the cab. Poor design, imo. Actually needs a snorkel kit.

The electric fuel pump, which has also been a problem on the Sportsman(s) as well. Expensive.

The notch for reverse means go backwards. Never grind. Same for L, means low, not grind. I have a trick for making them catch in gear every time, but I do hear the wife and DIL making them grind. It's like this transmission design was a step backwards. Of course, imo. :wink: Probably think of more.
Click to expand...

I will take this up with him and let you know what I find out. He has sold them for a long time and likes the way they hold up. We were going to get one from him til he said they were more for sport. Good that they are making a working one. Not realizing this was in the works, we didn't ask about them when we were looking last year. We will be interested to find out more. Stay tuned....
 
The reason after 3 rangers we went with a JD Gator is simple - - - grand kids can fasten the seatbelt and drive - - - on the ranger they could not! Of course the fact that my foster son works at the JD dealership helps as well. Then there is the fact the gator was about 40% cheaper when equipped the same. The gator has been here just over 2 years and with hired hands, grand kids and old grumps like me is is going strong.



It is nice looking to - - - not as fast as a ranger but still rated to haul 1,000# and will maintain 45 MPH easily



We put the bump guards on - - - $800.00 option but the grand daughter has tried them out several times already and I feel they are ell worth it.

Bump guards on the rear as well.
 
Faster horses said:
Traveler said:
Faster horses said:
Our nephew is a dealer in Wyoming for them. I could find out anything you would want to know. Before this model, Can Am's were more for sport than for work.
Click to expand...
I'm intrigued by them. Some future updates on how some that have been put in service are holding up would be great!

Some of the things that I hope are better than the 900 Ranger would be:

The air intake. What a dumb place to get the engine air from than behind the door frame from where there's lots of road dust. I removed a piece of hose leading to the side of the plastic door frame so now the air is actually coming from behind the drivers seat, inside the cab. Poor design, imo. Actually needs a snorkel kit.

The electric fuel pump, which has also been a problem on the Sportsman(s) as well. Expensive.

The notch for reverse means go backwards. Never grind. Same for L, means low, not grind. I have a trick for making them catch in gear every time, but I do hear the wife and DIL making them grind. It's like this transmission design was a step backwards. Of course, imo. :wink: Probably think of more.
Click to expand...

I will take this up with him and let you know what I find out. He has sold them for a long time and likes the way they hold up. We were going to get one from him til he said they were more for sport. Good that they are making a working one. Not realizing this was in the works, we didn't ask about them when we were looking last year. We will be interested to find out more. Stay tuned....
Click to expand...

Thank you. Will be looking foreword to your information.

And I thought of one more thing. The steering rack on the 900 Ranger stripped out internally. Without looking it up, seems like it was a thousand dollar fix.
 
Dad had a gator like the one above. He was going to trade it on a new one, and I convinced him to check out the new Honda Pioneers. He got the 1000-5...not what I expected, but he doesn't fish or golf so this is his hobby I guess! The Honda machine is incredible. I like it much better than the Gator. Not cheap, but its a very nice machine.
 
On the subject of Can-Am Defenders....the air intake is behind the cab on the right hand side. There is a pre-filter you can buy.
They are fuel injected which is inside the tank, just like on most vehicles. Transmission shifts better than the 900.
To replace rack and pinion is a couple hundred bucks.He has never encountered a problem with one stripping out.
He has a Defender there he has demonstrated all winter (he put tracks on it) and
it has good power and it's really tough. He had a lot more to say (over my head and too fast to write :) ) so if anyone wants to talk to him, feel free to call Pete, 307-362-3447.
He said I could post his name and phone number. He's a good honest guy and will be glad to answer any questions.

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks. I googled the phone number to get to the website. There's a used snowmobile on there that I have to tell my son about. :idea:

Would it be okay to post the website address?
 
Sure. Did you read the great reviews on Pete's Garage? When he took on the Can Am dealership he changed the name of the business.He does a great job. Wyoming Wind that posts on here knows him pretty well.
Everyone loves Pete. He can remember all his customers names along with being really interested in giving great service.
You will enjoy talking to him.
 
I was about sold when I saw that it has a bench seat. When the time comes to move on from my old 700XP Ranger I just may take a hard look at one of these.
 

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