Yeah I got off topic, sorry about that.
I though I was set for this year, then moved a Stand- decided to replace the cheap seat it came with. And why just do one when the other is exactly the same? so $200 later New Adjustable Comfortable Swivel Seats for both.
Oh and seed. There is always some seed to add into the mix.
AND the next to last trip I noticed something was squeaking on the 4-wheeler. After starting to look found that the Suspension Bushings were shot, not bad for a 13 year old machine. So Replaced ALL the Bushing Front & Rear. Broke one Axle getting it out (had to to replace the rear Upper A-Arm Bushings) So why Replace just One? New Axles on the Rear. Found a bad U-Joint on the Rear Drive Shat, so got 4 to replace them all. While looking at the Front Shaft I noticed that the Boot had torn on one of the Front Axles. Boot was $40. New Axle was $65. Seemed like a No brainer to me, so Two New Front Axles as well.
A Simple Squeak turned into about a $400 Job and that was with ME doing all the work.
Getting back on topic about these unplanned expenses like your atv, some of those are unavoidable, and fixing up your old atv was probably a much better value than a new one. But just last year I had this same thing happen to me with a slightly different twist to it.
I have multiple atv's, which I put about 300 miles a year on each. One was a 2005 yamaha kodiak 450 with 4k miles on it that had served me well for many years as my sprayer and seeder rig, and one day a year ago I was looking at that machine, thinking how much good use I'd gotten out of it, and suddenly I said to myself, this machine is just at the point of becoming a mechanic's special and someone else is going to be fixing it! The factory was offering a special on new ones for $6900 including tax and camo upgrade, so I sold the old one private and paid about $3500 out of pocket and had a new 2019 450 kodiak with camo. Anyway, the next owner pretty much had the same list of repairs as you did during the next year, he did nothing but fixing. My point is, spending money, and having the aggravation of breakdowns can be two different things. Yes, I spent $4K, but if history repeats itself I'll have another 14 trouble free years of atv use without any aggravation, at the low cost of $286 dollars a year while the other guy will be fixing my old one for very likely an average of $286 dollars a year and a lot of aggravation.
I have some old equipment that I'll keep, as long as it's solid and easy to fix. But I'm quick to bite the bullet and upgrade if need be, I'll often think to myself, what are the annual costs for this piece from this point forward, vs trading up?
And sometimes, laying out a little dough up front can save a lot of trouble on the back end, while coming out the same dollar wise.
