ATV Winter Storage
By Phil Leinhauser
I was out last weekend doing some work on my quad
to get it ready for the winter and several times I asked myself “I
wonder if many people know to do this?”. After about the fourth
or fifth time I thought it might be a good idea to put this out to share
it with the club members.
I’m not an ATV mechanic or a motorcycle mechanic.
I do however have many years of playing with small engines and cars
as well as years of mechanical experience as a machinist etc. What I
present here is only a very generic “what to do guide”. You’ll
most likely need to look at the book for your ATV for the specifics.
In fact all of this should be in there anyhow under routine maintenance,
but in case you haven’t read it lately here it is.
1) First things first, WASH IT!! You’ll appreciate
it when you have to go crawling around poking and prodding things.
2) Probably the most important thing to do for the
health of your ATV would be to change the oil and filter. Most folks
don’t do this in the fall, they do it in the spring with the thinking,
why put new oil in it to have that sit all winter in the engine. This
is about 180 degrees out from the truth. New oil won’t go bad just
sitting in the engine over the winter. However the old oil in your engine
if allowed to sit through the winter will allow the acids that are the
byproduct of combustion to eat away at you engine all winter. A fresh
oil change now will neutralize the acids in the engine and allow the
engine to rest peacefully. Be sure to run the engine, after you change
the oil, for a few minutes to “wash the new oil” around inside.
Running the engine a few minutes like this won’t contaminate the
new oil.
3) If you plan on storing the ATV for more than a
month you’ll want to make sure the carburetor is empty of fuel.
If you don’t drain the fuel tank then at least turn off the fuel
valve. This cuts the fuel to the carb. As well as testing to make sure
your fuel valve is moving freely. Now you need to run the engine to
get the fuel out of the carb. This will only take a couple minutes to
do but you need to be with the ATV while it runs out. As the engine
starts to sag you might need to give it some throttle and possible some
choke to get that very last drop out. Try to keep the engine running
as long as you can. If you don’t drain the carb. it will develop,
over time, a varnish in the ports that will be next to impossible, if
at all to clean out.
4) Next thing to do would be clean and lubricate
all the smaller moving parts. Things like brake levers, throttle levers,
cables, essentially, “if it moves, lube it”. Here’s where
to consult the owner’s manual for what to use and where to use
it. You might need anything from grease to WD40. Make sure you clean
all the mud and dirt out of these areas BEFORE you add oil. You can
use a toothbrush or something like that to clean some of the areas.
If you don’t get the dirt out, you’ll be making a very abrasive
paste by adding oil to the dirt.
5) While you’re closely cleaning the machine
to lubricate it, check for loose hardware. I said if it moves lube it
but if it’s not supposed to move tighten it. There’s nothing
more frustrating than to be in the middle of nowhere and loose that
bolt that holds that thingamajig next to the kanutinvalve!
6) Next thing to do is check all of the adjustable
linkages on the machine. This includes brake levers and pedal, throttle
lever, choke control, etc. Most of these things require a certain amount
of “free-play”. Free-play is best described as the movement
of something, say a brake lever, before it actually operates the device,
in this case the brakes. For instance, the free-play on my Honda Foreman
rear brake lever is 1/8 inch. This measurement is the amount of travel
the lever will make measured from the grip to the furthest out end of
the lever. If this is adjusted correctly, you should feel very little
resistance in moving the lever for that 1/8”, then you should feel
the brake shoes engage. The reason for this is to make sure the brakes
are as close to grabbing when you need them without having them drag
on the liner and wear out. If you think 1/8” seems like a lot of
space then look at the linkages when you squeeze the handle. You may
move the handle 1/8” but those brakes shoes are only moving a couple
thousandths of an inch. The manual should tell you how and how much
to adjust these.
7) Next thing to hit is the air filter. I generally
clean this every time I get home from a ride. But in case you don’t
or you missed a cleaning, do it now. I have a reusable foam filter and
I use non-flammable parts cleaner to cut the old filter oil. You can
use kerosene but be careful about the flammability of the kerosene.
Gasoline works best of all but DON’T DO IT!! There, I gave the
safety pitch. Then I give it a bath in a bucket of hot soapy water (dishwashing
soap works best) to get the dirt off. Next I let it dry completely.
Once it’s dry, you need to re-oil it. Use the right oil here, filter
oil is a thick, sticky, messy oil to deal with but it will not drain
to the bottom of the filter over time like regular motor oil will. Filter
oil comes with a thinner mixed in with it to help spread it on the filter.
The only problem with this is that the thinner evaporates almost instantly.
The way to get around this is to put your DRY foam air filter into a
plastic bag; I use a doubled plastic shopping bag (you have several
hundred I’m sure). Have a rubber band at the ready and quickly
measure out the amount of oil you need, usually 1 ounce. Now pour the
oil INTO the filter that is in the bag and put the rubber band around
the opening to prevent the thinner from evaporating. Now all you have
to do is gently kneed the oil around the filter for a few minutes to
make sure it’s spread evenly. Now you can remove it from the bag
and install it. If you’re good, you can do this whole job without
getting ANY oil on your hands! I used to hate cleaning the oil filter
until I found that trick. I used to have that oil all over me!
8) You may want to do a few more things like check
the spark plug. A thin, light brown or gray ash buildup is OK as long
as it isn’t really caked on black carbon. Make sure the electrodes
look smooth and not pitted or arched and check the gap. If your plug
is caked with anything other than the thin light brown or gray ash,
this could mean there is something wrong in the engine; you might want
to talk to someone about it.
9) Little things to check:
Lights
Switches
Plastic Parts are tight
Tires in good shape