Transporting Atvs

[Dave Tharp]

Is it safe to stand your atv on its rear grab bar (i.e. vertical instaed
of horizontal) while transporting it? Can the crankcase oil go somewhere
it's not supposed to? What about the fuel in the float bowls (of course
the gas would be off). What about the battery?

Specifically, I've got a 2001 Raptor and my buddy has a 97 Warrior.
I've only got an 8 ft trailer, so the only way we can both get our quads
on it is to stand 'em up. So... is it safe? Are we going to hurt
something?

BTW, the Raptor manual says nothing about this...

-DT

[DanCranMan]

I've transported my 400ex like this before. But I'm not sure about the warior
or raptor...

[Longshot]

I have tailored my 250x that way..
"DanCranMan" <dancr...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010811190524...@mb-fs.aol.com...

[Dave]

If nothing going to leak out (gas/oil) no real problem, buttt I would make
sure the Bat drain hose can be clamped off to prevent bat acide leaking. If
really worryed, take the bat's out.

Dave

Longshot <dingl...@home.com> wrote in message
news:C2od7.237385$mG4.10...@news1.mntp1.il.home.com...

[Skramblr]

I have both the Raptor and Warrior and have transported them vertically in
the rear of my truck. Transporting a bike vertical for the first time is
always a learning experience. Here is what I found.

Warrior: Gas leaks out of gas cap unless tank is <1/2 full. Drain excess
fuel into gas can. Turn off fuel petcock. Battery has an overflow hose that
will leak out and make a mess (and kill your battery). Remove the battery
from ATV before standing up. Clamping the hose may work, but the fit of the
hose is not necessarily leak proof.

Raptor: Again, the gas leaks out around gas cap. I wonder why the stupid
Yamaha gas caps don't seal? The battery on the raptor is sealed, so you
don't have to worry about it leaking. Some gas can leak out of the carbs
into your airbox when placing it vertical, so I run the engine with the
petcock turned off until it stalls. The cooling fluid reservoir under the
left rear fender has a spring loaded rubber flip cap. This cap does not seal
water tight. I believe it is designed this way to allow the liquid to come
out during an overheating (overflow). I tried using some large rubber bands
to apply more force and seal the cap better. It was about 95% effective.
Some small amount of liquid still leaked out. Next time, I'm thinking I'll
try getting a rubber stopper from the hardware store and use that for
transport.

Wind can be another problem. When transporting the blue Raptor vertical, it
developed a couple of stress marks (whitening of the plastic). I once used
one of those blue tarps on the warrior to protect it from the wind, but the
tarp actually scratches against the plastic and even turned my white plastic
blue where it was rubbing. Next time I'm thinking of using a sheet of
plywood (maybe with strategically placed holes for less resistance).

"Dave" <Da...@ddconsultants.com> wrote in message
news:tncl3dg...@corp.supernews.com...

[Cal Wheeler]

Thanks for the tips on the Raptor. I test-tilted mine back in the garage
just to see how it would stand but didn't actually transport it that way
yet. The coolant cap is something I'll make sure is sealed. Good to know
about the battery, though.

Second day I had my Raptor I followed someone up a steeeeep sand
hill...and then they stalled at the top.

So *I* had to stop...

Then the Raptor decided it doesn't extreme like vertical surfaces and
would prefer to try a slo-mo triple back flip instead.

I stepped off and let it work those issues out by itself ;-).

The resulting stress marks (no other damage) were annoying and embarrassing.

So I tried using a high-temp heat gun on 'em.

VOILA!

Except for the deepest ones in creases, keeping the heat gun moving
"erased" the stress marks.

I learned the hard way about transporting some small quads vertically;
both the Suzuki LT80 and a Blazer 50 need their tanks half-drained and
their float bowls drained before tilting; also, if the oil injector
reservoir on the LT80 is pretty full that'll leak, too.

Draining the bowl and shutting off the gas on the Raptor and Wolverine
do the trick, but the gas keeps on coming on my Bear Tracker, no matter
where the petcock is set, so I'm installing another inline shut-off valve.

[William Moore]

Cal Wheeler wrote:

> Then the Raptor decided it doesn't extreme like vertical surfaces and
> would prefer to try a slo-mo triple back flip instead.
>
> I stepped off and let it work those issues out by itself ;-).
>
> The resulting stress marks (no other damage) were annoying and embarrassing.
>
> So I tried using a high-temp heat gun on 'em.
>
> VOILA!

My son did this with my 250EX about 2 weeks ago, only the quad tumbled
down a 250 ft embankment, and landed in a bog. The only damage was
two large rips in the front fender, and a slightly bent handlebar. Pretty
amazing considering how far it tumbled. Afraid a heat gun won't fix
these "stress marks" though...

Regards,
Bill Moore
2001 Honda Sportrax 250EX