ATVs and UTVs, by the very nature of their use, get dirty. No, let me rephrase that…they get filthy, stinking rotten dirty and smelly!
And, it’s no wonder. Look at the places we take them – mud holes deeper than the vehicle’s wheels, barnyards with every kind of manure a farm animal can create, dust so thick it’s hard to tell the color of the vehicle once it has gone through it.
You get the picture.
After we do all of that, we crack parts on the vehicles, break wires, bend metal, and, well, you get that picture, too.
Worse yet is that often our ATVs and UTVs are so dirty we can’t even see the places on them that need repair.
What to do?
Simple. When your car or pickup truck gets that dirty, you wash it. You run it down to the local car wash and spray away the grime and mud and manure, and whatever else has affixed itself to the paint.
It’s the same with an ATV or UTV. When they get dirty, get out your power washer and clean it. If you don’t have a power washer, put it in the back of your pickup or on its trailer and haul it to the local self-serve car wash and clean it.
What you’ll find is it will run better, stop sooner and definitely look newer!
Once it’s clean, you then inspect it. You get down and look underneath it and make sure nothing is cracked, missing or broken. Then you tighten bolts and screws and grounds for wires. Anything you find that needs repair; you fix it before you take the vehicle out again.
Why?
Because if you don’t, a part you don’t replace could easily fail and leave you stranded miles from shelter or food, and, even with your emergency gear, that’s not something you want to happen late in the day.
Some of the repairs can be costly, but there are ways to repair your vehicle without having to purchase new parts every time. Some elbow grease and Yankee ingenuity can take care of lots of the repairs for pennies on the dollar.
Remember, when it gets dirty, clean it. Once you clean it, inspect it. After inspection, repair it and then go out and do it all over again. After all, isn’t that why we own ATVs and UTVs…so we can get them dirty?
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