Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's New 4 Wheeler

I just bought my first new four wheeler. Anybody found anything they can't live without as far as accessories?
Ive always rode someone else's bikes.
Its a 2017 Honda Foreman Rubicon Deluxe

A good front basket rack and a winch are always useful items. What did you buy?

I use a plastic truck box attached to the rear racks (u bolts with small hole drilled in bottom of box) on both of mine for keeping up with junk like 12 volt tire pump, flat repair kit, fencing tools, etc:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Contico-...amp;wl12=233897255&wl13=&veh=sem

I also like a gun boot as I never know when a coyote may show up while I'm feeding stock or working on a fence.

20 inch led light bar is awesome mounted to front rack. Don't pay for the high dollar ones. We did 5 four wheelers at our camp. The lights were $25 ish on ebay and all are still working two years later. Easy to do as well.

Eddie

A winch is a whole shopping list by itself. A good winch set up includes at the minimum a tree strap and a snatch block. Be sure there's a place on the quad to attach the cable hook when using the block. A hook can't be attached just anywhere. Possibly it doesn't fit or it can do some damage. Something to hook the winch to can be a problem. A tree sling won't help if there's no tree, rock, or whatever. This is a whole discussion in itself.

But he's in Arkansas, where there's nearly always a tree around. I've never used a snatch block or tree strap in my life, as we have trees growing out our ears down here. Now if you are in the wide open river delta farm country and get stuck in the bottomless gumbo, you are just screwed and better break out the cell phone and fine somebody with a long winch line......

JPro all these trees in South Arkansas are part of the reason I stayed with a 4 wheeler and not a UTV.

http://www.hondaprokevin.com/pictur...specs-trx500-txr500fa7-fourtrax-4x4-.jpg

That's a quality machine right there. I'm generally on a 350 or 420 Rancher when I need an 4x4 ATV. The 350 is 12 years old now and runs like a top. Tough to beat the EFI of the newer machines though.

And I agree with you on the practicality over a UTV. My line of work is real estate appraisals, which are often rural tracts. The UTV's are nice and comfortable, but just too big when you have to thread through the bushes and trees to get around a fallen tree on your trail, or climb a ditch bank because somebody forgot to unlock a gate. The UTV's are great for chores, hunting pursuits, and woods-roads. No one machine is perfect.

I have a 420 that was my late Brother's. It is a 2005 model and only has 250 +/- miles on it. Been a cold natured beast from the start. I will pass it down to my son to use. It runs great other than cold natured.

The Hondas can be a little cold natured, this is true.

Some suggestions. A come-along and chain is a good substitute for a winch.



A simple box made from scrap plywood and 1x pine boards for the front secured with tie downs


A portable box for the rear. Contico SUV Tuff Bin purchased from Tractor Supply. Drilled a hole on two sides and bolted a electric fence insulator to secure with tiedowns.

Winch and no trees, a simple dead man that is buried will allow you to have something to hook the winch to .

Have wrapped a rope around multiple bushes to pull myself out many times.

My essentials start with a winch, tire repair kit, small air compressor, and lots of bungee cords.

Does your Rubicon still have a pull starter? If not, add light duty jumper cables.

Sooner or later you'll probably need some slime or other tire sealer/flat fixer.

Add other tools and cargo management stuff as needed.

I've also been using a little 1.5 watt solar battery maintainer when I don't use my atv for long periods. Does a great job of keeping battery charged.

Well there's nothing else you need on there. lol. She's pretty pimped out the way it sits.

Have fun doing no maintenance...ever!

I have a 2001 Foreman S 450. It doesn't even need a battery. I used it for two years before I bought one. Just did the first maintenance on it. Replaced a CV boot on the front axle.

Congrats on the new wheeler. Good buy. Honda makes good stuff.

NYH1.

Mine has a winch and a 25 gallon spray tank. Couldn't get by on the farm without those two items.

Be careful how much stuff you put on the electrical system of the ATV. Most of them don't have a rope pull starter backup anymore and even if they did they have eliminated magnetos on the kind I buy so if you overload the electricals you can wind up with a dead battery and you're stuck out in the woods.

Front basket and rear drop basket

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Ramps-...sr=8-5&keywords=atv+rear+drop+basket

Get some front A-Arm guards on it too, they'll keep sticks out of your CV boots and other places they shouldn't be.

The winch is optional, I put one on my first four wheeler and hardly ever used it, on the second one I just skipped it and haven't missed it. Four wheelers are light enough that if you get stuck you can get off and push while working the throttle to walk it and usually get it unstuck. I haven't had a situation yet where I couldn't get mine unstuck by pushing it out. I guess there could be a situation where you had to have the winch, but I haven't seen it.

The only things I added to mine were: a 2" ball hitch, a rubber truck bed mat cut to fit my rear rack, gun holder put on the front rack and turned so it holds my bow(I never carry my guns in it), and rubber tie down straps(2 on the front rack and 2 on the back).

My old 1996 300cc machine was light, no winch, never an issue. My 2003 400cc and 2009 570cc machines both have winches. Use them a fair amount, but never yet for getting the machine they're mounted on unstuck! Pulling trees out of a trail, moving logs for firewood, building atv and foot bridges, lifting deer up to a hang pole, even a couple of times pulling someone else's atv - that kind of stuff.

It really depends on what kind of country you ride in. Here a lot of riding is on trails that are more like a gravel road. In Alaska, the term trail was used quite loosely. If someone had ridden ahead of you it's a trail. But there was still a lot of mud and muck to get through. As a result most 4 wheelers got upgraded tires with heavier knobs. Winches weren't optional, and in that kind of country there is no way a come-a-long even comes close to doing the same thing (there are exceptions to that). I started out with the same theory and it didn't take long to discover in really bad mud, a come-a-long didn't compete with a winch, many times towing someone didn't work as well either. I got stuck so bad one time it took a 6 wheeler to get me out. When I say me, I mean me. I stepped off and was immediately sucked into the mud above my waist. I couldn't get out and my friends couldn't pull me out. I ended up holding on to the back of a six wheeler and it was like a cartoon with my arms stretching but I popped free. On one trip I ran into a guy that had a lot of gear including a sleeping bag and a tent. I asked him if he had been camping back there. He said not this time, but the year before he got stuck and his cable wasn't long enough, so we always carried extra cable that would give us more reach, just in case. We also would carry an anchor to have something to anchor to if we were in a bad spot with "tundra heads" that were really soft. That can save your bacon as well.
Plus I like racks in the front and back, to keep gear from sliding off. Hit hard enough and you can loose stuff off the back with out them. I personally like hot grips for cold climates, and we typically would have brush guards for our grips to keep a tree that was too close to the trail from whacking your fingers real hard. If you go anywhere you need to have stuff for emergencies, flat tires, unforeseen issues that keep you out all night. we'd carry an axe and a shovel. But, like I said it depends on what kind of country you are riding in, and if you ride alone or with a partner. I always rode drag incase anyone got in trouble they didn't get left WAY BEHIND.