mikeexplorer

The west has gotten hammered with snow this year, will be good for the spring thaw to refill the lakes. Lake Tahoe already has reported the lake is up and the snow has not yet melted. Hopefully this will also bring up Lake Meade a few feet.

Most cans of refrigerant should already have the oil mixed in. It should state that on the can.

18 hours ago, davefrombc said:

If  the plan  is to  jump start another  ATV because of a dead battery,  you could   make up  a set of cables to  plug into   an accessory socket.  A few  minutes admiring the scenery  while you rig  runs above idle  to  put some charge  into the dead  battery is usually enough for  the  dead battery  ATV to be started.  You  could  wire  in a 10 gauge polarized  wire connector  and then  use  the other end of the polarized pair  to  build your own jumper cables.  10  gauge wire should be heavy  enough  to  start most ATVs  if they don't have the starter turning over  so  long as to  overheat the wires.  I wouldn't wire anything in that would have an exposed positive connector.
Battery side of the polarized connector  is the one with the rubberized  positive terminal .  Jumper cable side uses the  bare positive.

You are correct that with this setup, to let the donor machine charge the battery enough to let it start on its own. These connectors cannot withstand the heavy current draw of a starter motor directly. It normally would only take a few minutes to put enough charge on to start the machine.

These are good connectors to use for accessories. Arctic Cat machines have two of these, one in the front which is powered only with ignition and used for accessories such as hand warmers and winch. This way you do not have to splice into the wiring harness at all.

There is one in the rear which is powered all the time and is a perfect place to attach a battery tender. This connector is used for attaching rear powered accessories such as pull behind mowers and other grading equipment. I use the rear connector for battery tenders.

Most battery tenders come with this connector so it makes it simple to connect it up. Looking at your picture, the left lower plug would be connected to the ATV side (positive wire covered) Some battery tender setups will include this connector wired to 2 rings to connect directly to the battery so you have a quick easy place to plug it in.

These are commonly referred to as "2 wire trailer connectors" and can be found in most auto part stores.

23 hours ago, Frank Angerano said:

You would think so, I was surprised also but between the 10 amp fuse and the resistance from the distance of wire mine holds up just fine.  

If your battery is weak, but not dead then it could work as most of the heavy draw would come from the weak battery (because it has the heavier gauge wire) If the battery is mostly depleted, the heavy draw would go through the wires and pop the fuse. A starter motor draw far more then 10 amps.

What your showing would be fine if you want to connect a maintainer or if you want to use an accessory. However the gauge of the wires is too small to use it for jumping a dead battery. A starter would consume far more then 10 amps to crank (the inline fuse would instantly pop)

ATV jumper cables are usually a minimum of 10 gauge wires.

Mike

I use a water jet, it attaches to the garden hose and gives a more powerful spray then just the hose, but not as much as a pressure washer.

As for soap, I have been having good luck with Arctic Cat's "Spray and rinse" cleaner.

Mike

The fast cycling of the compressor is because of the low pressure, This is to prevent damage to the compressor.

Offhand I don't know what the numbers should be as far as pressure for normal amount of refrigerant, im sure you can look that up.

Mike

Its two gauges with some hookups to check the high and low pressure side of the compressor. If you do have a leak you can buy refrigerant that contains a UV dye in it so you can identify the source of the leak using a UV light.

Autozone will do some tests for free, or you can rent the gauges to do the test, or take it to any garage. No use spending money for the gauges for a one time use.

Mike

I run what the tire states, 5 psi, but I also have radial tires on my quad (Maxxis Bighorn)

Mike

I think Autozone has the gauges that you can hook up to the a.c unit and see if there is enough coolant and tell how your compressor is working.

They do a lot of tests for free (hoping you will buy there )

Mike

On 3/22/2019 at 10:42 AM, JacobSlabach said:

thanks, but I was planning on buying another helmet at some point- might as well now!  also I went to the website and just looked over everything to see what it was all about..  ok if I was wearing sunglasses instead of goggles?  (these would be safety-sunglasses)  I'm interested in coming- will see what our schedule is like..

You would be fine with that

I bought a 2017 version of this machine for my girl.  $5,000 brand new. Had 4WD, EFI

https://arcticcatoffroad.txtsv.com/atv/mid-size-utility/alterra-500

You can buy the carb from Kymco and it would be cheaper then Arctic Cat OEM price.

Mike

I have had a plow on my quad for years. Well worth it, Here in the Northeast we sometimes get heavy wet snow which is a pain to use a snowblower. A plow works well.

The winch is used to raise/lower the blade, some models will have a manual lift. All depends on your machine and plow

Mike

20 hours ago, 06kfx440 said:

Everything else is as follows. And maybe Mike can verify. Quads must have adequate mufflers. Nothing crazy loud but a performance exhaust would be fine. Helmets and goggles and boots is a must. Any other protection is as you see fit. Take out what you bring in because who wants to ride with trash on the ground. And simply respect the land. It's not ours and who wants to be banned from a place then ruin it for everyone else.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 

Correct, registration and insurance is suggested but not required to ride at Lost Trails. They usually have trash cans in the parking lot and during the summer have a a stand to get food. There are several local places that will deliver food to the trail head.

I forgot one thing, those dates are the same dates as the Snow Shoe Rails to Trails spaghetti dinner ride which we are planning to attend, so I won't be at Lost Trails that weekend.

Mike

I work a screwy 12 hr schedule, but I am off that weekend. I could join up on any of the days.

Have you ridden there before or need a guide? I ride there a lot because its close to home.

Mike

Solid rear axle would be worse for rocky terrain, it will throw you around more. Between the two, I would go with the Honda, in most riding you do not need AWD or 4WD. With the honda, you can use it only when needed.

Mike

A good place to do that is countrycat.com. You can bring up a parts diagram for your machine to get the OEM number of the CDI Box and then compare different years for a match. Its always best to go by the OEM number of the part to cross reference.

Mike

6 hours ago, Ajmboy said:

I forgot to mention that I can't get it to charge through the accessory plug like I wanted with this black+decker, that's what sole me on it...lol. I have to test the plug. I had to use the alligator clips, but works good.

Probably the accessory plug only has power with the ignition key on. Arctic Cats have a 2 pin connector under the rear fender that has power on all the time for attaching accessories. Its perfect for attaching the battery tender. Perhaps your machine has the same connector?

That is cool, looks like it should work well

I have always had good luck with Arctic Cats. My first one I put over 16,000 miles on it and then sold it. A friend wanted it for parts, the engine was rebuilt because it was sunk in a serious mud hole the prior year. It still had original axles, diffs, 4wd worked. Plastics were cracked, but this quad had several roll overs and collisions. The frame was broken in two spots and welded so it was not possible to trade it in. He transplanted the engine to another machine and stripped it for parts. My girls original quad has almost 10,000 miles on it and still runs well. It is now our backup machine and snow plowing machine.

Never had an issue with parts and the service manuals are available for free.

Mike

Here in PA, insurance is required to ride a lot of places. I use Progressive, own 3 machines and costs me $165 a year. I have also been with them for years so my rate is cheaper. I think when I first got it, one machine cost me like $230 per year? Then I added the second machine when my girl got into riding. I keep one machine now as a spare, but keep it registered and insured in case we need to use it for riding.

Mike

No it shouldn't, I would check your pickup coil, it tells the CDI when to fire a spark. If that is good, then the CDI is defective.

Mike

I use Firefox, always had good luck with it

Bought the 12 ton press 2 years ago on sale which is always handy for pulling bearings and shock bushings. Has worked flawless.