[lumberman306]

I am new to atv's and had a few questions for you experianced folks. I live in a climate that can get down to -40c in the winter. I still wish to use my quad to plow my driveway and do a little ice fishing. Do I need to winterize my quad? Is there some way to add a block heater? What kind of oil should I use, or is the regular stuff ok for the winter too? Do I need chains to plow?
Any info would be greatly appreatiated.

Honda 420FPE, 4WD, power stearing, 54" warn plow, 3000lb warn winch

 

[ostrx250]

i would think battery powered gloves hahahaha

 

[Helmut]

Welcome to the forums. Man, that's cold. It hardly ever goes below 5-10 degrees F. where I live. I'm not sure about the block heater, but here is an oil viscosity/temperature chart from the manual. Be sure to use an oil designed for the wet clutch systems of motorcycles/ATVs.

 

[94300ex]

welcome to the forums. chains make a huge in the snow but since your bike is 4wd you may not need them. since you pushing a fairly wide plow i definitely recommend putting chains at least on the back wheels. not sure on how to winterize your bike, it don't get that cold down here in missouri lol.

 

[cableguy256]

just a stupid question for my own info.... would putting chains only on the back tires of a 4x4atv cause any potential harm to the transfer case??

 

[Helmut]

just a stupid question for my own info.... would putting chains only on the back tires of a 4x4atv cause any potential harm to the transfer case??

Probably not, if you're in snow. You shouldn't have any torque bind in snow because the front tires would just slip/slide anyway.

 

[cableguy256]

Probably not, if you're in snow. You shouldn't have any torque bind in snow because the front tires would just slip/slide anyway.

Ahh ok.. very good point as is expected from you Helmut... I'm still trying to learn the action of the atv transfer cases as opposed to trucks.. Sorry to the OP, not tryin to hi-jack your thread... let the convo resume. lol

 

[daniel_300ex]

buy a good synthetic oil such as amsoil, regular oil will look like tar in that weather and besides that really let er warm up before plowing

 

[Ty Evans]

Living in Alberta you probably know that we make winter here in Newfoundland and ship it off to the rest of North America. lol I have an '03 350 FM and winter is a joke. I don't use a blade on my machine but I don't think you'll need chains. You might think about switching to a 5W oil. On a cold day hunting and ice fishing I just hit the primer a couple of times, let her warm up a couple of minutes and off I go.

Carpe Diem !!!

 

[dubsd]

Hey Lumberman I am also from Alberta, in winter I put a fuel stabilizer in the gas and just make sure to not let the battery freeze. I store mine in the garage, not heated and just start them if it gets real cold or take battery out when not using. I put my batteries on a trickle charger when not using for a long period of time. I would not run chains as long as you have upgraded your tires if you have OEM than you will be slipping alot. What part of Alberta are you from? Where have you been riding?

 

[lumberman306]

I live north west of edmonton. I wired in a battery maitainer for when the unit is not in use. Whent to Canadian tire and found one with a quick connect I can plug in when I park it. I hope this keeps the battery from freezing. Any suggestions on replacement tires for winter use? I own about 160 acres of treed land so havn`t needed to go to far.

 

[dubsd]

Last year went and did some quadding at Rocky Mountain House and went through some good snow. I have mud lite and my wife has swamp lights. Both tires seemed to handle the snow well. Buddies 800 polaris on oem was sliding around alot and now has mud lights as well.

 

[Green]

I've never seen it hit -40 here, but -30 is possible...last year we hit -28. I plowed 12"-24" of snow at a time with OEM tires. I didn't do anything special to my 09 except make sure I had a full tank of fuel and that I rode it for a little bit at least once a week.

 

[Soonerwheeler2]

Heck man that's cold. In Oklahoma we might chase a twister across a wheat field. We stay hell in when it gets below freezing. Welcome to the forums

 

[Green]

Heck man that's cold. In Oklahoma we might chase a twister across a wheat field. We stay hell in when it gets below freezing. Welcome to the forums

Yeah, but you guys are a little "off" down there.

BTW...it looks like it's gonna be a Husker-Sooner matchup for the Big XII Championship.

 

[impaled]

yup thats a kind of cold that I dont ever want to experience. I dont think it has reached single digit temps (Farenheit) here in Mississippi in 28 years or more... Lowest I can recall is 14 degrees... LOL


But this I can say, these new ethanol blended fuels produce moisture, and it can and will freeze. Get some kind of ethanol treatment (I use stabil) and put in your tank, run your bike for a bit so that it is pushed through your fuel lines, carb, throttle body, whichever you got. That will give you some line of defense against the moisture deposited by the ethanol. Its starting to cause big problems down here with marine engines...

I dont know about yalls part of the world, but down here, gas stations do not have to advertise weather or not they have ethanol blended in their fuel. Some do, some do not, so we have to be careful with our fuel and how long it sits up...

 

[Green]

Up here they all post on the pump whether or not it is ethanol blended. It's always the cheapest, but I don't use it in my vehicles. The wife uses it in her car and has never had a problem though.

 

[Daveg99]

I dont know how you people up north live in that cold weather. I wont move anywhere north of Dallas. NO WAY!

 

[Green]

The same could be said about your heat and humidity in the summer.

 

[cul8ri1]

I run 0W40 Amsoil, make sure the coolant is 50/50 run a battery maintainer to keep from freezing the battery and run premium fuel which has no ethanol in it. Thats about it, let it warm up good since it's liquid cooled and there should be no problems.