You would think that as big as the AC's are that they would atleast have a little room to put all your junk in. I have my tools in there and my plugs(which I had to wad up to stick in there. There isn't even enough room for a can of Fix a Flat. Does this bother anyone else or is it just me.

 

It doesn't bother me. I have an official ATVStuff.com rack bag that will hold lots of stuff. Aren't you envious of me? When you look at that atv cover, just think that it was this close to being a rack bag from Cabela's. They were both priced very close to each other.

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Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

I took my storage box off. I found it useless. I put a small adjustable wrench in at and a week later i had to throw it away because of the box holdging water. When I took it off I found the rear 12v "Pig tail" .I think I will order the kit from Arctic Cat that converts it to a round one like in the from.

 

Yea Andy we are all envious of you. Especially me. I think I will special order me one too. Yea right I would end up ruining it one way or another and be out what 75 bucks. That wouldn't be the highlight of my week. The storage box is a useless piece of **** in my opinion. Maybe I should strap an icechest on the back. Hey that would work for everything. Then you could have all your accessories in it.

 

BIGBADCAT,
Why don't you do like me and get rid of it. It makes it alot easer to find your rear 12v outlet, it makes it easier to clean, an after yo remove it maybe you can can mount a useful thing in it's place.

 

wouldn't be a bad idea except I don't have anything else to mount there and I am not going shell out 300 smackeroos on a rear winch that i'll probably never use because I don't I rarely ever use my front. My rear 12V is real easy to find anyhow. I have it duck taped up all nice and thick so no water can get into it. I guess I'll leave it on for the time being and just make due. Plus I still kind of like the icechest idea. Then I could really be a redneck ATVer.

 

Man I can't believe you bunch of cry babys what did you want Artic Cat do bolt you a set of samsonites on there...hehehehe Well mine is kind of useful besides carrying the tool kit I use it for medical stuff like nasal spray,aspirins and for other tools, lighter extra pack of ciggys (-: 27" color tv, jam box, portable toilet seriously some wipe paper, tire plugs anyway fellows I do have one of those red neck pepsi plastic liter carriers mounted on the front rack and it is always filled with junk...happy riding fellows and I hope this weather holds out I am getting ready to take a month off in February for vacation so with my luck get ready for some snow fellows...hehehehe

Artic Cat 500 always well equipped

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BigBadCat,

With the sole exception of Bombardier’s Traxter and its huge 8 gallon front storage compartment, integrated storage space on ATVs is small, cramped, hard to get to, poorly designed, and not even close to being waterproof. And those are just its good points!

While there are any number of after-market storage bags and boxes available for ATVs, most are fairly expensive, and some don’t appear to be substantial enough to be subjected to rough service for extended periods of time.

The storage boxes on my Bayou 300 and Bayou 400 are stellar examples of the type described in the first paragraph. So, what to do about it? How to solve the problem cheaply and effectively? Here is what I did.

I mounted a 25x10-1/2x6 military surplus 90mm “rocket box” to the rear cargo rack of each Bayou. First I laid strips of 1-inch wide self-adhesive foam weather stripping on the bars of the cargo rack to provide some cushioning and to protect the paint on the cargo rack. Next I carefully centered the rocket box on the cargo rack and pushed it as far to the rear as it would go. Then I drilled 4 pair of holes in the bottom of the rocket box that straddled the two outside bars of the cargo rack. Next I used 4 U-bolts with crossbars to secure the rocket box to the cargo rack. Finally a quick trip to Joanne Fabric yielded a large piece of 1-inch thick foam padding normally used in seat cushions. I cut the padding into two pieces and used double-sided carpet tape to fasten one piece to the bottom of the rocket box and one piece to the underside of the lid. I now had a large capacity, heavy-duty, and nearly indestructible storage box that could securely carry all my stuff. It’s also easily removable for short local rides when the extra storage is not really required.

My total cost to build this contraption was about $30 (about one-third the cost of an after-market polypropylene storage box made for an ATV). The surplus rocket box was $20 from Northern Tool & Equipment (800-533-5545, part # 0552-C141). The mounting hardware and self-adhesive foam tape were about $10 from Home Depot.

Last April at the big poker run at Cochranton, PA this setup had ample room to carry six 16-ounce bottles of water, two boxes of Granola bars, a roll of toilet paper, a large bottle of Ibuprofen, a Dry-Rider rain suit, a tire patching kit, a tool kit, a first aid kit, a camera, a roll of film, four large apples, and two sandwiches. The storage box was a big hit at Cochranton, and next to the bottled water, the Ibuprofen was the most popular item. I was even passing it out to strangers. They’d come over to look at the storage box setup, see the Ibuprofen, and ask if they could PLEASE have some – and these were young guys.

Credit for this setup goes to my friend Eric Baatz who showed up at Cochranton two years ago with one mounted to the back of his King Quad. When I saw how well it worked for him, I knew I had to have one too. Thanks, Eric.

Army Man

 

Army Man that was a pretty good idea. It's kind of like the icechest idea. You can have all your neccesitys that you need. Only the Rocket box would look a lot better. I don't know about anything like that though. Normally I have passengers so that would defeat the whole purpose. Shoot youd even be ready if a war broke out! I would like to take the storage box out from underneath the rear and replace it with something that could hold more. I don't know how I would go about doing it or what to use anyhow.

 

We always make the guy riding the Polaris carry all the stuff....hehe