Hi,

About to go on a trip up North in two weeks, pretty cold riding at times.

Is there any forum members who have one or both of these items on their rancher? Do I need a wiring harness (for the 2006 rancher ES)

Is there one you could recommend, I like the idea of a switch that can be mounted conveniently but not sure who some little electrical toggle gets mounted to the handlebars?

I was told to use the Polaris heat tape in or around the handlebars and then I could re-use my existing grips...

I had snowmobiles in the past and the warmers (wat back when) would either burn your gloves literally before you realized it was too hot!

Anyway, was looking for a good combination. Also if you knew of a good place to purchase and what they cost would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

Checkout RockyMountainATV.com and do a search by the Kimpex. They have grips with built in heaters with a handlebar mounted switch. I haven't tried these as I imagine they are too hard. I had a pair from HotGrips and always got blisters. Figured these are similar.

However, they also sell the thin membrane type that goes under regular hand grips for $19.99. You have a toggle switch for high/low setting. They are fairly easy to install. You just tap into the positive wire coming off the key switch. They only draw 3 amps on high setting. The toggle switch requires drilling a 1/2" hole somewhere in your plastic unless you rig up a metal bracket.

There is a thumb warmer too and I recommend it even though I don't have one. I do know my thumb still gets cold.

We also use boot and hand warmers that are sold in Hunting supply store or Dick's.

Good Luck!

/Jon

 

I like my Kimpex warmers a lot. I have seen some that have independent controls for the thumb. Pics on my page.

 

Moose makes a good thumb warmer, and i like the hot grip hand warmers. I believe they make the polaris hand warmers too.The stick on membrains never work very well for me. I think the handlebars end up being a heat sink, and not much gets to the hands. The hot grips are insulated from the handlebar, so there isnt much heat loss,
Only down side to the hot grips, they need to be epoxyed on to the bar, which makes it impossible to remove for the summer, unless you wreck them. They arent the best grips for summer riding, theyre hard and not very grippy.
Just remember to add an in line fuse, when you wire them up.
Just splice into any wire which has 12 volts with the key on. The hot wire to the nuetral light or reverse light works well. Both of those lights work by adding a ground when on, so the wire is always hot with the key on.
There are adaptors for hanging the toggle on to the handlebars, but most of us just pop a 1/2 inch hole thru the plastic to mount them.