just curious? lets say,your out on the trails,say 10-12 miles into them and the only thing that can make it thru the trails is another quad..if you lose a wheel whether it be you broke the wheel,the bearings seized,rearend locked up or say you hit a tree and stuff the wheel into the frame,how would you get it out.drag it with another quad and beat the crap out of that quad doing it? ive had some thoughts on the subject and was wondering how you would do it? i have thought of a device,like a dolly but it can hook to any quad by trailer ball and it will allow you to put 1 axle of the dead machine on it and tow it..would that be something that there would be an interest(marketing) in? thoughts and suggestions apreciated..ive been in the auto-truck towing business since i was 15 and even thought of building a wrecker body for the polaris ranger but i cant afford to buy 8-9,000 dollar quad and on top of it pay for stock and build the body..just a thought as i say i have a cheaper solution if someone else hasnt thought of it already..how do you get them out?

 

Raise the "bad" end, front or rear, of the disabled quad up, lash it to the rear rack of the good quad, and haul away.

Tree Farmer

 

i guess that would work if the guy with the good quad didnt care about wrecking his quad doing a favor..i could imagine what the racks on the good quad would look like..thanks for your input

 

If you were to try selling a "tow dolly" alone, I don't imagine it would be a big seller. Who wants to drag a dolly around "incase" something happens? However, if it were a meat trailer first, with the capability of removing the tub to become a dolly then you may have something. Then hunters or campers would be able to drop the tub in the woods, get the disabled bike out and go back for the tub. Good luck.

 

Your idea for a recovery dolly is a good one; if one were available, it could certainly come in handy in a situation involving a broken wheel. Maybe combined with a rigid tow bar, you'd have a marketable package.

Lacking a dolly however, the rack of the good quad might not be so mangled; the existing good wheel and tire might provide some insulation from trauma, and depending upon the terrain, the towing operator could take things pretty easy to minimize damage.

Some fair wear and tear of equipment might be expected, especially in an emergency situation a broken wheel might suggest.

Even if the rear rack is totally destroyed, the difference in the price of a replacement rack, relative to the bill for a wrecker service call out in the boonies, is a factor to consider.

A piggy-back tow by another quad, at least to the nearest road access, might be a useful technique (although it might not work well, or not at all); however, if keeping the rear rack like brand new is important, you may not want to consider this approach.

I told someone once how to winch out backwards by snaking the cable under a quad; he asked, "But that's not good for the cable, is it?"

The answer, "It's not the best thing in the world for the cable, but had you rather spend the night in the swamp?" Emergency situations sometimes encourage "field expedients" stressing equipment to the extreme.

Tree Farmer

 

first off im not trying to market anything,unless someone has financial funding,i do have some ideas though..ive been thinking about the subject only because i have alot of recovery experience from towing cars and trucks..i was curious to see how people have done it or would attempt to do it..too bad there isnt enough need for a tow quad,like i said if you had a ranger and built the wrecker boom hydarulic of course that would be the way to go..i could have used one once,buddy of mine was stuck some 75 ft. from dry ground in a set of ruts that had walls about 2and a half feet high on either side,that wa s atask to get out,if we had a hydraulic boom we could have backed up to the ruts and pulled him up over instead dragging him back 75 plus feet i wish i had the 8-9000 dollars to buy a ranger..if i owned a ranger i would probably already have the wrecker body on it..was only looking for opinions on the matter,tree farmer i agree in an emergency i know i would offer my new rack getting wrecked in the aid of another rider,even if it wasnt a polaris(j/k)thanks again

 

I towed a buddies quad out of the woods once. He tried a hillclimb that I didn't even want to attempt. He got about seven feet from the top, and his right front wheel hit a small tree. I knew at that moment, he wasn't gonna have a very good day. I knew what was about to happen, and yelled to him to get away from the quad. The Scrambler came down, cartwheeling end over end eight times. when him and the quad got to the bottom of the hill, it was very apparent he wasn't riding it out of the woods. The front tires were pointing different directions, and the bars were smashed into the gas tank. I hooked a tow rope to it, and drug it back to the trailer. I figured I would smoke the belt to mine, but didn't really matter, cause he was in a lot of pain. It worked, but it was ugly.

Cost to fix the bike-$900
Hospital bill-slightly higher.
lesson learned-priceless.

 

I towed a Yamaha Grizzly for about 8 miles thru the woods. Front end had locked up so neither front wheel would turn. Luckily, he had a winch on front... We tied the winch line to the top of the rear rack on mine and lifted it up.. He even rode on his bike to operate the rear brake...

 

A few years back some of my riding buddies had the exact cenerio happen. A Wolverine with 26" Blackwaters broke a ball joint and needed towed out don`t know how far. They tied the front rack to the rear rack of a Foreman with tie-downs, removed both front tires and away they went. Only damage was scratches to the racks both held up well. A sport machine with no racks may be more difficult however. There is a picture of it in the place where members could submit pictures.

98 Scrambler 500

 

For this poor soul (and diehard atver) You unbolt the top of the front shock and then strap that lower control arm to a farther place north, And ride that puppy home!!

ATVer of the month

no fog here!