OK I am sure most of you guys/gals ride all year long, not so much here in IL as the temperatures today are in the 20's with the wind chill making it feel in the teen's. I have six machines altogether that have batteries and gas to maintain. My question is this: (1) Is gas additive what most/all you need to do for storage for a few months? and (2) Batteries go bad easy can someone recommend a battery charger

Thanks

 

I ride them all winter in Norther Ontario Canada but dress like I was going snowmobiling. Is it cold down south in IL also.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: sparks1032

OK I am sure most of you guys/gals ride all year long, not so much here in IL as the temperatures today are in the 20's with the wind chill making it feel in the teen's. I have six machines altogether that have batteries and gas to maintain. My question is this: (1) Is gas additive what most/all you need to do for storage for a few months? and (2) Batteries go bad easy can someone recommend a battery charger



Thanks</end quote></div>

i make sure my battery is fully charged(that way they wont freeze) and you could put gas stabliazer w/ a full tank of gas in and run it for a few minutes to go thru the carb and you sholud be all set. you could either take the battery and store in a dry warm place or use a battery tender.

 

come to wisconsin and ride!

 

I keep all of mine ready to ride in the winter.But I do use StaBil in the tanks and put a slow charge on the battrys once a month and start them if I dont catch a nice weekend to ride.

 

I recommend Stabil fuel additive, run them for a good 10 minutes until they are toasty hot before shutting them down to make sure the entire fuel system has Stabil in it.

As for the batteries, the BEST option would be to remove all the batteries and hook them up to a Battery Tender Jr. If you have six batteries to keep charged, you could probably wire them together in parallel and hook up one Battery Tender Jr. to one of them. They all will take a while to get up to full charge, but should stay fully charged all winter. If you prefer not to yank the batteries, might I suggest a 4-bank Battery Tender? http://batterytender.com/defau...6cb873c29be1910a8d647

It's a tad pricy, but more convenient than buying 6 individual chargers. If you don't charge the batteries over the winter, they MAY need to be replaced in the spring unless you fire up each one at least once monthly <u>and run them </u>up as they won't charge well if just idling for 10 minutes.

My .02...

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

Hey those are great riding temperatures up here, throw on a sweater and ride..lol I guess we are just used to it up here. If you are going to store it I would take the battery completely out and take it in the house for the winter. As far as fuel goes if you have a fuel shutoff valve on your machine, turn it off start the unit let it run dry of fuel and then try to start it until it won't. I do this to my sled every year and I've never had a problem with my carbs

 

I don't like the idea of draining or running all the gas out of the carb and leaving it dry for 4/5 months. Carbs have gaskets that dry out and shrink causing leaks. I'd definetly run a fuel stabilizer through it. Worked for me for years on all my toys.

 

thanks for the help guys, we had an unexpected break in riding (injury) and I have fuel from the summer that is not treat with stabil in all of them. I guess my thoughts are to put new gas with stabil in them and run them for a little while and put them away. We will ride when the snow hits but not until then. Next thing has anyone had specific experience with "Battery tender Jr" brand name? I can get them on Ebay for $30 X 6 is only $180 instead of $160 for the four battery "battery tender"

 

I got my tender from walmart. I will have to look in the morning for the name on it but its a 1 1/2 amp trickle charger that you can leave on as long as you'd like. fully automatic. was only like $18. so 6 of them would only be like $120