I plow and ice fish all winter here in MN and my Xplorer sits in a unheated garage. I've never had a problem. I do clear the struts, A arms, winch, cv boots, etc off every once in a while. I have several buds who deal with the same thing...they don't have any issues either.

Although...if your worried about it and want to melt it off...warm the atv up good...throw a tarp over it with a heater going under the tarp. A few days ago I needed to change chains and sprockets. My machine had quite a bit of ice accumulated on the under side, swing arm, a arms, struts...etc. With it completely tarped and my "sunflower" mr. heater going my atv was completely thawed and dry in about 6 hrs.

My machine probably won't be thawed again until spring unless It needs maintenence...I'm not worried about it.

P.S....headed out to a local lake in a few minutes to pound some crappies!!

Wenty

 

Never thought of tarp thing-awesome idea! I do thaw mine out completely in the garage occasionally but for the most part just keep the snow cleared out as it builds up. I also remove the cv guards for the winter so it doesn't get as packed in there. Never had any problems yet.

 

Over the past 4 yrs, I have tried every chemical/substance that will shoot out of a bottle or spray from a can, to keep the "A" frames filling with ice and snow. Vegetable oil (Pam), baby oil, silicone, car wax, WD40, you name it I've tried it with no sucess.

It appears that temp and moisture content in the snow is the biggest factor and that changes daily.

 

My garage is unheated but unless it is ungodly cold outside a pretty good amount of snow melts when I come in from plowing or playing. The built up heat from the ATV raises the temp just enough to melt a pretty good portion of the snow and ice. Makes a glorious muddy mess on the garage floor.

 

You might be able to blow it off with the air from an air compressor.

 

I guess most of these tips will not work in Canada.........
...Caper.....

 

Looks like the only solution for you Caper is to move closer to the equator...lol...

John

 

I have also used a hair dryer and it works great. Nothing worse after a day of ice fishing to then come home and have the machine frozen solid for the next trip.