So I was wondering if you all put your atv in gear when hauling or leave it in neutral? My self I have an eight foot bed and my atv fits nicely in the bed without touching either end. I do strap it down as I don't want it riding in the cab with me. I put the parking brake on and sometimes I put it in neutral and sometimes leave it in gear.

 

I put mine in park but when I had an ATV without park I always left it in gear. If the straps broke it would roll too easy in neutral.

 

Since you have a foot shift Honda, leaving it in 1st gear would be a good idea along with using the parking brake. You can easily downshit to neutral and start it once you need to. If it were an ES model, they're a bit finicky unless you leave them in neutral when you shut them off.

 

Personally, I use neutral and snug the front tires to the front of the bed. If a rack or bumper would hit first, I put a 4x4 or something making th e tires hit first. Then I use heavy duty tie downs to keep it secure to the front of the bed. Lighter tie downs can be used to secure the machine to the back of the bed. If it is properly secured, in or out of gear shouldn't matter much, I just prefer to do my abuse while I am riding the things.

 

I do have to get another tiedown for the front. I will get a system down that is safe and secure. Right now it has the plow attached and that is crammed in the bed of the pickup helping it stay securely in place. I know I need enough strapping to keep it in the bed in case I ever flip the truck . At this point I don't have enough straps. But basically I was really wondering if having it in gear would damage the trans in any way.

 

Definitely a good idea to securely tie it down. Using the parking brake or leaving the machine in gear is just one extra line of defense in case all else fails. I had a strap break once on a trailer(I suppose in hindsight I should have had more than one strap) and the the only thing keeping the machine from rolling off was the parking brake.

 

I always use a tie down to each corner of my trailer and ended up losing one somewhere on the highway. The other 3 held tight and I didn't have any problems. Some of my friends have cheap tie down straps from Harbor freight. The working load is 400 pounds IIRC which seems too little for comfort to me. Mine are much thicker but I don't remember the rating. When I get new ones they'll be heavy duty.

 

I look to use a working strength of at least 2x the machines dry weight or better. The heavier duty the better though. Minimum of 3 straps attached to the frame, with 2 holding it tight against the front bed. I am afraid if you flip the truck, the straps or tie down points are probably breaking, however more will never hurt.

 

I rolled an SUV and a van years ago. With the amount of damage done I doubt an ATV wouldn't stay in a truck very long if you rolled it. It may stay nearby instead of being a big projectile but I don't believe it would stay in there.

 

Well I stopped by harbor freight and picked up a set of 4 rachetting straps. They have a working strength of 1000 lbs and a breaking strength of 3000 lbs. Four of them on my machine should be plenty good. With the atv in gear and the parking brake on it should be decent. I will use a couple 2×4 wood scraps as chocks and be gtg.