Recently my father had a stroke. This has left his right arm inoperable. I would like to be able to get him out in the woods agian this year come deer season. He will be allowed to use an atv due to this disability. The only problem then is that both the quads that we have that he could use (Polaris 325 and Suzuki 160) have a throttle operated by the riders right hand thumb. Does anyone know of any company that makes a conversion (universal or otherwise) that would allow me to mount a throttle on the left hand handlebar?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

I have seen 2 different ways that this could be accomplished.
The first one was taking the throttle off of the left hand side and flipping it over so it would fit on the right.
the other way you could make this work is install a twist throttle. I am not sure of the details on that one but i have seen it done somehow

 

His best bet would be the lt 160, It is lighter so it would be easier to operate, plus it has a simpler throttle that is smaller than that on the polaris. I would say the way to go would be to move the thumb throttle to the left side on the outside of the handle bar move the grip in towards the middle of the bike. then install a thumb saver so that he could use the bottom palm of his hand to control the throttle. I would not recomend a twist throttle because it would be to hard to steer and apply the throttle at the same time. I can sympathize with your father, back in'95 I blew up my left hand and know what is like to miss out on the things we enjoy to do most. Good luck and I hope someone else has a better suggestion for you.

 

How about a rino?

 

The Rhino would be cool but he would have to buy one and they are expensive. Plus they are not able to go where atvs go due to thier width.

 

I tried to do a fast search and didn't come up with much. There is a left handed throttle made for snow mobiles. There are probably some made for atv's too. I just haven't seen them yet.

full throttle inc. click products and then click Goldfinger. Or.

Left

 

I was looking at the snowmobile versions. Do you suppose that they would work with my 160 quad? It is a single cable throttle. I am hoping to find something other than a twist as it will twist the wrong way and not provide as solid of a base for steering. Also, the idea of moving my throttle would be fine except that I am not sure he will be able to push and pull on the handlebars to turn well without interfering with the extended paddle. Do you suppose I could just flip the throttle upside down and mount it on the left side? Rather than his thumb below the bar it would be above it.

Ryan

 

Move the throttle over to the left side, flip it upside down, then fabricate an extender that would go down and around to the normal position. Something that if looked at from the side would resemble a "C" shape.

 

The snowmobile one seems like it might work. I wonder if the end of the cable (from atv) would fit within the handle without much trouble. It's a lot of money if it doesn't work. Is he going to be able to steer with one arm. Sometimes it can be tough. I've run a tire up a slight hill while holding the bars with one arm and sometimes it'll jerk the bars one way or the other.

 

crblick, that is exactly what I was planning on. My other thought has been to try to rig up a bike brake to use as a throttle. I thought about the steering with one hand thing too, but I don't really figure he will be going that fast so he should be able to correct. (If I can get my dad to shift into second gear, it is a great day for me.)

I also was looking at the snowmobile throttles and it appears they use a box to split the two cables that results in being able to leave the stock throttle in its location and not effect its usefulness. this is what I plan (hopefully) on doing. I teach shop so I have plenty of tooling available and I am going to try to fabricate a splitter box.