How to Check ATV Tires

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village my name is Tom Roland and we're at Cottonwood Motor Sports and I'm here to tell you about doing a service on a Polaris Quad and this is fairly representative of many of them. Another thing that's often over looked is the tires and when you're checking the tires you want to jack the wheel off the ground and you want to look it all over for thorn holes you want to look for any nails or things. On tubeless tires, commonly something can go in the tire and if it stays in the tire it'll stay up, that's one of the advantages of tubeless tires. The other thing is air pressure. Air pressure on a locked rear end vehicle is very, very important. People commonly say my vehicle pulls, my unit pulls to the right or pulls to the left when I drive it and I don't know what's wrong. Well, on a vehicle that doesn't have a differential in the back or say when this one is in 2x4 vs. turf mode, the problem is, if the tires aren't exactly the right, same circumference, which usually is a function of tire pressure, then the larger tire is gonna be the more forceful tire and it's gonna try to make it veer. Say the left tire is slightly larger in diameter due to having more pressure in it it's gonna make it pull to the right. If the left tire is larger in diameter, it's gonna make it pull to the left. Sometimes if both tires have the exact pressure on these kind of tires they won't be exactly the same diameter and in the past the only true way to know is to run a tape measure around the outside. If a person is not having a problem with it, they both have nine pounds in it, it drives OK, you're not really having an issue then ordinarily it wouldn't be a deal. But if you are having problems like that and you suspect that that could be the issue then the only way to really tell is put a tape measure around the entire outside of the wheel and compare both wheels together because sometimes these tires will, one will swell up a little more than the other. Also, the other thing with alignment is checking the front end. On a Polaris when the handlebars are sitting straight, most Polaris' front end, the handlebars would be, the front wheels would be towed out a half an inch which is 1/4 of an inch each way from straight. The camber and the caster on the front end isn't adjustable, if it changes it's usually because somethings bent. But, the tie rod adjustments or wear or a wheel being bent or something like that those are all things you have to look for. These are utility vehicles, they're not a Lexus car, okay, they don't go down the road, they don't go down the road perfectly, they're a utility vehicle, but they still, they should drive good and they shouldn't have problems and you should be able to take your hand off the bar and it shouldn't shoot of the side of the road. So, those are all, those are all things that have to be looked at. Different units have different tire pressures. Rangers, 9 to 12 pounds say, a unit like this might be 6 to 8 pounds, it just depends on the unit. Smaller units usually take less tire pressure, bigger. Heavier units usually have more tire pressure."