HERE’S HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ATV OR UTV
A typical day for your ATV or UTV can be a whirlwind of activity. You might use it to herd cattle, inspect fence lines, pull a trailer loaded with gravel, visit the neighbors or blow off steam by pinning the throttle across a hay field or through a muddy slough. And that’s just in one day.
A common thread that often finds ATV and UTV owners is the sheer stress they place on their machines. It doesn’t matter if you’re thrashing on a sport quad on the trails near home or surveying your property in your UTV, particularly if you’ve modified your rig.
It’s the job of the motor oil, differential and transmission fluid, and other lubricants to withstand the tremendous stress. However, standard-service lubricants aren’t formulated to deliver the extra measure of protection against wear and heat as AMSOIL synthetic lubricants.
To take your maintenance routine to the next level and give your machine the protection it needs, upgrade to high quality AMSOIL synthetic lubricants.
ACCESSORIES EQUAL WEIGHT
It’s common to burden your UTV or ATV with accessories designed to increase power or productivity, especially for UTV owners. Enthusiasts often add roof and door panels, a winch, a plow, skid plates and other accessories. Plus, how often do you haul a load of gravel or pull a trailer or other implement?
This all adds weight, and a good rule of thumb is that extra weight equals extra heat. Heat, in turn, causes lubricants to break down sooner, which places your engine and differentials at risk of wear.
HEAT INVITES ENGINE WEAR
The oil’s primary job is to form a protective layer on metal parts to keep them separated so they don’t rub together and wear out. High heat from the stress you place on your machine, however, can cause oils formulated for standard service to become thinner (lose viscosity). Thinner oil than what your engine is designed for can fail to develop an oil film of adequate thickness or strength to protect against wear.
Plus, high heat invites sludge and performance-robbing deposits inside the engine. Sludge can clog oil passages and starve the engine of oil, while deposits can cause the piston rings to stick or interfere with proper valve operation, leading to reduced engine compression.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?
Compression equals power, so over time your engine slowly makes less and less power. Eventually, deposits and sludge can wreck the engine completely.
SHIFT TO BETTER PERFORMANCE
The story is similar inside the transmission, differential and front drive. All the extra weight and stress of hard work and performance riding concentrates intense pressure on gears. The lubricant coats the gear teeth during operation, guarding against metal-to-metal contact and wear. The added stress, combined with high heat, can break the fluid film and literally squeeze the lubricant from between the gears, leading to wear. As with the motor oil, high heat causes the lubricant to thin, which negatively affects wear protection.
UPGRADE TO SYNTHETIC LUBRICANTS
So what’s the solution? Ride more conservatively? Haul lighter loads and work less?
Never.
Upgrade to high-quality AMSOIL synthetic motor oil, differential and transmission fluid, front drive fluid and other lubricants, especially if you’ve modified your ATV or UTV for greater power or productivity. AMSOIL synthetic ATV/ UTV lubricants don’t contain the impurities inherent to conventional lubricants, meaning they deliver better performance and last longer. Their naturally tough base oils resist extreme heat and maintain a strong protective film better than conventional products.
Think of synthetics as just another performance upgrade. You don’t think twice about dropping a few hundred dollars on a snowplow or work trailer. Over the course of your machine’s life, the few extra dollars you spend per oil change or transmission/differential service is a drop in the bucket by comparison.
Plus, you can rest assured your rig is protected no matter how hard you push it.
This article from AMSOIL Preferred Customer Magazine, Spring 2018