How To

-- Step by step photos on a UTV -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels In the December 2018 issue, we showed how to install new brake rotors on a Polaris RZR. In this issue we install new brake lines and brake pads. You change brake pads routinely for wear, or less frequently because you are looking for different brake performance. Brake lines are a different story. They do get damaged and need to be replaced, but most often you change brake lines to change to a different brake feel. Or, like us, you have changed to wider…

-- Duncan Racing is at it again --  By the staff of Dirt Wheels, Photos by Pat Carrigan -- Duncan Racing International (DRI) is a company known for building great products and building up ATVs to handle the harshness of racing in all different disciplines. One well-known racing series on the West Coast is WORCS. The Grand Prix-style courses offer rough desert terrain, sand dunes, asphalt, motocross tracks and more to battle through, which means your quad must be tough to take the abuse and win. Mike…

-- Taking a look at how some Dirt Wheels readers do it -- Farmers get to ride their quads or UTVs right from the barn. The rest of us have to haul our prized off-road vehicles to a riding area. The quick way is to put your quad in the back of your pick up truck. Maybe even put two or three back there. In some cases it's even possible to put your UTV in the back of the truck too. For most though, they use a trailer. Depending on the size of the trailer you can haul a variety of quads and UTVs. We're going to take a random…

-- UTV racing dos & don'ts -- By Ron Lawson UTV racing is a melting pot of immigrants. The whole sport consists of drivers who came from Somewhere Else. Some are ATV riders, some are buggy drivers and some come from the motorcycle world. A sport that’s scarcely a decade old is unlikely to have its own natives. Even those who have been in it since the start have seen such a tidal wave of change that it’s essentially a new sport today. The interesting part is that there’s no guaranteed path to success. Each…

-- Adding skis & a trax system to a Banshee is not a new idea -- Ever since our very first issue back in 1980 the Dirt Wheels crew has been into hopping up machines for more power and better suspension. When it comes to ATVs we've also been known to try some wild and crazy things. We liked riding in snow and we wanted to improve our quads for that. Back in 2001 we found a company that specialized in setting up quads with skis and a trax system. They put their conversion kit on a Yamaha Banshee and a Yamaha Warrior, so…

Changing a 2019 Can-Am Renegade X xc 1000R CVT belt.

-- How to install them yourself & save -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels  “All brakes do is slow you down!” is a common hilarity that some of us share with riding buddies who couldn’t keep up with us on the track or trails. In truth, good brakes help you go a lot faster. If you change out those stock rotors and pads with better parts from a company like Galfer USA, you can brake harder with less fade from heat. You can carry your speed longer into a turn, and that cuts precious seconds on the track, and it gives you…

-- How to refresh your tired UTV suspension --  By the staff of Dirt Wheels Many sport UTV owners aren’t aware of the hard facts and level of maintenance that is involved in sustaining like-new performance while enjoying one of these insanely fun machines. Shocks are one of the chronically neglected parts of a UTV. We started with a fairly new Polaris RZR XP 1000 that comes stock with piggyback reservoir-type coil-over Walker Evans Racing shocks. Depending on how hard you drive, you should expect most stock shocks to…

-- What you need if your UTV has bigger tires -- Recently, we have come across a number of UTVs that were fitted with oversized tires, and in most of those cases we found that performance suffered. We are all for the cool look and added ground clearance that big tires supply, but not if we lose performance and driveability. The solution is to have the CVT clutching modified to work with the larger tires. The photos and text here will show how we installed GBoost clutch kits in 2017 Polaris UTVs; one was a Turbo and the…

-- Winston "Boss" McKannick is the shop foreman here at Dirt Wheels and one of his main jobs is to help out readers who may have a problem with their quad or UTV. He is the Mister-Know-It-All when it comes to mechanical problems and how to fix them. Today's question comes from a reader in South Dakota: Dear Boss, I purchased a leftover 2016 Polaris Ranger High Lifter 900. I love it, except for its ability to “eat” headlight fuses. About three times a month the 10-amp headlight fuse blows. I do not ride in…

-- Get unstuck with ease -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels This article isn’t for the seasoned veteran of winching and getting unstuck. It’s aimed at the rider or driver who is getting into our sport and wanting to know safe and effective ways to use your winch. Getting stuck isn’t a part of anyone’s plan, but it happens, and there are great tools that you should keep on your rig when you go out into mud, on rocks or along gnarly trails. Warn offers a light-duty winch kit that comes with a 1/2-inch steel-4500 shackle,…

-- Testing an easy way to lift your UTV up to change a tire -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels We are lucky enough to get to test some of the best new products in this industry as well as some that are not so promising. Fortunately for Tuff Trail Gear, we absolutely love the JackDaddy. The company created a very lightweight UTV jack that is simple to use, fast and can be easily mounted to your Polaris or Can-Am sport machine. We have tried carrying heavy jacks, automotive-style jacks and more on our UTVs, and we never…